Bitcoin Wallet for Android

[Dabs]

Oh, well, so far my transactions get confirmed within the next 3 or 4 blocks, sometimes 5 or 6 blocks. I've always sent with a fee except when it's not needed.

I just read about someone sending more than the minimum required fee, and for even larger transactions that is recommended for faster processing, like if you are buying chips from an asic manufacturer.

Blockchain.info sometimes displays a queue number on my transactions and an estimated time in the hours, as in estimated confirmation is 12 hours... But then it gets confirmed within the next 3 blocks, so I don't know.

BTW, this is with the bitcoin-qt client on desktop/laptop. For android, I used to just set a slightly higher fee than 0.0001. Like 0.0002.

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[CommanderVenus]

Im using Version 3.13. Is this app downloading the blockchain to my phone to sync?

[Andreas Schildbach]

Im using Version 3.13. Is this app downloading the blockchain to my phone to sync?

It only downloads a tiny fraction of the chain, just as much as it needs to provide the security of your wallet.

[luv2drnkbr]

I was just about to use it (the latest version), but on the send page, there was nowhere to input a fee amount.  It was a small transaction and I didn't want it in limbo so I used another app.  Where the heck do I type in the fee amount??

[Andreas Schildbach]

Since a few weeks, the correct fee is now calculated automatically. So don't worry about your tx ending up in limbo.

[luv2drnkbr]

Since a few weeks, the correct fee is now calculated automatically. So don't worry about your tx ending up in limbo.

Can you still have an option to change it though?  And maybe just a pop-up warning about changing it?

I very much want to be able to control the fee myself.

[Andreas Schildbach]

I very much want to be able to control the fee myself.

Why?

[luv2drnkbr]

I very much want to be able to control the fee myself.

Why?

Because that's part of the entire purpose of bitcoin: control.  Maybe I want to donate more to the miners because I feel like supporting the network.  Maybe I am connected to a single trusted node that I know relays dust and mines for a pool that includes dust in blocks, and I want to send a no-fee dust transaction that I know will take a long time to confirm but I want to send it anyway.

The point is that while I may know what the network may or may not accept, I still want to ability to have the final say in what I do.  Isn't that the whole point of bitcoin?  For the user to have the final say on how he uses his money?

I'd much rather have a warning that says "You might fuck this up, don't say I didn't warn you" but still lets me do it.  Maybe like an option in the settings menu that's turned off by default but can be enabled and shows that pop-up warning when enabled.

[luv2drnkbr]

Just the option, that's all I'm asking!  It can even be turned off by default and have warnings every time I use it!  And don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate the fee being calculated to be exactly the necessary amount-- that's amazing, and I'm very greatful for it.  Alls I want is the option to change it!

[Andreas Schildbach]

The problem with "just that option" is that it adds to the overall complexity of the app. Needs to be tested, maintained and supported. There is already far too many special cases. So generally I'm trying to remove options that are not needed any more.

My overall focus on the app is safety and being easy to use. I do not priorize rather specific needs of power users. I think those are better off using specialized tools. That said, maybe someone should start a branch of the app aimed at power users? It's all open source.

The "single trusted node" model is not supported - it's missing authentication. Including dust in blocks is something I don't want to encourage or support at all. Rather than donating via the transaction fee why don't you just use a separate transaction?

[2586]

Any ETA on when HD wallets will be implemented?

[Andreas Schildbach]

Any ETA on when HD wallets will be implemented?

Support for the algorithm has been merged for bitcoinj 0.10, which I think will be released shortly. However, it does not yet contain any wallet integration. I hope (but cannot know) that integration will happen in bitcoinj 0.11. At about the same time, I will try to roll first previews of HD wallets in Bitcoin Wallet. For a release, some more plumbing needs to be done, for example adapting the backup format.

I'd say its at least 2-3 months away. But don't take my word for it.

[P_Shep]

How/when are the exchange rates updated?
I can't find a way of doing it manually.

[Andreas Schildbach]

How/when are the exchange rates updated?
I can't find a way of doing it manually.

Rates are taken from Bitcoincharts, and if that's not available blockchain.info. Its refreshed every 10 minutes.

What do you want to do manually?

[P_Shep]

OK. Just seems to be stuck.
Been showing 90.56USD all day. Maybe longer.

[Andreas Schildbach]

OK. Just seems to be stuck.
Been showing 90.56USD all day. Maybe longer.

It's a weighted average. In case of Bitcoincharts and USD, it's weighted both over time (24h) and 13 exchanges:

http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/currency/USD.html

[2weiX]

I LOVE this wallet and have been using it for a very long time.

However, I am THIS close to uninstalling it because it automatically starts up when I do not want it to.  Please add a checkbox/option so I can turn off this feature.  I want to start it up when I want to start it up.  When I plug in my phone to charge it, most of the time I do not want it to auto start.

Please, pretty please.

+1

[Mike Hearn]

I think what it might be beneficial if some of you guys fork the project, or pay someone to do it for you.

There is a growing pile of feature requests here that are basically pointless, but a small number of people feel very strongly about, like being able to explicitly set fees or control the precise times the app runs.

It's fine to say "it should only start when I want it to start" or "the point of bitcoin is control" but that feedback is nonsensical. These aren't reasons, they're emotions. Just plug your phone in and watch adb logcat for a while, you'll see your phone is always doing lots of things in the background. This is really common and normal behaviour for Android smartphones. If you're bothered by the connection bars in your tray, go into settings and disable that so you don't see any evidence it's connecting, done.

If app developers don't push back on this kind of request, you end up with this:

  http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/11/this-is-what-happens-when-you-let-developers-create-ui.html

A setting for everything, but I just want to send my money!

A "Bitcoin Wallet for Experts" app might be appropriate. You could use the same codebase and add whatever features anyone wants.

[BurtW]

I LOVE this wallet and have been using it for a very long time.

However, I am THIS close to uninstalling it because it automatically starts up when I do not want it to.  Please add a checkbox/option so I can turn off this feature.  I want to start it up when I want to start it up.  When I plug in my phone to charge it, most of the time I do not want it to auto start.

Please, pretty please.

+1

I think there's an option for this already, I'm sure its disabled on my phone.

EDIT: 1st option in settings, "Sync on power". A disconnect on close option would be appreciated here though.

Thanks!  Sorry I missed that option.  I will give it a try.

The reason I missed that option is that it no longer exists!

[BurtW]

Forget about all those trivial issues above.  I think this is a much more important issue to discuss:

Hello,

The problem is that the bitcoin application generates bad signatures, reusing random numbers. In this case this transaction was the culprit:

https://blockchain.info/de/tx/54ac98e2301b9c7fdab5cfe93907032cc1248f9d5995cee70f38e98ba93d2d7f

Can you confirm that the transaction (sending 0.02 BTC to 1DzUV...) was generated by the android app?  You should send a bug report to the author of the app you used to generate this transaction.  The problem is that it uses the same r-value b8e6c364b50eada68923eb07930b294411826e6068f0dcbe7514154881d75812 twice in the signature, which is enough to break the ECDSA signature scheme and reveal the public key (5HrE9sgmeWu6mW...). Everyone can break the key with this information.

This problem occurs more and more frequently in recent times.  Usually there is a transaction to the 1Hkywx.. address within a few hours after the bad transaction, so it seems someone has a script that monitors this problem.  

At the moment there are 147 exposed keys.  The recent ones usually have a lot of transactions before the problem occurs, so it seems to occur rarely, but it occurs several times a month (worldwide).

I hope this post sheds some light into the problem.

Technical discussion of this specific issued moved to here:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=271486.0