alternative to coinomi (android)

[ABCbits]

I did quick check and it seems they also write this blog post, https://medium.com/coinomi/coinomi-reviving-our-legacy-reigniting-our-vision-df6eed9d0312. They claim they'll back to open source and support more blockchain network.

Coinomi wallet returned to having updates on 04/10/2024 after 2 years, on iOS we have the following changelog:

They are coming back and they are already announcing adding new coins... that is not a good sign  

I agree. There's no mention of fixing broken feature or bringing back server/service for certain feature.

[bitmover]

On Android:

Open Coinomi to learn more!

I'm not in a rush to install it again, especially since they're not really giving me a reason. I don't care about supporting a new version of Android. I wouldn't even call that an update.
If you've tested it: does Monero work again? It hasn't worked for years, so they'll need to do a bit more than saying "we're back". They could start by explaining why they ignored their wallet for all those years.

I am going to confess: I haven't uninstalled coinomi.

I have tried several wallets: Aqua, Exodus, Unstoppeable, etc....

None of them is nearly close the coinomi in terms of features for a bitcoin wallet (the main use for me).

I haven't found a single wallet whichi allowed me to sign messages, to control UTXO, to have multiple address formats.... Coinomi is simple one of the best  and most complete (if not the best and most complete) bitcoin wallet for android. Additionally, it also support a decent amount of coins like USDT ETH LTC and any other shitcoin you might need

Exodus is way worse is basically every aspect.

I am very happy to see they are back, and I don't understand all the hate on them over the last few years.

Their last update in Android was 12 September 2024
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coinomi.wallet

[LoyceV]

and I don't understand all the hate on them over the last few years.

I understand it: there was complete silence from them, and I couldn't move my Monero dust for years until I manually recovered it. The whole point of a mobile hot wallet is being able to move coins at any time.
It's going to take more than saying "we're back" to win back confidence.

[bitmover]

and I don't understand all the hate on them over the last few years.

I understand it: there was complete silence from them, and I couldn't move my Monero dust for years until I manually recovered it. The whole point of a mobile hot wallet is being able to move coins at any time.
It's going to take more than saying "we're back" to win back confidence.

But your coins were never lost, you could recover them using the seed.

Developing costs money, and even maintenence costs money.

I do understand that when we use products for free, such things may happen.

As I said, every other wallet that I tried is much worse. I am happy to be able to uninstall exodus soon

[Forsyth Jones]

I did quick check and it seems they also write this blog post, https://medium.com/coinomi/coinomi-reviving-our-legacy-reigniting-our-vision-df6eed9d0312. They claim they'll back to open source and support more blockchain network.

Coinomi wallet returned to having updates on 04/10/2024 after 2 years, on iOS we have the following changelog:

They are coming back and they are already announcing adding new coins... that is not a good sign  

I agree. There's no mention of fixing broken feature or bringing back server/service for certain feature.

It's great that they're planning to open the code again. There's no justification for making a bitcoin wallet's code closed, they should never have done that. But the decision to go back to open source is good news.

I've only used Coinomi very little because it's closed source, despite its cool features.

To make it better, they could provide support for P2TR addresses for BTC and, in the future, sylent payments.

Speaking of wallets that are similar or close to Coinomi, like Stack Wallet, I liked it because it doesn't have as many altcoins. I think having too many altcoins is a problem because it's more code to deal with and more room for error. Something similar to the derivation path vulnerability in the ledger could happen.

But anyway, I'm happy with Coinomi's return and their decision to open the code again, because it's another option for us users.

Exodus is way worse is basically every aspect.

I am very happy to see they are back, and I don't understand all the hate on them over the last few years.

Yes, exodus is horrible, closed source... it seems like they try hard to scare users away with that horrible UI, of course it's a good wallet for anyone who wants to use shitcoins, now that coinomi is apparently back, it will compete directly with exodus.

I hope coinomi will also support air-gapped hardware wallets and common HWs (with USB connections) in the future.

[LoyceV]

But your coins were never lost, you could recover them using the seed.

Yep, but it was annoying to do, which is why I waited so long. It's also a last resort, after I completely gave up on hoping for a software update.

Developing costs money, and even maintenence costs money.

Nothing changed there. So why would they last longer this time?

I do understand that when we use products for free, such things may happen.

I use a lot of free software, until I no longer like it. It's annoying having to switch, which is another reason I won't easily switch back.

As I said, every other wallet that I tried is much worse.

Agreed. I haven't found a decent multicoin wallet that includes Monero.

[ABCbits]

and I don't understand all the hate on them over the last few years.

I understand it: there was complete silence from them, and I couldn't move my Monero dust for years until I manually recovered it. The whole point of a mobile hot wallet is being able to move coins at any time.
It's going to take more than saying "we're back" to win back confidence.

Don't forget that some people don't like Coinomi going closed source. There's also accusation that Coinomi being careless when handling recovery words which explained on https://avoid-coinomi.com/.

[DaveF]

Glad to see they are back and going open source. I hope it all works out.
Tinfoil hat paranoia....is it the same people or did they sell off the entire works to someone else?

Obviously, there is no way to know but after going silent for so long it's juts one of those things to think about.

From their medium post

Giannis Ntzegkoutanis, the original founder of Coinomi Wallet, has reunited the original team and is partnering with Eucalyptus Labs to once again

But in the end there is no real way to prove who is doing what.

-Dave

[bitmover]

Glad to see they are back and going open source. I hope it all works out.
Tinfoil hat paranoia....is it the same people or did they sell off the entire works to someone else?

Obviously, there is no way to know but after going silent for so long it's juts one of those things to think about.

From their medium post

Giannis Ntzegkoutanis, the original founder of Coinomi Wallet, has reunited the original team and is partnering with Eucalyptus Labs to once again

I think it is ok as long as the original founder is still in the team and giving updates.

For now, the wallet just need some bug fixes and updates on nodes etc... Some wallets such as monero simple didn't have any connection to a node, breaking the wallet. Fixes looks easy.

How will they make money now? Just for the integrated exchange inside the wallet? I think the way the project makes money is very important, to keep the project alive.

[dkbit98]

Glad to see they are back and going open source. I hope it all works out.
Tinfoil hat paranoia....is it the same people or did they sell off the entire works to someone else?

If they are using the same website and same github page than they are probably the same people who hired more developers to help them.
I did check their official girhub page and I don't see any activity since 2020, but I think it was mostly used for Coinomi BIP39 Tool.
I see they are getting more active on social media since September, but  I think it's better to be careful with this wallet.

[bitmover]

Glad to see they are back and going open source. I hope it all works out.
Tinfoil hat paranoia....is it the same people or did they sell off the entire works to someone else?

If they are using the same website and same github page than they are probably the same people who hired more developers to help them.
I did check their official girhub page and I don't see any activity since 2020, but I think it was mostly used for Coinomi BIP39 Tool.
I see they are getting more active on social media since September, but  I think it's better to be careful with this wallet.

They have some activity in reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/COINOMI/

I read there that they are still fixing bugs, and people still can't move erc20 tokens from the wallet (you can just import it to another wallet)

[JollyGood]

Coinomi, that is a name I had not heard for a very long time. They were synonymous with being a closed source project therefore there was always going to be a concern. Anyway, now that they are claiming to be back it cannot negate the fact they abandoned the project and left their users with coins and tokens that were stuck.

They will definitely get some sort of traction with downloads but in the end, can they be trusted?

They have some activity in reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/COINOMI/

I read there that they are still fixing bugs, and people still can't move erc20 tokens from the wallet (you can just import it to another wallet)

[bitmover]

Coinomi, that is a name I had not heard for a very long time. They were synonymous with being a closed source project therefore there was always going to be a concern. Anyway, now that they are claiming to be back it cannot negate the fact they abandoned the project and left their users with coins and tokens that were stuck.

They will definitely get some sort of traction with downloads but in the end, can they be trusted?

They have some activity in reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/COINOMI/

I read there that they are still fixing bugs, and people still can't move erc20 tokens from the wallet (you can just import it to another wallet)

I think no project can be trusted 100%.

I also think that open source is amazing, but there are huge amount of shit open source projects .

Being open source only is not enough for a good wallet. As I said earlier, even with all those valid problems against coinomi, I couldn't find a replacement for it (multicurrency and with all those basic bitcoin features)

[Pmalek]

Anyway, now that they are claiming to be back it cannot negate the fact they abandoned the project and left their users with coins and tokens that were stuck.

I understand what you are saying, but to be fair, no one can stop users to import their seeds in other wallets to regain access to the coins and tokens they can no longer engage with after Coinomi started experiencing problems. As long as they keep a backup of their seed and know the derivation paths of the assets they possess, there should be a way to import this data elsewhere.

[JollyGood]

As long as users had seeds they would have to go through the inconvenience of finding alternatives for every tiny amount of crypto they stored and even though funds would not be lost forever as long as seeds were backed up, people using their services deserved better.

I suppose one thing that would probably work in their favour as they try to rebuild bridges with the wider community would be the announcement on Medium they made about the relaunch being open source. If the whole project will be completely open source then it should help them regain trust.

I understand what you are saying, but to be fair, no one can stop users to import their seeds in other wallets to regain access to the coins and tokens they can no longer engage with after Coinomi started experiencing problems. As long as they keep a backup of their seed and know the derivation paths of the assets they possess, there should be a way to import this data elsewhere.

[Pmalek]

I suppose one thing that would probably work in their favour as they try to rebuild bridges with the wider community would be the announcement on Medium they made about the relaunch being open source. If the whole project will be completely open source then it should help them regain trust.

The original Coinomi wallet was also open-source initially, but then their developers changed their mind and opted to go closed-source instead. I think they were complaining about other wallets stealing their source code and that being the reason to go dark.

I also remember the incident that involved Coinomi sending unencrypted seed phrases to Google servers for spell-check purposes, a feature that was misused.   

[JollyGood]

The original Coinomi wallet was also open-source initially, but then their developers changed their mind and opted to go closed-source instead. I think they were complaining about other wallets stealing their source code and that being the reason to go dark.

I remember when Coinomi owners took that step and remember reading their reasons for taking that step. When developers believe they have more chances of making more money by closed-source software then they end up providing all sorts of exuses but top of the list has to be others wanting to copy their code or even exploiting weaknesses. Coinomi did not have to do it but they opted to and somewhere along the line it probably did not work for them as they abandoned the project. Nobody was told what really happened.

I also remember the incident that involved Coinomi sending unencrypted seed phrases to Google servers for spell-check purposes, a feature that was misused.  

I had to go through this Medium link to refamiliarise myself with what happened, it goes all the way back to February 2019. They claimed it only affected their desktop wallets but nevertheless it was massive mistake on their part.

[Pmalek]

I had to go through this Medium link to refamiliarise myself with what happened, it goes all the way back to February 2019. They claimed it only affected their desktop wallets but nevertheless it was massive mistake on their part.

I also forgot several details of that incident, like the fact that, according to them, seed words were sent over to Google only when you restored a wallet from seed. The second claim is that the data wasn't unencrypted and that only Google could access it, which they didn't because of a bad request. Due to the closed-source nature of the wallet, no independent party with coding knowledge can verify if what they said is true or not. 

[DaveF]

I had to go through this Medium link to refamiliarise myself with what happened, it goes all the way back to February 2019. They claimed it only affected their desktop wallets but nevertheless it was massive mistake on their part.

I also forgot several details of that incident, like the fact that, according to them, seed words were sent over to Google only when you restored a wallet from seed. The second claim is that the data wasn't unencrypted and that only Google could access it, which they didn't because of a bad request. Due to the closed-source nature of the wallet, no independent party with coding knowledge can verify if what they said is true or not. 

Actually you probably could with some work.

You would need to get the version that did it, change some settings in your DNS so that the request went to a server you controlled and possibly have to spoof an SSL for google and then you could actually see what was happening. As for the bad request part that was confirmed by some people. The question was did (does) google record the bad requests and if so who has / had access to them.

Either way since it seemed to be a 1 off thing at the time since nobody else was complaining about lost funds. So more then likely it was user error.

Still, closed source wallets are not good. And hot wallets are not good either.

-Dave

[JollyGood]

I also forgot several details of that incident, like the fact that, according to them, seed words were sent over to Google only when you restored a wallet from seed. The second claim is that the data wasn't unencrypted and that only Google could access it, which they didn't because of a bad request. Due to the closed-source nature of the wallet, no independent party with coding knowledge can verify if what they said is true or not. 

I think they had a couple of setbacks in a short period of time and the negative publicity did not help their cause. As for the latest news, now that the developers have decided to breathe new life in to a project they themselves allowed to die, many people will start using it especially those that do know about their past and will be looking for a wallet that can easily accommodate their coins and tokens. It will definitely help their cause after they stated it will be open source this time but many will refuse to download it. If they have learned from their mistakes and set out a decent project that can have the full source code verified, it might become successful.

Either way since it seemed to be a 1 off thing at the time since nobody else was complaining about lost funds. So more then likely it was user error.

It could have been negligence on their part but I think they fixed the issue shortly after it was made public. It means they allowed it to remain until it was made public and certainly did not look good for them. Maybe they have learned from their mistakes.