Google’s “restrictive policies” push Bitcoin wallet Samourai to alter security features

A report published by CoinDesk says that the team behind a privacy-oriented Bitcoin wallet referred to as Samourai have been forced to edit their privacy features following a change in Google’s security policies. The team had to remove key security features from one of the versions of the application.

The latest version of the app that executes on Google Play was released on Tuesday this week. However, a blog post published by the team later indicated that three key features had been excluded from the version, 0.99.04. The features included stealth mode, SIM switch and remote SMS commands. Samourai said cited Google’s need to “become more of a ‘walled garden’ experience.”

However, the blog post clarified that there still exists a similar version with all the features, although not on Google. The co-founder of Samourai referred to by the pseudonym “SW” told CoinDesk:

“Users of Samourai might have noticed that they are no longer getting notifications on when they receive bitcoin. That’s because if you want to use notification services you have to route everything through Google services.”

SW insisted that there is no reason for users to worry because even the version on Google Play has “maximum amount of privacy”. In addition, SW said the privacy that Samourai has cannot be compared to any other Bitcoin wallet in the market. He continued:

“If [Google] reached out to us, we’ll be able to make arrangements and be able to figure out a way to keep these features. We’re happy to change code on our end to keep in compliance with them.”