Jaxx, the combination bitcoin/ether wallet from the KryptoKit team, has been approved by Apple and is now available for download on the iOS App Store.
Also read: Is Apple Banning Ethereum Wallets on iOS?
Jaxx: First Ether Wallet on iOS
It is the first iOS wallet to transact in ether, the native currency of Ethereum’s smart contract platform. Despite not being intended for use as a spending currency, ether has been gaining attention recently as a potential competitor to bitcoin.
Ether’s value has gone from a low of around $0.42 USD in October 2015 to highs above $14 USD in March and May this year, making it the darling of speculators and gaining plenty of media attention.
Apple Likes Ethereum After All?
The release comes amid claims Apple may have a policy to reject apps using Ethereum’s native token ether from the iOS App Store.
That appears not to be the case, though it remains possible Apple is reviewing each app submission individually, and judging some to be more approval-worthy than others.
CEO and Co-founder Anthony Di Iorio told Bitcoin.com the Toronto-based team had seen the previous reports decided to get the app onto the iOS store and put it into users’ hands as soon as possible, given there were no other options for the platform until now.
The team decided to launch with a basic wallet similar to those already available on other platforms, and add more advanced features in the near future.
KryptoKit, which also makes the instant browser-based bitcoin wallet creator RushWallet, has spent the past few days dealing with a DDoS attack which temporarily took down both the Jaxx.io and Rushwallet.com sites.
Though the attackers demanded ransom money, they did not steal any funds from either KryptoKit or its users.
DAO Integration Coming Soon
Although the iOS version has the same functionality as the beta versions on other platforms, the Jaxx team said in an online post that “full featured DAO integration,” including the ability to vote on proposals, would be ready within the first week.
The Jaxx wallet derives both its bitcoin and ether private keys from the same mnemonic seed, simplifying the user experience. The wallet is also HD, generating new keys for every transaction to maximize privacy.
Users can set PIN codes for security, but there are no login accounts or passwords (other than the original seed). Jaxx seeks to be a user-friendly “wallet experience only,” and does not keep the digital tokens, private keys or personal data on any users. This keeps the company free of any regulatory issues.
The Jaxx back-end code is viewable (and auditable) via a link on the site.
The 1.0 version of Jaxx on iOS is the first available to consumers, although select testers have been using the beta version for some time. It is also available on Android, Windows, OS X, Linux, and as browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome.
Does a wallet experience similar to that of Bitcoin make you more likely to try Ethereum? What other features do you think an Ethereum wallet should have?
Images courtesy of Apple, Jaxx.
