No Jaxx for Monero: not as big of a deal as you might think
Abandon closed source wallets
It has just been revealed that the developers of Jaxx wallet software are not going to be integrating Monero at the current moment in time. This could not be less of a news story. Jaxx wallets should be avoided from the start. 
We need to demand open source wallets
A wallet client should exist as an entirely open source piece of software; why should we be supporting assets that enable user control when in the end we just forfeit that control to an entity we know nothing about? There are many great open source BTC and ETH wallets, mobile ones too, but Monero is at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to that aspect. The GUI client from the Monero project is great and works well, but their native mobile application is a year or two out. The point here is, there are open source wallets out there for all cryptocurrencies worth their weight. Using an open source client is at the essence of these assets, placing your power in the hands of others because of complacency is not the attitude we should take.
The Jaxx developers had a seemingly rocky time getting Monero integration sorted out. I am certainly not confidant in their technical abilitys based on the way they treated and communicated with the Monero project leaders. Even further, the Jaxx team has everything to gain by integrating Monero, users. A reddit user eloquently put it:
That's like the equivalent of being in a woodland survival situation, and discovering that hunting your own food is too hard, so you decide to refocus your efforts on finding cute shapes in the clouds.
What do I do?
I am not here to say never keep any coin in a wallet that you don't know the source code to. As a Monero user, that is not even something that I do. I keep a Monero or two in the iOS Freewallet app because it is convenient to have Monero on my phone and the risk of a few Monero is minor. Now for my long term holdings? Those are kept on an offline wallet, open source by nature.
What I am saying is at every point possible, making the effort to at least understand who has ultimate control of your coins when you use a wallet is a must. That's because, at least in the Freewallet example, I don't really own those coins.
If you want a good mobile open source wallet for BTC check out Breadwallet.
For securing your ETH on mobile, the upcoming project Status.im is doing some really cool things in the Ethereum space. I can't wait (the alpha is fantastic).
Stay decentaralized
Thanks for the info. Very comforting. I dont use a Jaxx wallet myself.
I saw big deal was made about this and it surely affected the price of Monero but I see it is coming back again now that it is dying down some.
Good read. Thanks
It was a very strange outcome. Jaxx is easy to use and is a nice app but I have lost a bit of confidence in the team.
To be honest, a smooth app is only worth it if it has the security to back it up.
What cryptocurrency do you prefer? I can recommend a well designed mobile wallet that is hopefully secure.
I am interested in a few at the moment. I would love an app that's multi currency that is the appeal of jaxx for me at the moment.
For big stashes though the only way to secure I think is via hardware wallet. What are your thoughts?
Well as far as multi currency wallets, I don't think I could put my name behind them. To be honest, there is not much use yet for mobile wallets and if you are dealing with anything but BTC or ETH there is no need to keep any on your phone. Do your alt coin stuff securely on your computer. Personally I keep some BTC in my bread wallet app for iOS, I have my own keys and the code is open source. All my ETH holdings are in cold storage; same goes for the rest of my crypto.
A hardware wallet or more importantly, an offline or "cold storage" wallet. For example, a portion of my holdings are stored on an old laptop stored in my vault. I have a paper backup in another state as well.
If you want to use products like jaxx, just know that you don't actually own the funds there. If something happens to jaxx, you risk losing what you have. Unless you buy things with your phone and mobile wallet all the time, be safe and use the open source client.
Jaxx offers the ability to view you're private keys and generate addresses from a backup phrase. Even if jaxx went offline or for wound up you could still access your funds with this info.
I agree though it's a hot wallet for safety offline and hardware wallets are the way to go for security. Online Wallets are like real world wallets. You wouldn't walk around with your life savings in your pocket. Offline and hardware are like bank accounts.
It is a nice feature to have multi asset support.
I do see that Jaxx has improved their products as far as open source goes. I am still not going to support the project. I much prefer using an open source mobile wallet for the couple mBTC I keep with me.