Bitcoin Forum

I am trying feather wallet, Monero GUI. Problem is with the synchronization. I had some Monero from a few years ago [I can not remember the specific year and month] and it's taking hours to synchronize. I needed something like Electrum for Bitcoin which is quick. Does Monero have such type of wallet or which wallet you recommend has at-least a faster syncing.
 

You can get more information about monero wallet that you can choose from here https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/

It's a feature, not a bug. Sharing your view key with the server is bad for privacy.
I would just keep Feather wallet running for a few days until it's done. No big deal.

In order for the "light" wallet for Monero to work, you will have to share your private view key with the remote server. This will violate your privacy, but such wallets will synchronize with the network faster. The only two such wallets suggested on the getmonero.org website are MyMonero and Edge.

I am not aware that there are any other Electrum forks for Monero. The closest to it is the Feather wallet, which you have already tried.

I am running the wallet for a few days. The balance is still zero [The required block height yet to be found], the wallet will find the block, I will see balance and then after the full sync I will be able to move the funds. 🤪

I will wait LOL

That's why you should write down the block height or date with the seed words. But that's for next time ;)

I think maybe you should check "the wallet restore height" setting in your wallet.
How to change the wallet restore height (https://www.getmonero.org/resources/user-guides/change-restore-height.html)

I'm not sure about the feather wallet, but as far as I know almost every Monero wallet has it.

I never thought this will be useful in future but now I realize I should have taken a note of it. Once I am able to sync the wallet, It seems better for me to move the funds and take note of the new block height.

Monero GUI is synchronizing faster [I removed feather] and it has the feature to set the block height.

OK, at some point when the synchronization of that block comes, the balance will appear, but will you be able to send those coins even though the wallet is not fully synchronized? Or you will have to wait until he finishes sync?

Feather wallet is syncing much faster (try changing node connection, it looks and works very similar like Electrum wallet.
You could also try some alternative mobile wallets like Stack wallet or Cake wallet, but I think it's much better to use some hardware with monero support in future like Trezor, Onekey, ledger.

I had to wait until the synchronization is complete. I was able to fully synchronize the wallet yesterday and to get recent block, I moved the funds. From this experience I realized the necessary of taking note of the block height. Next time I will not need to wait this much longer even if I don't have the current data in my drive.

It was with a hardware wallet. The main difference between feather and Electrum fork is the synchronization time. Electrum synchronize quickly, in just a few minutes [its not downloading the entire blockchain or all data from a time given from back] but feather wallet starts downloading all blocks [that's what I understood] from the given block height. Imagine you are starting it from the 1st block, you are downloading the whole blockchain.

With Feather wallet, you have to wait until it's synced. If you don't want to wait (for hours), it's better to keep the wallet running even if you barely use it.

Feather wallet may look like Electrum, but it works very differently: Electrum syncs in seconds if you turn it on after a year. Feather wallet needs to download hundreds of megabytes (if not gigabytes), and takes hours to do so (if you haven't used it for a long time).

When using the feather application with a hardware wallet then it's impossible. Because every time when you will restart your computer, you will need to connect your hardware wallet in order to open the wallet file. It's always convenient to let it synchronize once a week or once a month if you are using the same wallet file. In the case of stand alone feather application [without needing a hardware wallet], it can be used just like bitcoin core.

I don't have much experience with Monero wallets it's been a while since I used it, but do you have to use the feather application if the funds are on a hardware wallet, isn't there a simpler option?

I found feather and Monero GUI wallet is convenient for me to use with the hardware wallet, I don't know if there are other easier way. Privacy and security is main priority for me. Think it like using your hardware wallet with Electrum and you are accessing Electrum with TOR connection.

Well obviously it's different blokchains, coins and wallets, that is why you have actual privacy with monero, but I never had to wait hours for feather wallet to sync.
Anyone wanting quicker sync wallets should use mobile light wallets, some of them I mentioned before, but there are probably others out there.
I heard that Cake wallet support for hardware wallets is coming soon.

I didn't know that. How about a workaround: don't turn off your computer, but put it in sleep mode when you don't need it?

There are various reasons for restarting the computer.
I don't know which hardware wallet it is, but most of them require a reconnect (human physical activity) after a certain idle time.

I've never used Feather wallet in combination with a hardware wallet (the dust amounts I keep aren't worth it), but I'd expect Feather to keep working once the hardware wallet disconnects. If it takes hours to synchronize, keeping the hardware wallet unlocked all that time is a security risk.
That's why I was surprised to read it needs to connect to synchronize.

With sleep mode, it might work. I will try [My wallet is not available right now] and let you know the outcome.

Yes, and I am a person who likes to shutdown my computer after my daily session.

It works after disconnecting the hardware device [can not sign transaction] but once you shutdown your computer or anything happen which lose the power supply then to open the wallet file you need your hardware device again.

I guess it's a privacy feature, so someone with access to your computer can't find your transactions. I'd prefer a password on the wallet for that: I wouldn't want to connect hardware wallet just to see incoming transactions.

People confuse Feather as being very similar with Electrum, while this is the case only for the UI. It's important to understand the distinction, which happens on the background. Let me explain.

In Electrum:

• You're sending all your addresses (until the gap limit) to a public server.
• This server then checks for every TXO that matches with one of the addresses.
• Once this search is done, it returns you the transactions associated with these addresses.
• When spending bitcoin, you reveal to them information like which UTXO is being spent, how much money is transferred, and to whom.

In Feather:

• You're requesting from a public server to send you the blockchain in sequential order, starting from the latest block until the wallet's block height (or block 1, if you've lost it).
• For every transaction received, you check if it belongs to you, utilizing the technology of stealth addresses (https://www.getmonero.org/resources/moneropedia/stealthaddress.html). If you do not, you discard it.
• When spending monero, you don't reveal neither which output is being spent, neither how much money is transferred, nor to whom (to which address).

The big problem is, obviously, scalability. Feather is a lightweight wallet and you're requested to download the blockchain. Not so lightweight if you've lost the wallet's block height!