[ANN] breadwallet, first bitcoin network client for iOS, first BIP32 SPV client

[voisine]

breadwallet.com

breadwallet is the first bitcoin network client for iOS. It connects to the bitcoin network in SPV mode instead of using trusted servers for balance and transaction data. It's designed to be extremely simple, intuitive and safe for non-bitcoin experts. It's also currently the only BIP32 deterministic SPV wallet. Other SPV wallets are based on bitcoinj which doesn't have BIP32 implemented yet, though it's very close.

major features:

- "simplified payment verification" for fast mobile performance (BIP37)
- no servers to get hacked or go down
- single backup phrase that works forever (BIP32/BIP39)
- private keys never leave your device
- import password protected paper wallets (BIP38)
- "payment protocol" payee identity certification (BIP70)
- open source

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[voisine]

*reserved*

[voisine]

v0.5 is now live in the app store

new features:

- touch id
- lower bitcoin network fees
- faster syncing
- background network fetching
- receive badge notifications
- many refinements and minor bug fixes

[unamis76]

v0.5 is now live in the app store

new features:

- touch id
- lower bitcoin network fees
- faster syncing
- background network fetching
- receive badge notifications
- many refinements and minor bug fixes

Didn't realize you had a topic for your wallet here.

I've been using almost since launch, your app is amazing, and probably the best iOS Bitcoin wallet, and you just made it epic with this new update! Thank you and keep it up

[picobit]

I have uninstalled all other bitcoin wallets on my iPhone (only two, to be honest).  Breadwallet is just marginally nicer and easier to use in almost all regards.  Great work.

One question: Is the twelve-word backup phrase compatible with other wallets (in case I lose my iPhone and decide to switch to android, for example).

[Michail1]

No.

I tried to use my MyCelium passphrase on breadwallet and, although the words worked, the balance was Zero. 
So, it would appear the checksum is valid on the phrase, but appears that bread has a diff offset or something.
This post doesn't answer why, but answers your question in that you can't simply use the phrase from one wallet to another for access to the same addresses.

[dabura667]

breadwallet is compatible with Hive-JS (their web interface which stores keys locally in your browser encrypted.) or Hive-iOS.

Hive for Android and Hive for MAC OSX are not HD.

[jim618]

No.

I tried to use my MyCelium passphrase on breadwallet and, although the words worked, the balance was Zero. 
So, it would appear the checksum is valid on the phrase, but appears that bread has a diff offset or something.
This post doesn't answer why, but answers your question in that you can't simply use the phrase from one wallet to another for access to the same addresses.

Mycelium uses BIP44 - the same key structure as Trezor.
Its root node is m/44h/0h/0h

I presume Breadwallet is 'vanilla' BIP32, which has as its root node m/0h


It is a bit like:

The same seed phrase is used, so you can navigate to the exact same junction in a huge city with both apps.
But in one you are looking North, and in the other you are looking West. You see different things.

In MultiBit HD we ended up supporting:
+ Trezor BIP44 wallets ('hard' wallets) where the private keys are on the device
+ BIP32 wallets (MultiBit HD 'soft' wallets) where the private keys are stored, encrypted, on your machine
+ BIP44 wallets (Trezor and Mycelium 'soft' wallets) with private keys stored encrypted locally.

You can actually use the same seed in a MBHD BIP44 soft wallet and Mycelium and you see the same balance on each.
Mycelium doesn't seem to show the sends you make from MBHD (as opposed to the sends you make from Mycelium) but the balance it works out is correct.

If Breadwallet uses vanilla BIP32 then you should be able to have the same seed phrase in a MBHD soft wallet and breadwallet and see the same transactions. I haven't tried this.

We actually show in our 'Wallet dashboard' the exact capabilities of the wallet as it will be a little confusing for people.
All part of the joy that is HD wallets.

[picobit]

After the latest update, breadwallet makes transactions with tiny fees, like 0.000011 BTC.  Those transactions take hours to confirm.  This may be OK if I send money to a web site, but for a phone wallet it is problematic, I could need to wait for at least the first confirmation in a face-to-face situation.

[unamis76]

After the latest update, breadwallet makes transactions with tiny fees, like 0.000011 BTC.  Those transactions take hours to confirm.  This may be OK if I send money to a web site, but for a phone wallet it is problematic, I could need to wait for at least the first confirmation in a face-to-face situation.

Never had confirmation issues on breadwallet, but I think it would be cool to implement a custom fee functionality...

[btchris]

breadwallet is compatible with Hive-JS (their web interface which stores keys locally in your browser encrypted.) or Hive-iOS.

Hive for Android and Hive for MAC OSX are not HD.

FYI Hive for Android has been HD for a few months now. It shares the same (Cordova-based) JavaScript source as the iOS version.

[unamis76]

voisine, do you plan on making any kind of Apple Watch implementation of breadwallet? It would be pretty nice to display QR codes on the Watch

[voisine]

After the latest update, breadwallet makes transactions with tiny fees, like 0.000011 BTC.  Those transactions take hours to confirm.  This may be OK if I send money to a web site, but for a phone wallet it is problematic, I could need to wait for at least the first confirmation in a face-to-face situation.

We're going to be upping fees slightly in the next update to meet the eligius pool minimums, and also enabling child-pays-for-parent when spending unconfirmed non-change inputs

[voisine]

voisine, do you plan on making any kind of Apple Watch implementation of breadwallet? It would be pretty nice to display QR codes on the Watch

It would be cool to receive on your watch. We'll probably do it if the watch gets a lot of traction.

[unamis76]

I need to sign a message from an address created on breadwallet. Seems like neither MultiBit nor Electrum accept seeds from breadwallet... I though all of these clients accepted the same BIP 32 seeds? What do you recommend for this? What client should I use to restore the breadwallet seed and sign my message?

[voisine]

I need to sign a message from an address created on breadwallet. Seems like neither MultiBit nor Electrum accept seeds from breadwallet... I though all of these clients accepted the same BIP 32 seeds? What do you recommend for this? What client should I use to restore the breadwallet seed and sign my message?

I believe hive is using the same bip32 default wallet structure. We don't recommend typing your recovery phrase into other wallets or devices though. Each new device and wallet increases your exposure to malware and security flaws.

[btchris]

I need to sign a message from an address created on breadwallet. Seems like neither MultiBit nor Electrum accept seeds from breadwallet... I though all of these clients accepted the same BIP 32 seeds? What do you recommend for this? What client should I use to restore the breadwallet seed and sign my message?

breadwallet is compatible with Hive (mobile and web, not Hive for OS X), but that doesn't help much since Hive can't sign messages.

breadwallet will be compatible with MutliBit HD once MultiBit HD Beta 8 is released (or if you want to compile it yourself), but it is not seed-compatible with Beta 7 due to this bug.

Edited to add: those are the only wallets I know of that are compatible with breadwallet. Electrum 2.x is definitely not seed-compatible with breadwallet (Electrum 2.x has chosen to not use BIP-39).

In general, compatibility between deterministic wallets is a complex issue. There's a compatibility table available here if you'd like more info: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1000544.0

[unamis76]

I need to sign a message from an address created on breadwallet. Seems like neither MultiBit nor Electrum accept seeds from breadwallet... I though all of these clients accepted the same BIP 32 seeds? What do you recommend for this? What client should I use to restore the breadwallet seed and sign my message?

I believe hive is using the same bip32 default wallet structure. We don't recommend typing your recovery phrase into other wallets or devices though. Each new device and wallet increases your exposure to malware and security flaws.

I know it risks my privacy, but I accept the risk I'll probably just create another seed afterwards.

I need to sign a message from an address created on breadwallet. Seems like neither MultiBit nor Electrum accept seeds from breadwallet... I though all of these clients accepted the same BIP 32 seeds? What do you recommend for this? What client should I use to restore the breadwallet seed and sign my message?

breadwallet is compatible with Hive (mobile and web, not Hive for OS X), but that doesn't help much since Hive can't sign messages.

breadwallet will be compatible with MutliBit HD once MultiBit HD Beta 8 is released (or if you want to compile it yourself), but it is not seed-compatible with Beta 7 due to this bug.

Edited to add: those are the only wallets I know of that are compatible with breadwallet. Electrum 2.x is definitely not seed-compatible with breadwallet (Electrum 2.x has chosen to not use BIP-39).

In general, compatibility between deterministic wallets is a complex issue. There's a compatibility table available here if you'd like more info: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1000544.0

Thank you for your reply and your link. I'll try to compile Multibit. I'll report here if I can. If I can't I'll just wait for the next beta

[minimalB]

Thanks guys!

Have to tell you that bread wallet just saved me from embarrassment in a shop. I wanted to pay from server-based wallet and BOOM - "cannot connect, please try again later". So luckily bread wallet worked without a problem.

While exploring all the options in bread wallet, I have a feature request.

I love the feature in android version of Mycelium wallet regarding BIP38 import and that is that you are able to choose the amount you'd like to import to mobile wallet. If you don't choose the full amount, change (difference) is automatically sent back to BIP38 paper wallet. I find this feature very neat.

Is there any way to integrate this into bread wallet?

[voisine]

Once you sweep a bip38 key, it's no longer "cold storage", and we also want to discourage address reuse. You can always send a portion back by scanning the public address if you want to ignore these concerns, but we don't want to encourage people to do it.