Review on Jaxx Wallet by Neil Madron

Name: Jaxx Wallet
Item: Jaxx Wallet
Rating: 3

June 28, 2019

Painfully slow data - Stopped using Jaxx Liberty on Ubuntu 18.04 and Windows 10

I'm using the official 64-bit AppImage from the Jaxx website. I've tested it with the latest version of Linux Mint (19.1) and it has the same issue. Another laptop runs Jaxx a fully updated 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home. It has the same issue too. The market, portfolio, and wallet does not update in real-time, not even close to it. It often takes up to a minute or worse. And it has nothing to do with my devices or internet connection. I may as well buy a print version of market data if a digital copy isn't going to be instantaneous or at least take less than a minute let alone seconds to update. The news feature also slows down both machines, one powerful the other not so much. Clearly this slow functionality is systematic with Jaxx Liberty, although the transactions are relatively efficient. But its main purpose is not to process transactions but to store crypto, so its matching features like portfolio data should be as efficient.
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I haven't used ShapeShift to exchange crypto via Jaxx Liberty, so I cannot comment on that. For my purposes, I only needed it to store and send crypto to other exchanges. Those features work perfectly, though you have to be careful to use the addresses it recommends for receiving as these change everytime you receive the respective asset. But for any transaction, cash, credit/debit card, wire transfer, ecommerce payment, and so on, you should do that anyway!
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Overall, I don't understand why I should a software that is so slow to update useful information about my portfolio. In the same time it takes to update I could have called someone else who looks after my portfolio to give me that information. I don't have a someone else nor should I need one when I can have a software do it for me. Jaxx Liberty should be that software, but it falls very short of doing that. When there are alternative wallets to use, Jaxx Liberty is a fail for me.
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Pros

Setup on two laptops, one running Ubuntu 64-bit and the other Windows 10 Home 64-bit without any issues. The process was quite intuitive and easy.
The software updates automatically on Ubuntu and Windows.
On a 22-inch 1920x1080p monitor the interface makes full use of the screen's real estate.
The software loads almost instantly in Ubuntu (running an SSD) and Windows (running an HDD).
The news feature is useful, as it summarizes the latest crypto news from around the web.
Allows seemingly safe storage of many different cryptocurrencies based on a variety of tokens.
The software changes the address each time assets are received, which can be good or bad. You'll need to keep changing your details to whoever or whatever site you're receiving from, so it's a good safety feature. But it also means constantly making sure you use the new addresses every time they change.

Cons

On a smaller 15.4 inch 1366x768 laptop screen the interface appears a little cramped, but still usable.
The news feature may be useful, but they are only titles and short descriptions that link to the actual websites via your default web browser. On Ubuntu, the news feature slows down the whole device. The browser takes a lot longer to load via Jaxx Liberty than it does on its own or through any other app or shortcut.
The portfolio section doesn't make sense. If you take crypto out of Jaxx it shows your portfolio has dropped by that amount in $ or %. So, if you take out half your portfolio worth say $1000 it'll show you have -50% and -$500. If your remaining portfolio increases by $100 it'll still show -$400. This setup doesn't make sense. They could at least offer an option to remove the portfolio information if you've take assets out of the software.
On both Ubuntu and Windows, the market prices don't update properly or in a timely manner. Even when they do it takes a long time for the portfolio and wallet data to reflect market price changes.