AirGap, a self-guarded Bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallet with a storage app, today announced its latest release. In update v3.11.0, AirGap implemented support for SegWit for Bitcoin (BTC), improved secret import and entropy collection across dice rolls.
Separate Witness (SegWit) is an update to the Bitcoin protocol that modified the way data was stored on the blockchain. This update offers several benefits, including increased scalability, faster transaction times, and most importantly, lower transaction fees.
To use SegWit with AirGap, existing BTC users need to create a new address in the AirGap Vault and send funds to the new SegWit address.
Other improvements include:
Collecting entropy by rolling dice and flipping coins
Secret generation using dice rolls and coin flips is a safety feature for creating safe mnemonics using a specific sequence of inputs to entropy. The advantage of this is that users can collect their own universe without any digital assistance from the built-in RNG (Random Number Generators) device.
On the import page, there is now an advanced toggle. Users can then choose to roll the dice or flip coins as a way to generate a mnemonic.
New Secure Memory Import feature (built-in keyboard)
The AirGap team has now replaced the regular device keyboard with its own virtual keyboard.
This results in advantages such as:
- The keyboard can’t record/save a memory (some hardware keyboards do this to check spelling and send everything entered to the server – not good for security). AirGap keyboard does not use any external dependencies and is built into the app.
- The new keyboard allows importing only valid words from the BIP39 list. So there can be no more typos/double spaces, etc.
- The keyboard has BIP39 word autocomplete for faster import.
- There is a “scramble” button that randomly arranges the characters on the keyboard, improving security if someone is looking over their shoulder.
- There is a “hide” button that hides the memory already entered, improving security if someone is watching over their shoulder.
BIP85 Child Memory Management
When BIP85 mnemonic was created, it is now possible to import this child mnemonic directly as a secret into AirGap. So users don’t have to write it down before importing it.
“AirGap’s security features are constantly evolving, and in addition to the two new security features mentioned above, we also support the PSBT (BIP-174) standard, which means that Vault is now only compatible with other watch wallets, although it is currently in beta.”
– AirGap Team
