One of the more interesting things I read today , on a personal level that is, is about the ability to have your Bitcoin wallet running on your smartwatch. Even though I do not own a smartwatch (yet), the idea itself intrigues me, so I decided to find out more.

A lot of Bitcoin enthusiasts will know the Aegis Bitcoin wallet, which is available for all kinds of Android devices, and iOS support is coming soon according to the website. The developer of this wallet has now made it available for Android Wear as well, and dubbed it Aegis Wallet Wear.

Unfortunately, the Aegis Wallet Wear functionalities are very limited for now, as users are currently unable to make any type of Bitcoin payment. However, having the application available on smart watches opens up a lot of new doors for Bitcoin and mobile payments.

Working functionalities include keeping track of the current Bitcoin price, knowing your Bitcoin balance at all times and getting alerts when a transaction occurred. QR codes can also be generated on your smartwatch, which makes receiving a Bitcoin transaction a lot easier for the other party involved.

On other sites, which I shall not name, I saw an interesting comment about how the Aegis application will also work on smartwatches with a round screen, compared to most square-shaped smartwatches. This is a sign of sheer ignorance if you ask me, as applications are developed based on resolution, not on form factor.

When asked about what functionalities Mr. Simic would like to implement in upcoming versions of Aegis Wallet Wear, he had the following to say :

“At the moment, Android watches lack NFC functionality, so that is certainly a limiting factor. However, it would be great if we could present a bitcoin transaction as a QR code and have a cashier scan our watch. Existing payment systems such as LevelUp do this already, and it would be great to implement the same for bitcoin payments.”
Bojan Simic, Aegis Wallet Developer

Even though the above would require support from merchants and existing platforms, this feature will be implemented in the Android Wear application anyway.

Personal security

Wearable technology brings up the ever-evolving topic of security. Mr. Simic feels that wearables, such as smartwatches or even glasses, could help people secure their personal and financial data in a new way.

“Bitcoin is certainly only one application for two-factor authentication using wearables and there are limitless possibilities ranging from turning on cars to opening doors. I’m sure that there are also countless possibilities we haven’t even thought of yet.”
Bojan Simic, Aegis Wallet Developer

Source :

http://www.coindesk.com/aegis-wallet-wear-brings-bitcoin-android-smartwatches/