French startup Ledger is making some of the most secure cryptocurrency hardware wallets out there. But the company’s apps aren’t that great. That’s why the company announced that Ledger has been working on brand new native apps for all desktop and mobile platforms.
Right now, Ledger relies on Google Chrome for its desktop apps. At some point, Google wanted to promote web apps and give them access to special APIs with Google Chrome Apps. The company has been phasing out those apps for a year or so.
And it’s great news for Ledger users as those apps weren’t that great. You had to install multiple apps to manage multiple cryptocurrencies.
If you wanted to check your Ethereum balance after your Bitcoin balance, you had to quit the Chrome app and launch another one. Those apps also don’t feel native. They get the job done, but the rise of altcoins have been problematic for those apps.
Ledger shared parts of its roadmap on the software front. First, there will be a new desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. It’s going to be native and independent from Chrome, and it’s going to work with 23 cryptocurrencies from day one.
Many intense cryptocurrency users have multiple Ledger wallets. That’s why you’ll be able to manage multiple wallets at once in the app.
If you’re not using a portfolio tracker, you’ll be able to use the Ledger app as a dashboard to view the value of your portfolio even when you don’t plug your wallets. All of this is coming out at some point during the second quarter of 2018.
After that, the company is going to focus on other features, such as Android and iOS apps, an automated way to install and uninstall apps on your Ledger Nano S so that you’re not limited to five cryptocurrencies, third-party integrations so that you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies on exchanges from the Ledger app and support for over a hundred cryptocurrencies.
It seems like Ledger spent most of 2017 focusing on scaling production. But 2018 is all about new features.
