How to view cryptocurrency prices secretly on phone?

[jerry0]

So someone that I know wants to check the current btc price whenever they want.  The thing is they are not tech savy at all.  What I did last time was use an old android phone that they had and entered that bitstamp website into the google chrome browser on their android phone.  So everytime that person uses that android phone and enters the passcode to unlock the phone, they would click on the chrome browser and then it would show the current btc price on bitstamp.  They would then click that button to turn off the screen so if they wanted to check the btc price again, they have to enter the passcode etc.  The thing is this android phone is an old phone and very slow so it isn't their main phone.  The reason I did that as oppose to entering the bitstamp website on their phone that they use is because if they check the bitstamp price while in public, imagine someone else looking at their phone when in public, that person would assume they have cryptocurrency.  That person doesn't have any but wants to check the prices only.  So because of that, I thought best idea is ask them if they have another phone or computer that they leave at home to use so they check it that way so did that with the android phone.



Now that android phone no longer works and that person wants to check btc price.  What are their options for this?  They do not have another spare phone and no computer at all.  I don't want that person to check cryptocurrency prices in public on their regular iphone in case someone looks at it and assumes they have cryptocurrency which they do not have.  I did thought about telling that person to only check it whenever they are at home and they are fine with that.  The issue with this would be everytime they check the btc price at home on say bitstamp with their regular phone, well if they open the google browser on their phone in public, it would then display bitstamp.  So I thought telling that person to delete their web search history each time on google chrome on their phone would work but this would be a huge hassle for someone not tech savy.  Also they would have to enter bitstamp website every single time and since that person isn't tech savy, I would have to write the bitstamp website on paper for them to leave at home and they type it every single time on their iphone.  Does anyone here have any alternatives to this?  The other thing I thought was download the bitstamp app?  However, can you view updated current prices with any of those apps if you don't have an account with that site?  That person owns no cryptocurrency and does not have any account at any of the exchanges.  That person just wants to check btc price at home say a few times a day.



Now if any of the apps do work for this, which one would it be?  I guess a safe way would be make sure that crypto app is on the last page of their iphone apps?  So the only way to get there is scroll once or twice to there?  Again the thing is I don't want that person to use their iphone in public and when playing around with the pihone, go to or even click on the crypto app by accident where other people might notice it and think that person has crypto.  I always heard people say you shouldn't even keep any crypto apps on your phone for safety reasons.  So in this situation, best thing to do?



If that person had another spare phone or a laptop even, well that would be very simple. 



Anyone have opinion on this? 

[Cantsay]

The reason I did that as oppose to entering the bitstamp website on their phone that they use is because if they check the bitstamp price while in public, imagine someone else looking at their phone when in public, that person would assume they have cryptocurrency.  That person doesn't have any but wants to check the prices only.

No offense but this does not make any sense to me, why would someone who does not have any cryptocurrency not even an altcoin want to keep checking the price of bitcoin and even while in bus or in public places? Even if we were talking about a newbie that newly just got their first few sats and are looking for the best time to sell their coins or are looking at their current balance due to lack of experience that would have been understandable but for someone that does not own anything to keep checking the price of bitcoin is somehow strange.

If I’m to advice you or that person I’ll just say; whenever you’re in public space and you want to check the price of bitcoin make sure you reduce the brightness of your screen, when you do that it will be almost impossible for the people sitting close to you to see what you’re doing with your device…

Another way will be to fix a privacy screen guard on the mobile device it works almost the same as “reducing the brightness” but in this instance you can increase the brightness of your device and your neighbors still won’t be able to see what you’re doing with your device.These are just simple steps that could help your no-coin friend check the price of bitcoin without being afraid of his surroundings.

[Upgrade00]

I agree with Fantasy, I can't find any plausible reason that someone who doesn't hold any cryptocurrency at all will want to keep checking the price with obvious regularity. I only check the price of Bitcoin a couple of times in a week.

So I thought telling that person to delete their web search history each time on google chrome on their phone would work but this would be a huge hassle for someone not tech savy

If they can open the tab to check a website, they can delete that web search when they are done. They do not have to clear the entire search history.
They can also have a separate browser to check the price, one they will not have to open in public for other searches.
If they use Chrome regularly, they can download duckduckgo to only follow the market price at home.

and since that person isn't tech savy, I would have to write the bitstamp website on paper for them to leave at home and they type it every single time on their iphone

This still begs the question as to why they are so interested in checking the price.

[libert19]

No offense, but you write so much and say so little.

[Jawhead999]

The cheap solution is you need to use anti spy screen on your cell phone, for the best solution you can use polarized screen protector and wear glasses to depolarized the screen on your cell phone. For me this isn't really important as you only need to have one more cell phone where the first one is for personal and the second one is for outside or work.

[Wapfika]

Bitcoin and altcoin price ticker is already available on phone widget. You can customize the size so that it will just look like a regular number on your home screen. 

Afaik even Binance and other trading apps offer a widget on home screen that let you check the price secretly by just swiping your phone to home screen. But all of this secret thing is considered as useless if the user itself is doing it on public places which his phone is exposed publicly. Why not just check the price when you are alone such as in comfort room.

[ABCbits]

So I thought telling that person to delete their web search history each time on google chrome on their phone would work but this would be a huge hassle for someone not tech savy.  Also they would have to enter bitstamp website every single time and since that person isn't tech savy, I would have to write the bitstamp website on paper for them to leave at home and they type it every single time on their iphone.  Does anyone here have any alternatives to this?

One alternative would be adding that website to the homescreen, many browser these days offer that feature. Here's an example guide how to do it, https://www.howtogeek.com/667938/how-to-add-a-website-to-your-android-home-screen/.

The other thing I thought was download the bitstamp app? However, can you view updated current prices with any of those apps if you don't have an account with that site?

I don't know behavior of Bitstamp app. But there are so many application which let you see price of cryptocurrency without login. Even CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko have it's own mobile  application.

[Adbitco]

Must they have to go through bitstamp to view price of btc?
there are many place to view price of bitcoin without them going through those long process for your friend to constantly check the price of bitcoin and other related cryptocurrencies. We can freely use Coinmarketcap to easily look the price of possibly if you have a Binance app you can as well monitor price of bitcoin without having to pass through those rigorous ways. However, i won't encourage anyone to visit market or even have to start looking at their holdings in their wallet this attracts evil eyes because you don't know if the person next to you in taxi is also a guru tech or have knowledge about bitcoin he might use his or her phone to start recording what you are doing and if mistakenly you reveal seedphrase or private keys his camera got all thing recorded and you won't know someone out there in the bus already snipped your details secretly. Be warned and also pass this to your friends as well.

[OcTradism]

If you use your phone for all tasks, exchange login, trading, price checking and even other tasks for your works or entertainments, it is a risky practice and trying to hide others that you are checking price does not make much sense to protect you.

If you have more than one phone, you can use a phone on which you don't login your exchange account, don't store your cryptocurrency wallets, don't log in emails that you use for exchange accounts, you can check price anytime without so much fear.

There is still risk that you can be target of physical attacks if some bad guys put you on radar for kidnap or kill you to get your cryptocurrency. So if you are more serious about your safety, not only your bitcoin, don't do it in public places.

In fact, checking price too regularly won't help you get richer but will make your more emotional with your buying or selling and you will lose opportunities to get rich with this style.

[348Judah]

No offense, but you write so much and say so little.

I thought as much also, there's no need to all the story line explanation when he could have just summarize the whole thing he want to pass across, but i want to believe maybe that's his own way of relating his ideas base on understanding, there's nothing go in you making a wasted efforts on something you have no investment in, it's not about speculating alone, he should understand that there's also a need for him to make every necessary efforts to start from somewhere no matter how little or small.

[ultrloa]

If you are afraid if someone will watch you once you check the crypto price from time to time then why not buy a privacy tampered glass for your phone?



Photo reference came from google.

So try to search it on google  and you can find some merchant selling it also for sure this one will help you regarding on your concerns.

But for me I don't really mind on doing that since not everyone around us don't know about crypto and also no people randomly will think about stealing your crypto asset in public especially if they can't confirm if you hold a lot of volume.

[Zlantann]

The reason I did that as oppose to entering the bitstamp website on their phone that they use is because if they check the bitstamp price while in public, imagine someone else looking at their phone when in public, that person would assume they have cryptocurrency.  That person doesn't have any but wants to check the prices only. 

Does one really need to check Bitcoin prices in the public space? You can check the price of cryptocurrencies in your home or workplace where it will be kept secret. Checking the price in public could be dangerous because you are unconsciously telling people that you have cryptocurrencies even if you don't own any. And in some locations, cryptocurrency owners are seen as very rich people. In this case, you might be attracting criminals to yourself and family members.

If that person had another spare phone or a laptop even, well that would be very simple. 

Using an unused phone just to view cryptocurrency prices is a waste of time. You can easily check Bitcoin prices on any platform with ease. You should be thinking of how to use these old devices to set up an air-gapped wallet if you don't own a hardware wallet.

Anyone have opinion on this? 

You might have a good idea of what you want to communicate to the community but you lack the skills to coordinate your thoughts and express them in an understandable manner. I suggest you reduce you writing and present you thoughts sequentially.

[LTU_btc]

No offense, but you write so much and say so little.

It's classic jerry0, for those who don't know him. No offence, but he seem to be that kind of person who makes everything so complicated. Once in few months he come to hardware walket board and makes several topics with all kind of strangest issues. And no, he can't describe issue in few sentences, he have to write whole essay .
I don't really believe that he really have such issue that he described it, it just sounds a bit unrealistic, but still, nice that community managed to answer this question.

[OgNasty]

On my iPhone I use the “Bitcoin Ticker” app which may not really be secretive, but you can add a widget showing the price so you can quickly and easily check the price with a quick swipe on your phone. You can also add your entire crypto portfolio to make it easy to track the value. With the demise of Blockfolio, this has been the best app I’ve found.

[Nheer]

This forum is a place where quality is prioritized over quantity and as such making such a long post is not always the best thing but how quality is your content? Reading your post was so boring that I imagined if i was reading a novel. If your aim was to earn merit then you should consider improving your writing skills

Why should someone who doesn't even own coins worry so much? There's no reason to constantly monitor the price of bitcoin if you don't own any. It truly baffles me when people take excessive precautions, like discreetly checking bitstamp and wiping browser history, when they have nothing to protect. I now know that the only people who continually monitor the market price to see how much their investment is moving are those who own coins.

The other thing I thought was download the bitstamp app?  However, can you view updated current prices with any of those apps if you don't have an account with that site?  That person owns no cryptocurrency and does not have any account at any of the exchanges.  That person just wants to check btc price at home say a few times a day.

The majority of these apps include a widget function that allows you to easily monitor your bitcoin price on the Home Screen. I'm not familiar with Bitstamp, but monitoring bitcoin price is simple nowadays, and there are many apps you can use to do so, such as Coin Gecko, coin market cap, and even some crypto exchange apps like Binance and Kucoin, where you don't need an account to monitor bitcoin price because it's displayed on their homepage. If you are concerned about privacy, and your friend uses a mobile phone, you can easily adjust the brightness of the screen, which works very well, and you may also put a privacy screen guard, which makes it almost impossible for people around you to see through your screen.

[YUriy1991]

I always heard people say you shouldn't even keep any crypto apps on your phone for safety reasons.  So in this situation, best thing to do?

Of course you can't check prices offline because the data is presented online. Now if the issue is that you don't want to save any crypto applications on your cellphone for security reasons, I think that might be true because all your data is stored online, including emails and passwords.

The difference is that if you enter the application manually it may be safe and after using it always press the exit button from the application then enter again manually at a later time in my opinion it is very possible.

[PrivacyG]

I would advice against using Privacy screen protectors.  Privacy screen protector plus secretly checking the Bitcoin price in public is as sketchy as constantly looking around and over your shoulder while putting groceries in a bag.  If the people around think the person may have Bitcoin for checking BitStamp, I imagine they will be convinced if the person has some obvious Privacy enhancing accessories on themselves and they notice there is a Bitcoin price on their screen.  Privacy screen protectors only help starting from a particular angle.  If you are in a bus it is not hard to check at least part of some bodys screen.  Moreover many of the Privacy screen protectors only work two way.  This means there is only protection from left to right angles.  But if you look straight at the screen you can incline it up and down and it will still show perfectly clear.

I found a website for you that may help.  Investing.com it is (https://www.investing.com/).  Open their website and pretend you are looking at Stock prices.  Scroll down enough and you reach the Cryptocurrency price lists.  Glance over that area and scroll back up normally, pretending to look at Stocks again.

There are other websites that help definitely.  But I can not access them because I have Java Script disabled.  This website is complicated enough and has a name that does not shout 'I MAY HAVE BITCOIN' out loud.

[Potato Chips]

If it's just for avoding shoulder surfing, a privacy screen protector + finding a nice corner/place to check on you phone + fast hands should suffice.

In case they're really paranoid, perhaps they'd be interested on a discord bot that informs price. I actually have a personal discord server for shits and emojis lol, it's just me, my dummy acc and bunch of bots. Basically, if I pull up the member list, I'd see the price:



Suppose someone was shoulder surfing straight behind me... they could be thinking I was just looking at the member list. If there is another account (that's not a bot), you could also click on their profile lol.

[crwth]

It seems like a simple problem but you are just making it more complicated than what it really is. Having applications on the phone that have widgets would be helpful. If he is not as tech-savvy, just set it up for him. If you can, buy a smartwatch, this would make things easier because there are a lot of apps and you can even set them on the home screen for the BTC price. Make him look like he is just watching the time or something lol.

[Frankolala]

This sound funny to me, why are you worried about checking bitcoin price, and maybe risking your life in public when you don't have any bitcoin. Why not look for a means to buy bitcoin and so that when you are checking the price, you know that it is worth checking.

Such person shouldn't bother checking bitcoin price in public but only at home, and if he must check in public suggest dimming of the screen light will be nice, so that only you can see what you are doing on your phone. It is good that whatever bitcoin related practice that we are doing, should be done privately for our own safety.