Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Electrum => Topic started by: jackg on January 16, 2017, 05:52:51 PM



Title: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: jackg on January 16, 2017, 05:52:51 PM
Is there a way to view the private keys, the pulic key and the addresses for electrum wallets for android directly from the app (no rooting).

Thank you in advance for the information! Also, if there isn't a way of getting this information, should I run the same wallet on desktop and android in order to access this information?


Title: Re: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: kolloh on January 17, 2017, 10:48:13 PM
Is there a way to view the private keys, the pulic key and the addresses for electrum wallets for android directly from the app (no rooting).

Thank you in advance for the information! Also, if there isn't a way of getting this information, should I run the same wallet on desktop and android in order to access this information?

It looks like the status page has code to show the master_public_key as well as the seed as shown in:
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/master/gui/kivy/uix/ui_screens/status.kv

If this doesn't have what you need, you can always try to restore the seed shown into a desktop wallet which may reveal additional information.


Title: Re: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: jackg on January 17, 2017, 11:37:55 PM
I forgot to add later that day. I was experimenting with a public key linked to a wallet with around 0.2BTC and worked out that the public key gives you directaccess to the wallet to access the private keys from that (As I understand that the public key is generated from private keys so there may be a reversible component in that).
Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll definitely check out that link to see if there is any more information that I have missed.

(If I stated anythong wrong here and a user can spot it ten please do so - such as if I do or do not have access to my entire wallet from the public key especially).


Title: Re: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: kolloh on January 18, 2017, 01:33:55 AM
I forgot to add later that day. I was experimenting with a public key linked to a wallet with around 0.2BTC and worked out that the public key gives you directaccess to the wallet to access the private keys from that (As I understand that the public key is generated from private keys so there may be a reversible component in that).
Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll definitely check out that link to see if there is any more information that I have missed.

(If I stated anythong wrong here and a user can spot it ten please do so - such as if I do or do not have access to my entire wallet from the public key especially).

You cannot derive the private key from the public keys and they aren't reversible, but Electrum stores both so you should be able to correlate them and lookup private keys for the public addresses ( at least you can via the desktop app).

You should have access to all the keys and addresses in your wallet from the seed. That is the most critical part which can generate all the addresses and private keys for your wallet.


Title: Re: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: ranochigo on January 18, 2017, 12:38:06 PM
I forgot to add later that day. I was experimenting with a public key linked to a wallet with around 0.2BTC and worked out that the public key gives you directaccess to the wallet to access the private keys from that (As I understand that the public key is generated from private keys so there may be a reversible component in that).
Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll definitely check out that link to see if there is any more information that I have missed.

(If I stated anythong wrong here and a user can spot it ten please do so - such as if I do or do not have access to my entire wallet from the public key especially).
Master public key will definitely compromise your privacy and everyone can link all your addresses together.

Master public key will not compromise the security of the addresses. However, if you leak one of your private keys and your master public key, your master private key will be compromised. To my knowledge, they haven't harden the keys yet. I'll have to look at the source code once again.

As long as you don't leak your private keys(which you shouldn't), you are 100% safe.


Title: Re: Accessing private/public keys and addresses from electrum for android?
Post by: jackg on January 18, 2017, 06:43:26 PM
I forgot to add later that day. I was experimenting with a public key linked to a wallet with around 0.2BTC and worked out that the public key gives you directaccess to the wallet to access the private keys from that (As I understand that the public key is generated from private keys so there may be a reversible component in that).
Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll definitely check out that link to see if there is any more information that I have missed.

(If I stated anythong wrong here and a user can spot it ten please do so - such as if I do or do not have access to my entire wallet from the public key especially).
Master public key will definitely compromise your privacy and everyone can link all your addresses together.

Master public key will not compromise the security of the addresses. However, if you leak one of your private keys and your master public key, your master private key will be compromised. To my knowledge, they haven't harden the keys yet. I'll have to look at the source code once again.

As long as you don't leak your private keys(which you shouldn't), you are 100% safe.
I forgot to add later that day. I was experimenting with a public key linked to a wallet with around 0.2BTC and worked out that the public key gives you directaccess to the wallet to access the private keys from that (As I understand that the public key is generated from private keys so there may be a reversible component in that).
Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll definitely check out that link to see if there is any more information that I have missed.

(If I stated anythong wrong here and a user can spot it ten please do so - such as if I do or do not have access to my entire wallet from the public key especially).

You cannot derive the private key from the public keys and they aren't reversible, but Electrum stores both so you should be able to correlate them and lookup private keys for the public addresses ( at least you can via the desktop app).

You should have access to all the keys and addresses in your wallet from the seed. That is the most critical part which can generate all the addresses and private keys for your wallet.

Thans for the info. I notice after sending that, I can add a public key to my wallet on mobile but must "sign" the transaction using the private key using my desktopwallet.
It's proably not much different whether you use electrm or the actual android wallet either if you can't access the private keys (although you do still have the public keys).