AirBitz Adds Bluetooth LE Support for Bitcoin Payments

Reinventing the Bitcoin wallet for mobile devices is not an easy task, especially given the huge amount of competition in this niche market. Most people only have one mobile device, so they will most likely only install one mobile Bitcoin wallet; But how can you pick which one suits you best? A wallet that is offering unique features before anyone else sounds like a good pick, and AirBitz is on the right track in that regard.

News broke earlier today regarding AirBitz’s upcoming release of the updated Android Bitcoin wallet. This update marks a milestone in the history of mobile Bitcoin wallets, as AirBitz is the first company to offer Bitcoin payment support over Bluetooth Low Energy on Android devices. Do keep in mind this feature will only be supported on mobile devices running on Android 5.0 Lollipop – including the Neux 6 & 9 models.

While the Bluetooth LE Bitcoin payment support was available to iOS users since October of 2014, it has taken a while for the Android counterpart to catch up. But supporting Bluetooth LE on Android also servers a second purpose, as Android and iOS users can now send Bitcoin payments to each other without even pairing their phones over Bluetooth. As long as both devices are in close proximity, transferring money will work without a hitch.

Thanks to the focus on ease-of-use by the AirBitz team, Bitcoin enthusiasts around the world are now free from the annoyance that creating and scanning QR codes bring forth. Even though I truly like the technology behind it, if you or one of the other involved parties has a bad camera on their phone, there simply is no way they’ll be able to scan the QR code easily. Not to mention, good luck trying to scan a QR code in broad daylight.

Bluetooth LE support for Bitcoin payments is a topic being tossed around among Bitcoin Core developers at this point in time. AirBitz is willing to collaborate with the Bitcoin Core developers in order to push Bluetooth LE support adoption in other wallets, and even payment processors could benefit from supporting the BLE standard.

Website : http://airbitz.co