Tag Archives: bitcoin

The State of Bitcoin Mobile Applications in the App Store and Google Play

After seven months of availability, Apple has requested we remove the ability to send Bitcoin from the Gliph app. We have complied in our most recent release, Gliph for iOS 1.85. This blog entry focuses on the state of Bitcoin apps the Apple App Store and Google Play, and what happened to Bitcoin sending in the Gliph app.

What makes a Bitcoin Mobile app?
Most Bitcoin mobile apps include a mix of the following categories:

  • News and Information about Bitcoin ecosystem (e.g. ZeroBlock)
  • Market information (e.g. exchange price tickers, currency conversion, etc)
  • Mobile wallet access (wallet stored on device)
  • Native front-end controls to a cloud-based wallet (e.g. Gliph, Coinbase or Blockchain.info’s apps)

The most interesting mobile apps for Bitcoin are those that allow you to actually use the currency. Practical use of Bitcoin in mobile apps includes:

  • Ability to send and receive Bitcoin with QR codes, written wallet addresses or other means. (BTC transfer)
  • Ability to place buy and sell orders for Bitcoin (BTC trading)

Why is it important for there to be useful Bitcoin Apps
Bitcoin skeptics don’t see the proof-of-work from mining as a good reason for there to be significant value in the currency. Instead, the focus is on whether Bitcoin has value because it is a generally accepted form of payment for goods and services. Continue reading →

Announcing Simple Bitcoin Payments with Gliph

Bitcoin P2P payments on GliphWe are proud to announce that Gliph now supports simple peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments using Bitcoin digital currency. You can now send Bitcoin with other Gliph users using updated versions of our iPhone, Android and web applications.

We have an iOS demo video up if you’re hungry to see how it works.  Also a step-by-step guide to setting it up for Android and for iOS. But this is more than just a new feature for us and we wanted to go into detail as to why we’re adding Bitcoin to the Gliph platform.

Over the past several months the Gliph team has been fascinated by Bitcoin. Bitcoin brings privacy to payments that is unavailable with traditional banking. The software behind Bitcoin is open source and has sustained great scrutiny. The currency itself is distributed, and transfers can take place with little or no fees at all. We love that no one company or government controls Bitcoin, and that even its creator(s) are shrouded in anonymity.

We believe Bitcoin and the ideas behind it have the power to change the world.

But when our team began using Bitcoin every day, we noticed some rough patches. Getting started can be confusing. If you were able to get a wallet set up, it was easy to get stuck asking “what next?” If you wanted to send Bitcoin to a friend, you had to awkwardly copy and paste long wallet addresses into tiny form fields. Existing solutions, even from biggest players, felt too technical and took the fun out of using this amazing new currency. Continue reading →

Using Bitcoin on Gliph’s Updated iOS App

Today, we’re turning some surprise Bitcoin functionality on for all Gliph iPhone users. The most recent version in the App Store, version 1.47 now allows you to send Bitcoin. This entry goes over how to use Bitcoin functionality in the app.

If you haven’t, you may also want to read about why we added Bitcoin or how to use Bitcoin with the updated Gliph Android app.

 

Continue reading →