Topic: BitcoinSpinner - page 21. (Read 55544 times)

Perhaps, perhaps not. It depends.

But this can serve as a reminder that Android, while perhaps being a bit safer than Windows, is not an entirely safe operating system. Let us remind ourselves of some security measures against the two most common cases, 1. technical loss of wallet, and 2. theft by malware:

1. Do backups and store them safely.

2. Do not install Trojans. Since they are difficult to detect, let's be as careful as possible. Do not install apps that serve no serious purpose. Be particularly suspicious of games and small tool programs. Do not installed apps that have been installed only a few times. Only install apps with high ratings. Strongly prefer apps that have been recommended by renowned publications or by somebody you can trust.

3. Always keep in mind that Android by itself is not safe. Therefore do not store large amounts on a phone, unless you take drastic measures, like not installing any other software on it.

In fact, it may be a good idea to use an older smartphone, do a factory reset, install BitcoinSpinner and either nothing else or only a few apps you consider reliable. Use that phone as your wallet and another one for all other mobile phone needs. It may be advantageous not to root the wallet phone.

I am not sure how helpful anti-virus programs on the phone are. Any information on those is welcome.

Do you consider these hints appropriate? Any other hints, anybody?

Who or what sent that message? Was it PGP signed or bitcoin signed or anything by a PGP key or bitcoin address etc that you know belongs to someone you trust to provide non-trojan software updates?

-MarkM-

you lost your coins!

Maciej408, I'll do everything I can to help you get to your coins. I have sent you a PM with a few questions.

Some more information would be helpful.

Does BitcoinSpinner still show the same wallet address?

What total does it show? Exactly zero?

Which other apps are installed on the phone?

You could also locate your last BitcoinSpinner backup, printout or file.

I had BitcoinSpinner app on my Android phone loaded with 189 BTC for some time.  Recently I plugged my phone to the computer and got a message that software upgrade is available and it will not remove or alter the data on the phone.  I proceeded with the upgrade and verified that my stuff was still there, and my pictures, my music, etc.  was all there.  Well, today I checked my BitcoinSpinner app and all the coins are GONE!  HELP PLEASE!!!!!
- Is there a way to recover the coins?
- Can someone suggest or walk me through the process???

Using openexchangerates is a good idea, and if you combine it with XChange project you'd have something really flexible. I am currently working hard on re-implementing the server back-end from scratch to make it faster, cheaper to run and resilient to a single point of failure. This will take some time to pull off. Once I am done with this I'll look into supporting more currencies and other features.

Hi Mr BitcoinSpinner author, may I make a request?

Can you add more currencies to display the estimated worth of the bitcoins? A website called localbitcoins.com allows you to "convert" to 150+ different currencies, since it uses the rates found on openexchangerates.com.

My country's currency is not in the list, it only has a dozen or so. I understand those have online exchanges that trade in those currencies, but you can estimate all the others by comparing it to the USD, for example.

And can we choose between last price, low price, high price or weighted average? Since you are getting it from Mt. Gox anyway. I personally prefer a weighted average.

ok, I agree.

I'd like to second that. You can warn people once, but in my view you must not force further warnings on them. It is good as it is now.

Hey Molecular,
What you are suggesting is super intrusive. The user is told to make a backup continuously until he clicks 'disable notification'. If he at that point has not made a backup then this is where the kindergarten stops. I would hate being forced to make a restore to make a piece of software convinced that I did not misbehave (against myself).

This feature is included in the latest update 0.7.3b. You can find it on Google Play or as a direct download.

New Features:

• Support for sending coins to multisig addresses - With this change BitcoinSpinner creates BIP-0013 (aka p2sh) compliant transactions when sending funds to multisig addresses.
• Backup notifications - Making a backup is really important if you don't want to loose your coins. With this change a backup notification is displayed on the main screen whenever the app is restarted and you have a positive balance. The dialog allows you to disable the notification so you don't get nagged if you have made a backup already
• Address book fixes for Android 2.1

To be ultra-safe: after the user checks "Disable this notification, I have made a backup alread", present him with a popup: "Then you surely wont mind to enter your backup now: ________________ (click to scan qr code)". Pretty intrusive, I guess, but I must say I kind-of liked the feature in Armory when I got prompted: "you surely don't mind to enter your very important passphrase a third time: _____________"

EDIT: I talked to someone recently who had tried a couple of clients (both desktop and phone) and he said regarding Schildbachs wallet: "yeah, it makes sense, it's like a real wallet, if I loose it, the money is gone, screw backups". My reaction was: "wtf, why not make use of a feature that can restore my funds in case of loss. How cool would that be for a real wallet... everyone would use that feature if it was possible. It's not a lot of hassle to make a backup either, and a one time task".

In my experience it doesn't help to remind people to make backups, you actually have to force them (at least some of them).

I don't know how many users make backups, but I have heard about a few users that haven't.
I'll add a pop-up reminder in the coming release which will remind people to make a backup. My thinking is that I will make it appear on the main screen if you have coins in your wallet, and an option to disable it.

----
To secure your funds you should make a backup.
Making a backup is a one time task.
Just click your Options button and go to Settings and Backup"

[ ] Disable this notification.

(OK)
------

An update: we're waiting for the audio from the dude that owns the tascam recording device.

Backup if you haven't!

Some Android Phones Can Be Remotely Wiped By Hackers:

 - http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/09/26/heres-check-android-device-vulnerable-remotely-wiped-hackers/

That countdown has nothing to do with the video releases.

I recorded your talk, Jan, and I think I was the only one. I hope the "professionals" delivered on their promise to record the audio from the mic. As soon as they share it with me, I will replace my crappy cam-audio (from back of the room) with it and release your talk to the public.

Hi Grazcoin,
It is right around the corner. The code is submitted and waiting for testing & the next release: http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinspinner/source/detail?r=71

I don't have a setup with multisig addresses. Sending you a PM for a test request.

Hi Jan,

I asked you in the conference about the option to pay a "multisig" addresses that looks like:
3BTChqkFai51wFwrHSVdvSW9cPXifrJ7jC
When will it be possible with the spinner?
The Satoshi client supports such addresses for already long time.

Grazcoin

Working great!

Thanks for the quick fix. I used my bright shiny new BTC balance to send you a small donation. As I use the app, I'll send more.

Thanks for a all the hard work.

Yes. You should watch the recording of my BitcoinSpinner presentation. I don't know when they will be available though. There is a countdown on bitcoinmagazine.com, maybe that is the site to go to?
The gist of it is that I'll take 3 months to work on Bitcoin projects full time. This allows me to add awesome features such as transient wallets and really secure offline transactions.

Thanks for the donation!
A landscape mode would be really nice. I haven't experimented with it, but I get your point. I have a bunch of features that take precedence though. See the conference recording for all the details.

To anyone else using the Spinner, donating is really easy. On the main page click your options button, choose donate and you are taken to the Send Coins page with the donation address pre-populated. It doesn't get any easier. Every amount counts.
At the conference I talked with several who hadn't noticed the Donation option, so maybe I should give it a more prominent location.