Privacy Features at Google’s Behest Removed for Transparency PolicyBySamourai BTC Wallet

Privacy Features at Google’s Behest Removed for Transparency PolicyBySamourai BTC Wallet

Bitcoin (BTC) wallet supplier Samourai wallet said it had been disabling many security-related options in its products because of notices from Google to block the wallet, as per a Jan. 7. blog post.

Samourai, that has aimed to produce a Bitcoin-centric expertise through adding enhanced anonymity features and removing references to fiat currency, confirmed it had been removing 3 functions from its wallet in time for its latest update released Tuesday.

“Again, we are sorry this inconvenience, however our hands are tied by Google,” the journal post reads, adding:

“We hope to bring these options back somehow in the future within the Google Play Store release, and are dedicated to providing the complete feature set expertise via different distribution methods like direct download and F-Droid within the coming months.”

Google began mandating certain levels of transparency for third-party add-ons since last year.

Samourai, by providing “stealth mode,” remote SMS commands and the simplest way to mitigate the risk of alleged “SIM swapping” attacks, allegedly flouted these, despite all 3 options being gift in its notecase since the time of its 2015 launch.

The stealth mode feature for the wallet, that isn't enabled by default, is a privacy setting permitting users to hide their apps from their devices’ home screens and disallows notifications of deposits.

“We applied for an exemption with Google months ago, that was rejected days ago, despite our argument that removing such practicality would cause users who depend on those features to be less secure and additional exposed,” executives added.

Users are needed to disable stealth mode themselves before installing the update.

Samourai said the version offered on F-Droid, an open source app store, would stay unchanged.

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