UPDATED 15:43 EDT / SEPTEMBER 27 2017

APPS

Now called Bread, Breadwallet releases a revamped bitcoin wallet app

Switzerland-based bitcoin wallet app developer Breadwallet announced Tuesday that the company has rebranded itself as simply “Bread” as part of a revamp of its iOS application.

The revamp brings to market an app built from the ground up, a new user interface, enhanced security and increased privacy protection for users.

Bread is a bitcoin wallet app that allows users to store, send and receive the bitcoin cryptocurrency using a mobile device without the need for any other external applications or services. With Bread, it is possible to make and receive payments in bitcoin with merchants and other people while also keeping the bitcoins stored on the phone encrypted and safe from theft.

With the UI revamp, Bread Chief Product Officer James MacWhyte said, new users can better understand how bitcoin works and discover useful features more easily.

“Most screens feature a help icon in the top right that will allow users to see an explanation of the screen they are looking at with a single tap and just as quickly let them return to where they left off,” MacWhyte said in a blog post about the app update. “And for experienced users, advanced features are now more easily accessible without complicating the interface.”

More advanced users will also discover that the wallet now can display bitcoin balances in both full bitcoins and bits (a unit that is one-millionth of a bitcoin). This is important because during 2017, the market value of individual bitcoins shot up above $4,000. This makes transactions in full bitcoins somewhat cumbersome and strange. As a result, bits have been adopted in the industry to allow users to transact in more sensible numbers – for example, 100 bits would amount to 4 cents in U.S. dollars.

Bread has also added the ability to tag transactions with memos – for anything sent or received – allowing users to append notes about specific details for future reference. Although these notes are not saved in the bitcoin network and thus not distributed, they are saved on the phone and in Bread should the wallet need to be restored. This also means that notes are not public and remain private to the user.

The bitcoin wallet ecosystem has numerous contenders across mobile apps, web services and desktop apps designed to give users access to cryptocurrency services. Most formidably Coinbase Inc. (which raised over $100 million in funding) and Blockchain Luxembourg S.A. (which raised $40 million this year) dominate the web service market and both also provide mobile apps for both iOS and Android.

There are also hardware wallets on the market that use external devices that encrypt and protect currency on them such as Ledger SAS and SatoshiLab s.r.o’s Trezor. These provide much greater security than mobile apps or web services, which store bitcoins remotely, but they’re also less convenient to users.

Mobile-based wallets of the same type as Bread include the Mycelium wallet from Mycelium Holding Ltd. and the Airbitz wallet. These wallets work from a source of convenience and immediacy: Bitcoins are stored on the phone itself, making the funds readily available.

With Bread and similar mobile wallets, which store bitcoins locally, security is a common concern. If the phone is taken or stolen, the wallet (although encrypted) could be accessed by a thief. To account for this, wallets such as Bread must provide additional privacy and security options.

“Our focus has always been on the security and privacy of our users while keeping the user experience as simple as possible,” said MacWhyte.

MacWhyte added that Bread intends to add new features and expand the platform to offer additional banking, financial and cryptocurrency-related services.

The rebuilt app currently only has an iOS version, and that revamp is available in the Apple App Store right now. The company said it’s working on an Android release but gave no details on when that would be ready. The old version of Breadwallet is currently still available in the Google Play app store.

Image: Bread

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