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Title: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: daikku on September 05, 2015, 03:04:41 PM I used to have the bitcoin app on my old phone and the device got destroyed so in the same way, I lost access to the app and the backup I make for the app. I do know the bitcoin address and I can see that the coins are still intact but what are my chance of having the address again in my use or transferring the coins to a new address I have now online.
I have read on some sites online that the coins are lost forever and in others, I have read that it is possible to use a certain code or software to force the coins to my new account. Can anyone here help if this is possible... Thanks Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: achow101 on September 05, 2015, 03:08:02 PM What app were you using?
Unfortunately, your Bitcoin is probably lost. There is no way to recover the address without any kind of backup. Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: ranochigo on September 05, 2015, 03:24:52 PM I used to have the bitcoin app on my old phone and the device got destroyed so in the same way, I lost access to the app and the backup I make for the app. I do know the bitcoin address and I can see that the coins are still intact but what are my chance of having the address again in my use or transferring the coins to a new address I have now online. Unfortunately, the only way to spend the coins in the address is by using the private key and craft a signed transaction which you apparently can't. Depending on the condition of your phone, you can possibly still recover it if the memory isn't destroyed. You can use ADB to extract the private key if you have root to it and the important components aren't damaged.I have read on some sites online that the coins are lost forever and in others, I have read that it is possible to use a certain code or software to force the coins to my new account. Can anyone here help if this is possible... Thanks Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: daikku on September 05, 2015, 07:59:16 PM What app were you using? Unfortunately, your Bitcoin is probably lost. There is no way to recover the address without any kind of backup. It was the official Bitcoin Wallet App (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet) I used to have the bitcoin app on my old phone and the device got destroyed so in the same way, I lost access to the app and the backup I make for the app. I do know the bitcoin address and I can see that the coins are still intact but what are my chance of having the address again in my use or transferring the coins to a new address I have now online. Unfortunately, the only way to spend the coins in the address is by using the private key and craft a signed transaction which you apparently can't. Depending on the condition of your phone, you can possibly still recover it if the memory isn't destroyed. You can use ADB to extract the private key if you have root to it and the important components aren't damaged.I have read on some sites online that the coins are lost forever and in others, I have read that it is possible to use a certain code or software to force the coins to my new account. Can anyone here help if this is possible... Thanks Well this happened a while back and I do not have the device any longer because it was damaged that I lost all data on memory (pics, documents etc) Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: DannyHamilton on September 05, 2015, 08:21:17 PM Well this happened a while back and I do not have the device any longer because it was damaged that I lost all data on memory (pics, documents etc) If you can't get access to the device, and you didn't store a backup, then the bitcoins are permanently stuck at that address. Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: unholycactus on September 05, 2015, 08:44:02 PM One thing you should understand is that Bitcoin is accessible to anyone but you need a key to move them. If you threw away your device and no longer have physical access to its storage then nobody has the key.
Knowing the address only makes you able to stare at a crystal safe that nobody can open because the key was thrown away. Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: tspacepilot on September 08, 2015, 05:06:28 PM Right, the user's only hope at this point would be that he has some clue as to how the address was generated. If, say, he knew the mnemonic seed (the bitcoin wallet for android has been hd for a while now) or if he was one of the people who made an address way back when bitcoinj was using a flawed Java RNG.
Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: Hugroll on September 13, 2015, 02:58:54 PM I used to have the bitcoin app on my old phone and the device got destroyed so in the same way, I lost access to the app and the backup I make for the app. I do know the bitcoin address and I can see that the coins are still intact but what are my chance of having the address again in my use or transferring the coins to a new address I have now online. all the wallets are pretty simple, no backup=no recovery of wallet. :'(. I have read on some sites online that the coins are lost forever and in others, I have read that it is possible to use a certain code or software to force the coins to my new account. Can anyone here help if this is possible... Thanks Title: Re: HELP: Destroyed smartphone with BTC app, only address. Hope? Post by: ranochigo on September 14, 2015, 10:34:24 AM Right, the user's only hope at this point would be that he has some clue as to how the address was generated. If, say, he knew the mnemonic seed (the bitcoin wallet for android has been hd for a while now) or if he was one of the people who made an address way back when bitcoinj was using a flawed Java RNG. The wallet was shifted to HD only a whole ago and OP stated that he had it for a long time so there's a high chance that it isn't deterministic. The flawed RNG is actually quite impossible. Given that there are so many scanners trying to scan for flawed RNG to steal BTC from, it is easy for them to steal it if they saw it on the network. |