Google forced bitcoin wallet to remove security features.

[Paha87]

Team bitcoin wallet Samourai focused on privacy, has removed a number of key functions related to security, version of its application because of the "extremely restrictive policies" of Google.

Releasing Tuesday version 0.99.04 your app to the digital distribution service Google under the name Google Play, Samourai explained in his blog:

Three functions - hidden mode, the protection switching SIM cards, and deleted SMS commands, they were removed as a result of the desire of Google to become a "closed garden".

The term " closed garden "is a synonym for the term" closed platform "or" closed ecosystem", referring to a software system in which the service provider assumes complete control over all operations in the system, including applications, content and multimedia. However, this is not a new trend adopted by Google, but rather a trend that has spread over the years among major technology companies even outside of Google, including Facebook and Amazon.

The co-founder of Samourai, who bears the alias "SW", explained that the remark about the closed garden was due to a series of policy changes Google has made over the past year regarding all app store Play developers:

Samourai users may have noticed that they no longer receive notifications about receiving bitcoins. This is because if you want to use notification services, you have to route everything through Google services.

According to SW, the accumulation of" such little things " pushes the developers of Samourai to abandon the additional features with the release of new versions of the wallet for the application.

Moreover, SW hopes that a compromise can be reached between Samourai and Google Play to later implement these features, saying, "If [Google] contacts us, we can negotiate and find a way to keep these features. We are happy to change the code on our part to comply with their rules."

Link to the source of information (Russian) - https://altstake.io/news/google-vynudil-bitkoin-koshelek-udality-funkcii-bezopasnosti