Why did my transaction not include the fee? I moved 0.30 BTC from Bitcoin Wallet for Android to a new Coinbase wallet I had created, I have waited and waited – now it’s been 29 hours.

It turns out the transaction doesn’t include a fee, which was why it’s taking so long. I was surprised, because Bitcoin Wallet for Android doesn't have a feature to opt out of sending a fee. I don’t think any android based application wallet has? I checked right through the app and the fee is automatically taken every transaction (as it should be IMHO).

So, how come this one transaction did not include a fee, while each of the past 50,000 transactions I've done have, including two since this incident using the exact same wallet to the exact same Coinbase wallet in an attempt to force my other one to be confirmed.

I've spoke with the Bitcoin devs and it’s not a bug with the wallet, or if it is, then this is literally the only case this has happened in.

Why and what could cause this? How long do I wait? Is my 0.30 coins in limbo never to be seen again? Is there any way I can just cancel this transaction and try again? Is there any way to manually pay the fee? Or confirm it myself somehow?

Coinbase says my 0.30 BTC is pending and will be confirmed in 30 minutes; it has said that the whole time.
I don't know why your wallet didn't include a fee, and it would probably require a fair amount of debugging to figure out what went wrong.  Here are my suggestions for following up on this problem:


Make sure your transaction really didn't include a fee.  Open your wallet, find the transaction is the list of outgoing transactions, and press-and-hold on it to get the extra menu, and open it in the block chain explorer (BitEasy in Bitcoin Wallet For Android).

In the block chain explorer, look at the details and make sure it didn't really include a transaction fee.  If there is a fee, Coinbase support got something wrong---so contact them again.  If there really is no fee, go to the next step.
See what wallet you use.  From your description, it sounds like you use Bitcoin Wallet For Android, developed by Andreas Schildbach and based on BitcoinJ by Mike Hearn.  I've worked with both of them, and they're both very responsive to user problems.

If that is in fact the wallet you use, open a new issue on their issue tracker.  Here is the information you should provide them:


A link to this question.
The link to the page on BitEasy that shows your transaction had no fee.  Note: this may reduce your privacy (but it won't put your bitcoins directly at risk); if you uncomfortable with that, ask them if you can send them that link by email---I'm sure they'll accept.
What version of Android you use (Settings→Device Information→Version) and whether you use the latest version of Bitcoin Wallet For Android from the Google Play store.
Whether or not you completely emptied the balance of your wallet.  I think there's some special code that gets run when that happens.
Anything else unusual that you noticed.
You may also want to provide a copy of the text from the email Coinbase support sent you after removing any personal information.


If you use a different wallet, you'll need to follow the same basic steps but at a different URL.  Let me know the full name of your wallet in a comment below, and I'll find the most appropriate link.
Read the response from the developers closely and respond as best you can.  Please note that Andreas, Mike, and everyone else who works on Bitcoin Wallet For Android are all volunteers, so it sometimes takes them a while to get to new issues---please be patient.


This may seem like a fair amount of work, but filing issues is one of the ways you can support great open source software like Bitcoin Wallet For Android.