[ANN] Coinapult SMS wallet - no internet required

[bearbones]

You can now use your cell phone to control your Coinapult funds. This is accomplished through simple SMS commands sent to the Coinapult phone number: (603)509-2102

Basic commands are:

help me - prints available commands
send (person) (amount) - Sends (amount) to (person). (person) can be a phone number, email or btc address.
bal - Returns your Bitcoin balance.
txs - Returns a list of your last 5 transactions.
addr - Returns a new Bitcoin address for you to receive at.
yes (code) - Confirm a send request

All Bitcoin sent to your phone number is accessible through these commands by default. Each time you receive funds, it will still give you the recovery URL, if you prefer to use the website. In the future, I'll allow site accounts to be created, and users will be able to combine multiple email addresses and phones into one account.

So, I've played around with this enough to be confident that it works well. I'd like feedback, though. I will send 0.2btc to the first 5 people who PM me their cell phone number. Please just leave your thoughts in this thread.

Currently only U.S. and Canadian numbers are supported.

[EDIT] All funds are sent. [/EDIT]

[LightRider]

Also, free instant bitcoin community Rolodex!

[bearbones]

Also, free instant bitcoin community Rolodex!

I've already got one of those. :p

No, I just want some feedback on the system. The commands seem easy enough, but it is always hard to tell from the inside.

[Stephen Gornick]

Does it work from Google Voice?

[bearbones]

Does it work from Google Voice?

That is an excellent question. I haven't tried it, but it should work. There is an easy way to find out. Just send any of the commands above, and see if it responds.

[paraipan]

Any chance you implement whatsup with your services in the future ?

I found this thread on xda about work being done for an api http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1344114

[bearbones]

Any chance you implement whatsup with your services in the future ?

I found this thread on xda about work being done for an api http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1344114

You're the second person to ask about whatapp, so I'm definitely considering it. The whole point of this wallet, though, is that it can be used without an active internet connection. If I understand correctly, whatsapp requires a data plan, which means you already have access to traditional wallets like bitcoinspinner. Since these are undeniably easier to use than this SMS system, I wonder who would bother.

All right, I'm off to bed for now. Will check back in the morning.

4 more left. Feel free to message me while I'm out, if you want free coin and a test drive.

[cbeast]

You can send Bitcoin via TOR to a throw-away phone. Interesting.

[paraipan]

Any chance you implement whatsup with your services in the future ?

I found this thread on xda about work being done for an api http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1344114

You're the second person to ask about whatapp, so I'm definitely considering it. The whole point of this wallet, though, is that it can be used without an active internet connection. If I understand correctly, whatsapp requires a data plan, which means you already have access to traditional wallets like bitcoinspinner. Since these are undeniably easier to use than this SMS system, I wonder who would bother.

All right, I'm off to bed for now. Will check back in the morning.

4 more left. Feel free to message me while I'm out, if you want free coin and a test drive.

Thanks for the info, btw i like your service, it remind me of this one for fiat currency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

[kangasbros]

Cool. SMS bitcoin wallet service is definitely "the shit". I have been thinking about it a long time.

[kangasbros]

By the way, is there any protection agains sends from SMS fake numbers?

http://www.hackinguniversity.in/2011/06/how-to-send-fake-sms.html

For example, someone sells you 5 bitcoins to your SMS number with cash. Sometime after the trade, he empties your coinapult account by faking sending number. Does this work?

[bearbones]

Just sent out a couple more of the free 0.2btc payloads. 2 more to go!

Out of curiosity, did you just hooked up a cellphone and using it as a modem through AT commands? All SMS providers I know will charge you a fee to send and receive SMS, so I was wondering how are you tackling this.

I am using Twilio, which is charging me $0.01 per message. It is far from an ideal solution, but I've always had good experiences with them. Like the rest of Coinapult, my hope is be able to allow free access for the general public by charging a small fee to API users. This may or may not be plausible, with fees this high. I may also be able to find a cheaper partner to work with.

By the way, is there any protection agains sends from SMS fake numbers?

http://www.hackinguniversity.in/2011/06/how-to-send-fake-sms.html

For example, someone sells you 5 bitcoins to your SMS number with cash. Sometime after the trade, he empties your coinapult account by faking sending number. Does this work?

This does not work. Sending Bitcoin out of your phone is a 2-step process for exactly this reason. Example:

me: send 777-333-4444 5btc
Coinapult: Send 5btc to 777-333-4444? Respond 'yes 1wh5er' to confirm.
me: yes 1wh5er
Coinapult: Funds sent. Balance: 10btc

[MemoryDealers]

If you do decide to add support for IM services,  I would like to suggest LINE.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/line/id443904275?mt=8

LINE has more than 38 million users worldwide and is used in over 230 countries!

[bearbones]

If you do decide to add support for IM services,  I would like to suggest LINE.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/line/id443904275?mt=8

LINE has more than 38 million users worldwide and is used in over 230 countries!

I don't think LINE has an API, Roger. We may not be able to interface with them. :/

[MemoryDealers]

Is this service ready for me to start sharing with my friends and family?
Will the telephone number be changing in the future?
Is it OK to start using this now?

[bearbones]

Is this service ready for me to start sharing with my friends and family?
Will the telephone number be changing in the future?
Is it OK to start using this now?

The telephone number will not be changing for U.S. and Canada, and the service will only change superficially. I.e. making instructions more helpful and integrating further with the website.

Please, feel free to share!

[MemoryDealers]

I would like to suggest making SMS.coinapult.com with all the instructions and information about this service.

The service won't be any good if no one knows about it.

[HorseRider]

It's really great. I have an google voice account an it works! If I were living in USA I will definitely use it as my daily bitcoin wallet.(not saving wallet of course)

[Stephen Gornick]

It's really great. I have an google voice account an it works! If I were living in USA I will definitely use it as my daily bitcoin wallet.(not saving wallet of course)

I think I see the problem.   You must first have an incoming Coinapult transaction in order for the SMS wallet to be created for that number.   I suppose this is to prevent spamming, otherwise Coinapult would be responding to the SMS messages (e.g., for "bal") where no wallet existed yet even.  Since each outgoing SMS costs Coinapult, I can see the rationale for not responding to these messages  which don't yet have a wallet.

[Stephen Gornick]

Needs green address (or other instant method).  Maybe using a green address?  Or from the form, let me paste a redeemable code (in BTCs) from an exchange?

That's an id ten T problem on me  (ID10T).  

Coinapult does send out the message immediately, on 0/unconfirmed.

[bearbones]

I would like to suggest making SMS.coinapult.com with all the instructions and information about this service.

The service won't be any good if no one knows about it.

Great suggestion. Have an instruction page set up already, thought it needs a little work. Will put it up now, and do some editing. See it at: https://coinapult.com/sms-wallet.

[bearbones]

Coinapult does send out the message immediately, on 0/unconfirmed.

This is usually the case. Only large or otherwise risky transactions are delayed for confirmation. This is very rare, though. Most of our large transactions go through the API, and are from trusted senders.

[Stephen Gornick]

Have an instruction page set up already, thought it needs a little work. Will put it up now, and do some editing. See it at: https://coinapult.com/sms-wallet.

Needs examples, of message and response.

Like this:

me: send 777-333-4444 5btc
Coinapult: Send 5btc to 777-333-4444? Respond 'yes 1wh5er' to confirm.
me: yes 1wh5er
Coinapult: Funds sent. Balance: 10btc

And examples of formats.

To any bitcoin address:
send 15ArtCgi3wmpQAAfYx4riaFmo4prJA4VsK 0.1

To any e-mail address:
send satoshi@nakamoto.com 0.1btc

To any mobile number:
send 123-456-7890 0.123 0.1
send 1234567890 0.1

And it needs a FAQ maybe?

Q.) Can I send to any number?
A.) Any number that can accept text messages.

Q.) Can I keep a balance in my SMS wallet?  Is it secure?
A.) Yes.  The funds can only be spent after you acknowledge a spend request.

Q.) I received the message "Confirmation code not found."  Why?
A.) Either you entered the wrong confirmation code, or you waited too long to respond.  You can send the message again.

Q.) I didn't get a response after sending a text.
A.) Coinapult uses Twilio.  [Not sure why no response ... ??]?

Q.) Can I see transaction history?
A.) ??

etc.

[Stephen Gornick]

Bug (I think):

I tried sending using a "1" country code, without the "+" (e.g., "1nnnnnnnnn" and not "+1nnnnnnnnn") and though the response was that Funds sent  and my balance decreased (Edit: I now think there was no amount subtracted from the balance), the recipient never got a message.

I then tried sending using a +1 country code, and that too sent but the balance did not decrease, and the recipient never got a message.

[Stephen Gornick]

Another bug (I think):

I had made a send request, but then I didn't confirm.  Then I made a second request and did confirm and it sent.

I then sent a confirm on the first request but I didn't have enough funds (just to test to see what would happen).  The response was "Funds sent".  The balance it showed didn't change from the prior balance value, indicating that the funds were not actually sent.  And the recipient did not receive any message.

So this doesn't let you cheat Coinapult, but it might be confusing to someone and the message should indicate "Insufficient funds." when trying to confirm a send request where the balance isn't high enough.

[Stephen Gornick]

Feature request:

send 15ArtCgi3wmpQAAfYx4riaFmo4prJA4VsK 123mbtc

(millibits)
(mbtcs)
(mbtc)

Right now Coinapult sees that value and thinks I'm trying to send 123 BTC.

[bearbones]

I added a section on SMS to the FAQ page, with a lot of the questions from above. https://coinapult.com/faq Thanks for the Qs!

Another bug (I think):

I had made a send request, but then I didn't confirm.  Then I made a second request and did confirm and it sent.

I then sent a confirm on the first request but I didn't have enough funds (just to test to see what would happen).  The response was "Funds sent".  The balance it showed didn't change from the prior balance value, indicating that the funds were not actually sent.  And the recipient did not receive any message.

So this doesn't let you cheat Coinapult, but it might be confusing to someone and the message should indicate "Insufficient funds." when trying to confirm a send request where the balance isn't high enough.

This is fixed. Now, as soon as you confirm a request, it deletes all pending requests for your account. I don't foresee anyone wanting to make multiple send requests without confirmations in between, so this seems like a fair solution.

Bug (I think):

I tried sending using a "1" country code, without the "+" (e.g., "1nnnnnnnnn" and not "+1nnnnnnnnn") and though the response was that Funds sent  and my balance decreased (Edit: I now think there was no amount subtracted from the balance), the recipient never got a message.

I then tried sending using a +1 country code, and that too sent but the balance did not decrease, and the recipient never got a message.

Interesting! I'll look into this, right away.

Feature request:

send 15ArtCgi3wmpQAAfYx4riaFmo4prJA4VsK 123mbtc

(millibits)
(mbtcs)
(mbtc)

Right now Coinapult sees that value and thinks I'm trying to send 123 BTC.

Personally, I don't like to use these units. I think they're confusing to people, and are not standardized, anyway. Does anyone else want alternate unit support?

[Stephen Gornick]

Personally, I don't like to use these units. I think they're confusing to people, and are not standardized, anyway. Does anyone else want alternate unit support?

If you do consider it, you might want to use BTCTip as an example of how to implement it:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=68320.0

[paraipan]

Could you please change the text color of the answers on the faq page ? I need to select the text in order to read the text without effort. Thanks

[Stephen Gornick]

I added a section on SMS to the FAQ page, with a lot of the questions from above. https://coinapult.com/faq Thanks for the Qs!

Awesome!

Needs an anchor for SMS (<a name="SMS" /> ) so that an URL can go directly to that section. e.g.,:

 - https://coinapult.com/faq/#FAQ

Typo:

Q.) Can I send to any phone number?
A.) Coinapult works with any U.S. or Canadian phone number that can accept test messages. We're working on expanding support internationally.

text messages

or

SMS text messages

[nimda]

Are the 0.2 still available?
Edit: When I tried to send to my cell phone, I got an entirely blank page at https://coinapult.com/payload/sendrequest . The funds are still available at the URL...
Edit2: apparently you can't send BTC after receiving it by email. However, it worked from the home page.
Idea: allow the use of Firstbits addresses

[bearbones]

Could you please change the text color of the answers on the faq page ? I need to select the text in order to read the text without effort. Thanks

We're working on this. Probably going to just lighten the whole site background.

Are the 0.2 still available?
Edit: When I tried to send to my cell phone, I got an entirely blank page at https://coinapult.com/payload/sendrequest . The funds are still available at the URL...
Edit2: apparently you can't send BTC after receiving it by email. However, it worked from the home page.
Idea: allow the use of Firstbits addresses

Sorry, all sent out.

Regarding the sendrequest page, this is most unusual... You should be able to do the things you just described with no trouble. Do I understand correctly that you saw the blank page when trying to withdraw from an existing payload to your cell phone?

[nimda]

• I sent some BTC to my email address
• I clicked on the link in the email
• I attempted to send coins to my phone
• Blank page. Checked the source, no data was sent.

So I sent the coins to my GLBSE deposit address instead. From the main page (not from the email link) I sent coins to my phone and it worked fine.

[bearbones]

• I sent some BTC to my email address
• I clicked on the link in the email
• I attempted to send coins to my phone
• Blank page. Checked the source, no data was sent.

So I sent the coins to my GLBSE deposit address instead. From the main page (not from the email link) I sent coins to my phone and it worked fine.

I tracked this bug down and fixed it. Thanks for the report!

[bearbones]

If you do consider it, you might want to use BTCTip as an example of how to implement it:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=68320.0

I've decided not to support this. Since the average transaction costs me about $0.05 in fees, I don't want to encourage people to send micro transactions. No sense paying more in fees than they are sending.

[Jan]

Tried this with my mobile wallet. It just works!
And, now I am mobile x 2 

[cbeast]

Will there soon be an option to send BitInstant deposits to a phone number as well as email?

[bearbones]

Tried this with my mobile wallet. It just works!
And, now I am mobile x 2 

Jan, I did most of the testing by sending in between my BitcoinSpinner wallet and Coinapult. Love your wallet!

Will there soon be an option to send BitInstant deposits to a phone number as well as email?

This already works, but I'm not sure if BitInstant explains it on their site. I'll talk to them about it, and get back to you.

[LightRider]

My first attempt at sending money did not work. I actually waited a few hours to see if my friend would eventually ever get a message on his phone. Only then did I realize that the return message showed my balance unchanged. I suffered from the same lack of + problem that someone else mentioned.

Subsequent uses have been flawless though.

Thanks for your contributions to the "Help LightRider Get A Copy Of Bitcoin Magazine" fund though!

[bearbones]

My first attempt at sending money did not work. I actually waited a few hours to see if my friend would eventually ever get a message on his phone. Only then did I realize that the return message showed my balance unchanged. I suffered from the same lack of + problem that someone else mentioned.

Subsequent uses have been flawless though.

Thanks for your contributions to the "Help LightRider Get A Copy Of Bitcoin Magazine" fund though!

Fixed this. I just got my copy yesterday. It was well worth it!

[rokj]

You can now use your cell phone to control your Coinapult funds. This is accomplished through simple SMS commands sent to the Coinapult phone number: (603)509-2102

Basic commands are:

help me - prints available commands
send (person) (amount) - Sends (amount) to (person). (person) can be a phone number, email or btc address.
bal - Returns your Bitcoin balance.
txs - Returns a list of your last 5 transactions.
addr - Returns a new Bitcoin address for you to receive at.
yes (code) - Confirm a send request

All Bitcoin sent to your phone number is accessible through these commands by default. Each time you receive funds, it will still give you the recovery URL, if you prefer to use the website. In the future, I'll allow site accounts to be created, and users will be able to combine multiple email addresses and phones into one account.

So, I've played around with this enough to be confident that it works well. I'd like feedback, though. I will send 0.2btc to the first 5 people who PM me their cell phone number. Please just leave your thoughts in this thread.

Currently only U.S. and Canadian numbers are supported.

[EDIT] All funds are sent. [/EDIT]

Just great idea, keep on good work and good luck!

[bearbones]

Could you please change the text color of the answers on the faq page ? I need to select the text in order to read the text without effort. Thanks

Done, and much happier with the new color.

Also, made it easier for the API to support SMS payloads. I talked to the BitInstant guys to see when they'd have a cash to mobile option, and we don't see any barriers. They've got a lot going on right now, though, so it may be a bit.

[paraipan]

Could you please change the text color of the answers on the faq page ? I need to select the text in order to read the text without effort. Thanks

Done, and much happier with the new color.

Also, made it easier for the API to support SMS payloads. I talked to the BitInstant guys to see when they'd have a cash to mobile option, and we don't see any barriers. They've got a lot going on right now, though, so it may be a bit.

Great, is better now  

[MemoryDealers]

Since this service costs you about $0.05 per transaction to process,  what are your long term plans on how to make money with the coinapult/SMS wallet in order for this great service to last?

Free is nice,  but ultimately it must pay for itself.

[bearbones]

Since this service costs you about $0.05 per transaction to process,  what are your long term plans on how to make money with the coinapult/SMS wallet in order for this great service to last?

Free is nice,  but ultimately it must pay for itself.

I haven't quite decided. Been looking around for cheaper carriers, but haven't found any. The main problem is that buying text messages in bulk is more like buying half a million than a few thousand. To reduce costs, we'd have to scale WAY up.

So, the two main options are:

1. Charge a small fee for each SMS transaction
2. Continue to allow the API fees to fund Coinapult, while keeping all personal transactions free.

I'm partial to #2, though wondering whether it is fair.

[Garr255]

Awesome addition

[hashman]

Great work!  Very important step for BTC here  

[Stephen Gornick]

When choosing "bitcoin to e-mail" method in BitInstant to use Coinapult for exchange, it then asks for a PIN code.

I know for Coinapult e-mail a PIN code is required to use the URL link to claim the bitcoins.  Is that the case with SMS / text messaging as well?  I would think it could just drop right into the SMS wallet, since those bitcoins can only be withdrawn after acknowledging the challenge message.

[Stephen Gornick]

Added to Wiki:

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Coinapult

[bearbones]

When choosing "bitcoin to e-mail" method in BitInstant to use Coinapult for exchange, it then asks for a PIN code.

I know for Coinapult e-mail a PIN code is required to use the URL link to claim the bitcoins.  Is that the case with SMS / text messaging as well?  I would think it could just drop right into the SMS wallet, since those bitcoins can only be withdrawn after acknowledging the challenge message.

Indeed it can and will be dropped into the SMS wallet. This will be an available setting in the upcoming account system. This account system will also add increased security to normal email transactions, as any address associated with an account will only be sent a notification that funds are available in their account. The email will provide no access to the funds.

Thanks for adding us to the wiki, btw!

[moocow1452]

Might want to see if you can start a Google Voice bot, and let the big G eat the cost for you. Google already knows everything ever, so security can't be that big an issue. If GV doesn't play nice with scripts, forward requests to an If This, Then That number, start a dropbox for text file dumps, then parse and send from that?

[niko]

If you do consider it, you might want to use BTCTip as an example of how to implement it:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=68320.0

I've decided not to support this. Since the average transaction costs me about $0.05 in fees, I don't want to encourage people to send micro transactions. No sense paying more in fees than they are sending.

If and when the value of btc surges, alternative units can be considered - the way it is now, btc is fine.

[Stephen Gornick]

Paging Coinapult ...   

 - http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/12/power-to-the-cloud-twilio-takes-its-sms-api-global-adds-dozens-of-new-languages-150-countries

MOAR GLOBAL please!