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Agreed -- the UX for contacts could definitely use some love, including your suggestions.
Including letting you paste in the leading "0" (e.g., for +254, Kenya, a number dialed domestically is 0712345678 -- 10 digits. But with Strike Send Globally you try to paste that 10 digit number and it won't take it, as it wants only the 9 number (omit the leading 0).
Stuff like that.
But now that Tando app is back, and working so beautifully, I'm not using Strike Send Globally hardly ever anymore. 60 seconds between hitting "Send" and the recipient messaging back that they received the m-pesa payment is a level of service that Strike Send Globally's local payment provider (Ali Pay or something like that) could only dream of providing.