Apple is about to kill Sparrow Wallet on macOS. The deadline is June 30.
Since 2023, more than a dozen fake "Sparrow" apps have appeared on Apple's App Store. Users have lost their savings, in some cases their life savings, to these impersonators. Craig Raw, Sparrow's developer, holds the registered US trademarks for both the name and logo. He's been publicly warning Apple about the scam apps since early 2024. They keep showing up.
Craig created a placeholder app, never published, to warn users that Sparrow is desktop-only and the App Store copycats aren't real. Apple's response? They flagged his developer account for "dishonest activity" and scheduled it for termination.
The developer fighting scammers got flagged. The scammers who stole life savings kept operating on Apple's platform.
If Apple follows through, every new Sparrow install on macOS fails after June 30. macOS development ends entirely.
This matters because Sparrow is the best desktop Bitcoin wallet available, full stop. Multisig. Coin control. Hardware wallet integration. Tor support. UTXO management that most wallets don't even attempt. Free. Open source. Built by one developer who cares more about his users than his revenue.
And one automated decision by a trillion-dollar company could end it on an entire operating system.
This is why platform gatekeeping is a systemic risk for freedom tech. If your tools need a gatekeeper's blessing to exist, they aren't freedom tools. We have to build on open platforms.
Download Sparrow now from http://sparrowwallet.com before the deadline. And repost Craig's announcement to help get Apple's attention before it's too late.
Since 2023, more than a dozen fake "Sparrow" apps have appeared on Apple's App Store. Users have lost their savings, in some cases their life savings, to these impersonators. Craig Raw, Sparrow's developer, holds the registered US trademarks for both the name and logo. He's been publicly warning Apple about the scam apps since early 2024. They keep showing up.
Craig created a placeholder app, never published, to warn users that Sparrow is desktop-only and the App Store copycats aren't real. Apple's response? They flagged his developer account for "dishonest activity" and scheduled it for termination.
The developer fighting scammers got flagged. The scammers who stole life savings kept operating on Apple's platform.
If Apple follows through, every new Sparrow install on macOS fails after June 30. macOS development ends entirely.
This matters because Sparrow is the best desktop Bitcoin wallet available, full stop. Multisig. Coin control. Hardware wallet integration. Tor support. UTXO management that most wallets don't even attempt. Free. Open source. Built by one developer who cares more about his users than his revenue.
And one automated decision by a trillion-dollar company could end it on an entire operating system.
This is why platform gatekeeping is a systemic risk for freedom tech. If your tools need a gatekeeper's blessing to exist, they aren't freedom tools. We have to build on open platforms.
Download Sparrow now from http://sparrowwallet.com before the deadline. And repost Craig's announcement to help get Apple's attention before it's too late.
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