Bitcoin Forum

I'm wondering if there are any plans in the works for releasing an android version of the bitcoin core client. Now that smartphones are shipping with 128GB memory it seams like keeping the whole blockchain on a phone and running core might be workable?? A lot of the phone apps are unreliable; even with lots of great features they're only as reliable as the servers that keep your wallet synced. It's gotten to the point where I have to keep 2 different wallet apps on my android phone in case one of them isn't broadcasting transactions for some reason. Thoughts?

Sorry, but whats you data plan?

I dont think this will be a common thing even if its common for smartphones to hold that much memory. For one they seem to litter up the available space pretty quickly and core does not only need big disk size, but also plenty of traffic (~100-250 GiB/month).

Phones also tend to have relativly small RAM. E.g. the comming high end Samsung S7 will probably have 4GB. Under load smartphones draw battery, I guess that core would keep the phone from going into deeper sleep modes in order to verify and relay transactions.

I don't think that is possible since I don't that ART would allow such high usage of RAM. The Virtual Machine to run the app in has limited RAM which probably wouldn't be enough to for the program to run properly. I don't think the memory of the VM can be changed without rooting the phone.

If the phone was somehow configured to not be the sync node for other nodes, then yes the data usage might be able to not go over 100 GB/month. Still, according to Shorena's node, there are over 100 Gb of transactions per month, so a Bitcoin Core app would still use that much data.

They would need to make it smaller for phones its huge.

In this case you might be able to hire someone to compile the code for android/iOS for you. Either that or do it yourself.

Yeah this is not currently possible, look how long it takes to download the full blockchain on a PC or laptop.

No current mobile phone has the capacity for such a massive amount of information.

Maybe now, but you know that things are going faster, don't descarte that in next years to have 100 gb on a cell phone is something near ridiculous, i mean that maybe we can expect a huge amount of gb in our cell phones in a near future, who know?

So is possible right now, ofc no, but maybe in a near future...

It could be copied over from a computer. Copying over USB or directly to a MicroSD card to put into the phone is much much faster than syncing over the network.

Smartphones dont have the computing power yet to be used as a full node to support the network.
Even older PC's / Notebooks struggle using ´BTC Core with 4gb Ram

Single core with 1 GB RAM works fine, most modern phones have more CPU power and ram.

I think this question becomes much more interesting given this new development: 

Android on Desktop PC's: Remix OS
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/01/15/hands-on-with-jide-remix-2-0-for-pcs-a-promising-start-for-android-on-the-desktop/

You'll need a strong battery to cope with the constant downloading, which uses up alot of processing power, having to write. Why not use Mycelium? It's the same thing, except a lighter wallet.

Mycelium is a nice wallet, but not a full node.

This doesnt seem economic to me at all.
Core on Tower PC's are enough IMO

Hi, after reading this forum post I had to register and share my 2cents.

1st my little rant...
I am sorry for my tone but it is very frustrating searching on a subject and having to put up with 75% misinformation, negativity and lack of out of the box thinking.
It is so sad to see once again so many ppl talking down an idea without researching the subject.
If you lack imagination, creativity and got nothing constructive to add, why feeling the urge to share your opinion?

The only thing certain about ppl saying it can't be done is the certainty that they won't be the one making it happen...


Ok now back to the subject.
Since the main contributors to this idea are Valence, shorena & Digit-0,
this post is mostly addressed to them and their out of the box thinking.
what I mean by that is naysayers please abstain from spamming with "It can't be done"

bitcoin-core requirements - Bare Minimum (With Custom Settings)
source: https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/features/requirements

• Memory (RAM) 256 MB
• System
  • Desktop
  • Laptop
  • Most ARM chipsets
    • https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin_Core_compatible_devices#ARM-based_Chipsets
      (bitcoin core *could* run on a RaspberryPi B v1 @700MHZ 512mb RAM)

Here is the desired features:

• Highly secure Bitcoin Wallet
• Must fit in a pocket or close to
• wifi connectivity
• Large enough(expandable) memory to fit the whole block chain
• Full QWERTY keyboard with number row for convenience
• Capacity for external battery
• Control over network cards to reduce hacking risk(on / off)
• camera with focus to scan payment QR codes

Nice to have:

• Cellular connectivity for punctual transactions
• USB wifi dongle support to dispose of network cards from time to time
  • Why!? (would trolls ask...)
  • Because F-U Google Street Mac sniffing triangulation, I am not a damn criminal and I have the right to my own privacy
• Possible Debian support to allow total control over the network cards and OS, would require manually configuring and installing drivers for all components
  source: https://wiki.debian.org/Mobile
• USB to Ethernet support to prevent Wifi card sniffing and unsecured Wifi connection while syncing to blockchain at home

Here is the setup I had in mind
BTC -> Will most likely require a custom compile of Bitcon-core from source for Android.

Samsung Stratosphere (Samsung SCH-I405)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Stratosphere_id5868
1000 MHz, ARM Cortex-A8
512mb RAM
Full QWERTY Keyboard
wifi & sim connectivity

Kirin(TM) OTG Host Cable Cord Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Powered-Charging-Charger-Connector/dp/B00LTHBCNM
usb micro-b to 3 usb-A +1 usb-microB for charging

GDSY 128GB Waterproof USB 2.0 Metal Flash Memory Stick
www.amazon.com/GDSY-128GB-Waterproof-Memory-Storage/dp/B01BW6T0XS
128GB

Common Cellphone External USB battery




Other:
BTC -> Will most likely require Debian.

HDE High Speed USB 2.0 to RJ45 10/100 Mbps LAN Ethernet Network Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Speed-Ethernet-Network-Adapter/dp/B009GHJOF0

Random Cheap-O wifi dongles

[/list][/list]

There is an android version, ABCore: https://github.com/greenaddress/abcore

The low processor performance of most android devices combined with the phenomenal growth of the blockchain really reduce it's utility, however.

Great! Thank you for the info.

I haven't tried using an android core but I guess it is a interesting idea. By the way, how do you port forward 8333 using mobile data? Without the port forwarding, I think the node will be quite useless...

Since you addresses me directly: No I never said it cant be done. I indeed said I wouldnt do it. I said CPU and RAM should be fine (so Im not sure why you quote all the numbers regarding this). The main problems I see are #1 the data plan (unless you run it strictly on WiFi) and #2 the battery life. If you have a phone that needs constant WiFi and a cable every 2 hours (or an additional 1kg of external battery), you might use a laptop instead. If you are in it for the technical interest, go ahead.

There is a difference between saying I wouldnt do it (and here is why) and it cant be done.

My apologies for been unclear,

I meant to write the exact opposite,

my post was addressed to you because valance, you and Digit-0 who were providing good info and contributing.
I just wanted to say to the others not contributing to abstain from reading and answering my post with more "it can't be done'


sorry for the confusion, I will correct the post to reflect my original intend and clarify.

-Matt

Also,

I ordered the whole deal for 70$ on Amazon

Phone=30$
MemCard=20$
+cable, carry case and a usb to Ethernet adapter
Total = 70$

Quite reasonable for an experiment.

Will write an update about the results.

cheers

Looking forward to that. :)