Topic: Pros vs. Cons on Android for Bitcoin (Read 536 times)

How to do this? I found a lot of instructions on the web, but all of them tell me that, while creating a password or a PIN, there must be the option to set the number of failed attempts after which the device is to be wiped. I tried to do this with my Samsung and my Pixel, but there isn't such an option. Is it available only on some specific devices?

I dont really get why  AirGap Knox is necessary. What is wrong with the following steps ? factory reset. Put encryption, set pin, set erase data on wrong pin, put device on airplane mode and create seed and factory reset again if you are hodling or keep the device off if you want to sign transactions once in a while

I am an Android user from the past and have never used Airgap Knox or such security system,
Maybe this is also like Samsung Knox Used by samsung android devices.

The use of Airgap knox like this really has to use a different smartphone and not use the main smartphone.
Because the potential to be infected with malware and ransomware is clearly still there.
Malware like Xenomorph can infect and penetrate root files, so it will be left on the system even if the device uses Airgap Knox or such an application.

And for iOS users now it supports so that AirGap Knox can be installed on Apple devices that support iOS 13.0 or later.
https://airgap.it/

One pros of Android is that the  relevant devices  can be turn into airgapped fortresses to store crypto stashes  offline   by stripping off  on the system level   all types of electromagnetic (except optical) connectivity to outside world . The working solution  to do this on Android smartphones  offers AirGap Knox , which regrettably doesn't work on IOS devices.

Android is more crypto user friendly than Apple. It's because Android is the most used by people, and only few are using Apple. According to thiswebsite, people who uses mobile phone worldwide 69% of them are android users while 29.89% are using IOS. Now, if you are the owner of a cryptocurrency project, you will favor Android because it has more users than IOS. However, in terms of security, Apple is superior because Android is more prone to malware. However, it is also dependent on how you care for your keys and phone, since I've been using crypto wallets for years with an Android phone and it has never failed me.

This often happens to early adopters who are into rooting, building Custom Roms, etc.
But it is dangerous because we don't know what those who do Custom Rom embed in it.
There could be malware, RATs, or keyloggers that will record everything you do.

I avoid Custom Roms etc for devices that are used to install private wallets.

This can be called Bloatware which is pre-installed.
Many applications do embed advertisements in them, especially in applications that are widely loaded on new smartphones,
it is indeed a collaboration that requires vendors to directly provide applications full of advertisements.

It's easy to remove it all, and can be learned on youtube.

Rooting an android device and installing custom rom can be risky, especially when installing custom rom with personal customizations from unofficial developers. Simply rooting might just open the door, but installing custom rom or applications containing viruses can invite danger. it requires a more advanced level of understanding when dealing with rooting a device. doing it just to look cool is not a wise choice.

In app ads can be quite intrusive... even when disabled, there are always optional notifications to re-enable them when using apps like File Manager, Video Player, and Gallery. There are many YouTube tutorials explaining how to permanently disable personalized ads, and this only needs to be done once in a lifetime. It's highly recommended not to disrupt our activities.

When it comes to security, i'm thankful that I've been storing some BTC in my Android wallet, and I haven't encountered any security issues so far.

Stick to stock android from reputable brands, you won't come across such junk (Google, Motorola, Asus). Chinese OEMs give good hardware at low cost and this low cost comes at cost of these ads.

However, most of added junk can be gotten rid of. Disable the apps that show ads, toggle ad personalization off (this is found in specific apps or in device settings), uninstall with adb, root the device, flash custom rom.

I used miui for couple years, which is notorious for showing ads. It's just that people don't bother to disable them that's what causes trouble. Device model specific search will show articles/videos on how to make it clean.


GrapheneOS Only supports Google pixel [1].

---

[1] https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices

There are many and let me tell you my story about the use of Apple Mycelium Vs Android Mycelium. I even had a thread about it and you can read it here. Where is Import option for Mycelium Wallet - iOS version
Yeah, I was so much frustrated about finding a simple option to import the address using a private key on my Apple that I had to create an entire thread on the forum and ask for the help. They have most shitty developments for the iOS. I believe there are many restrictions that iOS applies and thus they cant have proper apps in that version. However in case of android its open, there is huge ground to play with and thus they build the best of it. Many app restrictions are null in the android, overlays, writing data and much more is free so yeah they are the best. I know some might say it comprises the security of the same but I hardly think so. You have taken good decision and you will definitely find more trusted apps to use on your phone.

Indeed... malware devs aren't likely to waste time trying to implement malware for a closed ecosystem like iOS when it is likely much easier to find and exploit issues in an open source ecosystem like Android.

Especially given the market share disparity between the two globally... Android a little over 70%, iOS under 30%, refer: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/android-vs-apple-market-share

Although it is interesting to note that in the US, iOS has ~57% market share.


In any case, using a wallet on your phone for anything other than casual day to day spending etc is likely a "bad idea"™... certainly not a place to be storing your main stash!

The Population in China alone triples that in the U.S. Now add that to India, Indonesia, Brazil... Africa. What do you think?  
Don't forget that those Cheap android devices can also run almost all apps in the playstore if the OS version is compatible and can easily be accessible to people in 3rd world countries. Tell me how that is not a huge difference world over.

That there is a jackpot for malware developers vs struggling to create malware for a less popular and very rigid iOS that is mostly concentrated in the West.

I can see that. I can't really verify how hard it is to hack iOS and build malware targeting them since I don't know coding that much, but I can understand why scammers would rather spend their time targeting the more popular OS. This is probably why phishing apps/links or something similar becomes a popular choice for them to trick iOS users. Just goes to show that the best protection is your security awareness most of the time.

Only Android base is open source, but rest of this OS is full of junk, bloatware and propriety software code, especially in phones from China, but samsung and other brands are not great also.
Using GrapheneOS is probably one of the bst open source OS you can use for your smartphone devices, it's clean Android OS with big security improvements, but it's far from perfect.
However, I think it's good enough to be used for everything related with Bitcoin apps.

That difference is not big at all in United States, in fact I think more are people in west are using iOS devices.
Percentage would be much different in rest of the world but many people still use cheap Android devices.

What I learnt over the years is that the more popular an Operating System is, the more malicious parties or hackers spend their time and resources to create malware for that OS because they know they can easily get a lot of victims out of it

Android OS is much more used than iOS, so this would be understandable. It's sort of similar to Malware made for Windows PCs vs Linux

What third-party attacks are you referring to? Malware apps on the play store or something else? People should never download without doing any verification, to be honest. Regardless of what platform you use, downloading a suspicious app even from a real play store would give you unnecessary risk, especially for securing your crypto.

I've read some news related to suspicious apps being listed on App Store, like the recent ChatGPT AI. That being said, Play Store definitely has more malware apps as of now. CMIIW.

Android is an open-source, you can modify it if you have the knowledge or use privacy-oriented custom ROMs. Btw, if you follow the basic rules, like, not to use public wifi, don't visit malicious or unknown websites and so on, you won't be at a high risk of attack.
Look at your android or ios bitcoin wallet as a small computer with CPU/GPU and RAM. Just don't consider your smartphone, that you use regularly, as a cold wallet.

Actually, I don't think that some private data isn't shared and sent on Apple servers. But if you want to feel secure from 3rd party attacks, then Apple is better than android for average user.

I use the DevCheck application to check how much memory is used for certain applications such as Electrum.
Because the feature to check RAM memory usage on my phone POCO M4 Pro Android 12 is not available.



Yes, this is the maximum amount of RAM memory usage in the Electrum application.

To see the LogCat you can use Android Studio and Connect Android Phone to PC with USB Debugging.
There it will be seen if the cellphone is connected and in the LogCat section, there will be information if an error or foreclose occurs in the electrum application.

What app is that? What does it mean by maximum usage, the maximum amount of RAM being used by the app? I've never seen an app like this before. Is it exclusive to your manufacturer's phone?

This is why logs are necessary if we want to find the reason why. At the very least I don't think Electrum is resource hungry for most modern devices.

Electrum only uses 6.8MB of memory on average and this has no effect at all and is not a cause of Foreclose.


Foreclose bugs in an application are quite complex, they can be affected by Firmware that may not match the application and end up clashing, or ARM that is not compatible because there are some applications that do Foreclose with different types of ARM (Advanced Risc Machine)/kernel architecture or other factors.

I have never experienced a foreclose bug while using Electrum on several android phones.

I think the memory being referred to here is the RAM, not your storage memory. I doubt Electrum consumes a lot of RAM though. CMIIW.

If you do encounter similar problems later down the line, you can probably try to record the logs and submit the issues on the GitHub page. It is kinda hard to find the reason since your device can be the culprit, especially if they have some extra features like power saving mode, app blocker that doesn't work all the time, etc.

I didn't do a detailed check on the issue of calculating transaction fees. It's just that a few weeks ago transaction fees did spike and it became a bottleneck on the Bitcoin network.

The exchange rate provider used by Electrum is now CoikGecko and of course the rate will adjust to the rate on CoinGecko.

I haven't found any other bugs yet, but security is also being improved.

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/master/RELEASE-NOTES

I was using Android 13 at that time and most latest version of electrum available on the Play Store and had more than 100GB free space so definitely its not an issue with the system in my opinion but this is about months ago after the recent update I am not facing the force stopping bug which is good but the inaccurate while calculating the transaction fee still exists.

To keep the Electrum Wallet safe on Android phones, don't install and download applications carelessly. there are many kinds of applications that can infect Android phones easily and steal data on Android phones.

Usually found in applications that continue to bring up ads and will eventually download Malware, so be more careful.
Android phones also have the security to detect malware early.

For several years using Electrum I have never found a bug, especially in the latest update at this time.
Electrum runs well and never closes itself. it may be because your memory is full or it is not compatible with your Android phone version.

The main wallet still uses a hardware wallet, and the Electrum wallet is for a backup wallet so the main wallet is not often opened to maintain its security.

I have been an Android user since the beginning of this smartphone era and and also I am using Electrum on Android for years now and never had any issues related to security so it's depends on how we keep it safe from malicious apps installed and never shown on app drawer.

Electrum is my only choice but I faced bugs lots of time like the app keep closing on its own but with the latest version I haven't noticed any bugs.

If you're going to use your Android wallet as your primary storage then it's not recommended because we all know any device that is connected to internet is vulnerable to attacks so it's only for less amount that you don't want to touch your primary wallet everytime.

It is kinda problematic honestly. If you want to buy another phone for financial purposes then you probably want to buy a mid-range phone or above. Buying those $150 phones for that purpose is just not gonna make it for you. It would be better if you just buy a dedicated hardware wallet or built one yourself.
XDA is still quite active I believe. Magisk and other tools are also being updated regularly. I believe the Android modding community is still quite active. I also believe the reason why people like to mod their phones is simply that they like customization, plus removing any adware preinstalled by the manufacturers. If you can read and verify the code, the safest way to make your phone a dedicated wallet is to develop a custom ROM for crypto on your own imo.

Currently, Android has significantly enhanced its security system. Now, when it comes to rooting or installing malicious applications, the system will detect them and issue a warning. As Android versions become more up-to-date, fewer people seem interested in modification, in my opinion. Most individuals who engage in modifications tend to focus on older Android versions that require performance improvements. On the other hand, the latest Android versions offer satisfactory performance for everyday activities and even heavy usage.

The introduction of Google Play Protect proves highly beneficial for those of us who prioritize security. Android users receive notifications whenever harmful applications are detected and running on their devices.

Up until now, relying on installing modified applications and ROMs from others does not guarantee the best security for users. Instead of risking our hard-earned money, we can opt for using a separate smartphone for financial purposes and another one for entertainment purposes.

Android itself isn't as bad as people claim it to be but there are certain differences between an android user and an ios user. IOS people are not mostly into jailbreaking (i don't even know if it is possible anymore) while android people usually like to try different mods for their phone. This is where it gets dangerous. If you try a mod which you are not sure about its security (and you can never be sure) then you are at risk of losing your funds. IOS had a few fuck ups in the past too but Apple patched it right away. Who knows when your cyanogen or whatever mod will get patched... likely after you get hacked.

There are a number of wallets available for each operating system, but it is noted that the number of open source wallets available for Android devices is much more, as you can download

Android Wallets

• Bitcoin Wallet
• Bither
• BitPay
• Edge
• Electrum
• Mycelium
• Unstoppable

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet?step=5&platform=android

iOS Wallets

• Bither
• BitPay
• Edge
• Unstoppable

   

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet?step=5&platform=ios

The wallets available for iPhone devices are limited. Unstoppable is slow in syncing, and the rest of the wallets are not popular, so you will not be able to use more good wallets such as Mycelium. In android you will have an option to download the wallet directly from outside the Google store, so if your phone is only for cryptocurrencies, then Android is a better option. If you have a phone, the available wallets serve the purpose for daily transactions.

To keep the device offline, the device is only made for wallet or backup only, not for use in other activities.
But the possibility of death and damage will definitely exist. don't expect too much from storage that uses a smartphone.
Better buy and use a secure hardware wallet.

So be careful with any USB that is not yours. Don't use USB cables carelessly. 


Electrum is the best Open-source Bitcoin wallet, and I use it for my Android and computer, But Phrase security is the responsibility of the user.
Make sure all devices are safe from malware.

If you want to be more secure, you should use a Hardware wallet.
It's very affordable, and even cheaper than the assets you hold.

But choose a hardware wallet that has good security and does not provide phrase recovery because it is dangerous,
like the current trending one (ledger) which will be updated with a 24-word phrase recovery system LOL.

Believe me, you should have known better than any other. Electrum is what you have been looking for unless you have some money to spare on buying a hardware wallet.

Create a new wallet with Electrum then transfer all your assets to it. If your wallet's ssed/wallet file is safe enough then all your assets are safe.

The best defence is to keep the device offline and make sure it only contains the necessary app (The mobile wallet). Perhaps keep it somewhere like in a vault and not move with it every day like how you would do when with a normal mobile phone.

Apparently, there are USB cables that look like normal mobile phone chargers that can plant spyware/malware into your device if you connect them to your device even just once.

Android supports more wallets than Iphone there are some difficulties for users in terms of wallets.
Android also supports more features so that it makes it more flexible according to my experience or usage.
Wallet security on Android and iPhone depends on how we look after it.

Apart from privacy, the advantages of the Iphone lie in the quality of the camera. For other activities, Android is more interesting for me to use.
If people say, this is just Apple's business game.
If iPhone users have never tried using Android, maybe they will underestimate it. But if they try to use the high-spec Android type, they can forget about the iPhone.

Haha yeah, I was sick of the jam so I got the jelly instead, or is it the other way around? Oh I don't know.

Definitely agree with you on the mobile wallets, its just as bad as keeping money on an online exchange IMO. Everything that scammers and hackers can do to these days is wild. I wish there was a way to create a defense bot for your own devices. Like a ninja bot to deter scammers or intrusive users on a device's IP that scans for like unusual activity or something, is there such a thing?

It can be seen from the price of mid-range Android phones today, getting cheaper and more affordable but with a lot of annoying bloatware.
Actually, there is no need to do a custom ROM to be free from annoying ad applications, just need to remove it from the system and keep using the official ROM.

and nowadays there are many copycat phones such as iPhone Supercopy phones, even though the OS is still Android which is customized to look like Android. Whether or not using a cell phone for a crypto wallet is important depends on the needs of each user.
Security is certainly the main thing to think about.
I am an Android user since the beginning and my crypto wallet remains safe, as long as I remain vigilant. 

From my experience, most low-end phones do this but mid-end and high-end phones don't. I believe manufacturers do this to cut costs so that they can sell as many budget phones as they can with better profits. Fortunately, most of them can be flashed with a new custom rom without ads as far as I'm aware (unless your phone is really unpopular). I don't think people looking for budget phones are going to find an iPhone to begin with unless they are okay with secondhand devices. That being said, I don't think you should use a phone as your option if security is your biggest concern regardless of the manufacturer/OS.

This often happens and is also often ignored. Although I am also an android user, I did delete some blotware or crapware or junkware built into the smartphone that was deliberately installed (Sponsor). and it was very annoying.
The removal process also requires root access and some devices also require bootloader access to remove completely.

Bloatware that is installed will provide advertisements that continue to appear all the time.
This will be the potential for malware to enter android because of some unclear advertising links.

About Google Play, it may be because of the case of the powerful Xenomorph malware that escaped Google Protect's monitoring, so it is a bad record for Google Play.
Several apps were injected using Xenomorph Malware undetected and infected many victims targeting bank apps and crypto wallets.
Android malware targets 13 bitcoin wallets and 400 banks

More applications can be installed and varied, all complete.
But if you install via balckmarket it is also risky.

Google began as an open source, but they are no more completely open source again. The reason is that they have many apps that comes on Android devices that are completely close source. Chrome, Gmail, Drive, Playstore and other Google services are all close source applications.

Great write up FatFork, this is exactly what I was looking for. Did you use Chat GPT to spruce up your response a bit? haha, just kidding.

You can enjoy reading this google ways of helping scammers while the government are doing nothing:

Google Ads data: $4M stolen through crypto phishing URLs

This is what that was researched, there will be more than this.

Although I am not saying Apple is better either too.

You can use either Android or Apple if you know ways to avoid hackers and they are just simple ways but people are not concerned about security.

Unless you are using degoogled open source version of Android (like Graphene) experience is probably going to be worse than using iPhone.
You have a bunch of ads, and there is good chance you will be spied by Chinese or other manufacturers, most of them distribute phones with bunch of crapware.

Most of the Bitcoin stuff, wallets and other apps are available both on Android and iPhones.
Google Play is less secure, it's easier to install some scam application, mostly because it's much harder to get application listed in Apple store.
Positive thing for Android is that you can install more applications and you can install open source operating system without use of any g00gle apps.

The security of your crypto wallet will mostly depend on you. A software wallet on a mobile phone that's always connected to the internet isn't as secure as on in an air gapped device.

Android has an advantage because you will easily get a variety of apps that are not sometimes available in the App Store, but Googeplay is a sea of apps, some of which are malware. You have to be very careful when downloading apps.
Just:
1. Do not install apps from unknown sources
2. Only install official and reputable apps
3. Do not root your device.

You got sick of iOS and now using Android device. That means you got sick of a mobile wallet and now using a mobile wallet.

Mobile wallets are online wallets and not safe and secure like cold wallets. Do not hold more than what you can afford to lose on a mobile wallet. Get yourself a cold wallet instead for large amount of bitcoin.

As for Android bitcoin wallets, you have many supported wallets like Electrum and Bluewallet.

As for security, only hold the amount you can afford to lose on mobile wallet. Be careful of malware.

In my opinion, there isn't a clear winner between Android and Apple iOS when it comes to anything crypto related. Both platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses as operating systems, and both Android and Apple iOS are capable of supporting crypto-related apps. Apple iOS is proprietary software available exclusively on Apple devices, while Google Android is an open-source operating system used by a variety of smartphone manufacturers, which makes it more flexible and adaptable than its competitors. This means that Android users have access to a wider range of crypto-related apps and features. Plus, with Google Play Store's relaxed app submission guidelines, there are more crypto-related apps available for Android users to choose from. However, Android's open platform can also make it more susceptible to security vulnerabilities, so you'll want to be extra careful when it comes to protecting your crypto assets. Apple's App Store, on the other hand, is more restrictive in terms of the apps it allows, and this can actually be an advantage when it comes to security. Apple's stricter guidelines mean that users are less likely to download malicious apps from the official store.

So, whether you prefer one platform over the other based on factors such as user interface, app or device availability, or any other factors is entirely a matter of personal choice.

I'm an iPhone user before but it was a long time ago I already switch to Samsung Android.
The only thing that I want on IOS they care for privacy compared to Android the only downside on IOS is they do have fewer supported apps and games compared to Android and another thing is IOS eats so much data.

About Crypto then Android should be the best because it is more flexible and more wallets are supported compared to IOS.
The only downside on Android most of the systems are built or integrated with Google services it feels like I was being monitored by Google(I do not know).
However, ever since I have never experienced I was being hacked or compromised most of the Crypto wallet is in my Android phone.

So I now own an Android, I got sick of apple and wanted to change things up.

I'm genuinely interested to know what are the real pros vs. cons on owning one vs. apple?

Especially in the sense for BTC or crypto purposes in, how does android compare for anything crypto related vs. Apple?

Are they way ahead of the game here? Are they behind? I feel like both appear to want to be more crypto user friendly.....