Bitcoin Forum

smartphone wallet is fully dangerous,  I mean insecure. it is not danger that much for that app, but it is for the keyboard we use or any other 3rd party app.

explanation:   There have been over 10,000,00,00+ downloads of emoji keyboards, (actually: keyloggers, spyware disguised as friendly emoticon keyboards.)
So when you want to enter your wallet, you need to type full info and password of your account, in the main time keylogger is  sending these onfo to victim's server. so you got hacked easily.
 
also we install many 3rd party app like : QR code or bar code scanner these get permission to read our contact, read to call log or making call even audio recording sometime.


Remember, on android any app can spy on you.
For example: our favorite flashlight app (third party) spying on you while you take a picture of a QR code to scan a bitcoin address, etc.
So I think Android is more risky than iPhone. So be careful.

Some tips to protect your wallet on smartphone :

1: make  sure to Delete all the apps you don't use.
2: When using your wallet, make sure NO background apps running.
3: Don't use any risky third party apps- (make sure your app ONLY USE the PERMISSIONS they need to operate.nothing else)
4: keep locked your smartphone when you are not using it.-
5: don't run/use 3rd party keyboards.

Actually, you should only trust on hardware wallets.

 I have recent been considering using my wallet on my mobile phone because of mobility and portability. Thanks for the friendly reminder, this is indeed a crucial issue to be mindful of.

You can use a spare smart phone as a crypto wallet but never install any apps except for the wallet itself. You'll gonna make it as a cold storage by not connecting it to the internet to make your coins secure.

Agree, smartphone is very dangerous to use as wallet.
I can recommend only software wallets for PC, best to use without internet but this is too advanced for average user.
Basically you must know what you are doing on PC and you are safe in 99,9% of cases, except there is no 100% security, nowhere in the world.

Everything on a smartphone is insecure. Smart phones are naturally insecure for now due to bad update policy.
Phone manufacturers don't send out security updates for their devices, so they become sitting ducks just waiting to get hacked.

It is always safe to assume that your smartphone has already been compromised by the first time to turn it on.
I wouldn't place anything sensitive on them if I were you.

If you want to have a mobile Bitcoin wallet, keep small amounts in it, that is about best security advice you can get.
It is going to be easy enough to hack it anyway, so you might as well not keep too much on there.

Go for it. Using a mobile wallet is fine, as long as you don't put all your investments in it. Only use mobile wallets as a "hot wallet", whereas the funds in there are the funds you use when you're planning on transacting with bitcoin, for convenience. Personally I'd leave a maximum amount of $100 on my hot wallet.

Thanks, I believe that's indeed the way to go, at least to be on a safer side.

I am an Android User and I am fully aware of the security of Apps available in the Playstore. Before you can even access the apps Android will always ask you about this Apps Permissions in order to acces your Gallery, Camera, and even permission to change your Keyboard so before they can even harvest your data you will know if these apps are up to no good.

3rd Party apps available on the other hand that is available for download in the internet, you know the ones you can download the ".apk" are not safe in any way as if you don't have a device virus protection the malware included will never be detected by the system. So downloading apps that came from websites not directly related to Playstore are not safe.

Your advice is very helpful to us, especially for beginners.

Mobile phones are indeed not secure enough for cryptocurrency wallets.

It is best to store the cryptocurrency on a PC, the safest being a hardware wallet.

Depends on the use of your smarthphone, if you have one dedicated smarthphone is quite secure.

Sound advice. Google has been doing a better job in keeping the Play Store safe recently, but a few shady apps always seem to fall between the cracks.

For Android specifically, I'd like to add that you should only install apps from the Play Store. Don't use any third party app stores and don't download APK files from the internet. Avoid rooting your phone if you can.

The iOS App Store is much safer but that hardly means shit if you jailbreak your phone and use unofficial apps.

Air-gapped phones should be just as safe as hardware wallets though, so it's not like they're inherently insecure. It's just harder to be careful with them because of how many different things they can be used for.

Hot storage wallets are mostly unsafe,better to use cold storage wallets

as for me, smartphone is not secure, because it usually had installed many kinds of spy software or another dangerous software

May not be wise to use your phone phone to access secure data if you can help it.

As we all know that cryptocurrency is all about decentralization so when there is a distribution of power and freedom, on the other hand, there is the distribution of responsibilities too and hence it is our responsibility to take adequate security precaution while using cryptocurrencies. As far as the wallet is concerned, I am using paper wallet generated in a secure environment along with multiple backup copies stored at multiple secure geographical locations and I am also using Trezor hardware wallet as I find it user-friendly and secure. Anything which is held in a possession of anyone other than ourselves is insecure in my opinion.

I don't know the situation on android because I'm an IOS user but on IOS every app is sandboxed so the apps can't effect each other so I don't understand these two statements

you will understand if you search on google about ios device hacking.

Well i must be lucky One, i have wallets on my smartphone
And till today nothing happen.
Android stock here. Nexus 5 before, and now other mobile
Also stock android.
I sell my BTC on the end off 2017 using smartphone, with electrum wallet.
But the topic its correct, its dangerous.

while it's good to consider security steps for smartphones, honestly, if one exposes themselves to that risk I think sooner or later it'd be a costly mistake..
for the general user, smartphones are the alternative with the least insight into what's going on in the background, most exposure to possible attacks from networks, but also most simple to use.
simplicity is great in many terms but not when it comes to handling value, please do not rely on a user/password app for your crypto on your phone!!!

a hardware wallet as mentioned is a very smart investment but there's also other alternatives, just try to seperate [crypto] and [daily use].
if possible, don't use the same phone/computer that you are doing with crypto, and so on.
here is a text i wrote with some information if someone would like to read a little more: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3576100

either way, even if simplicity, easy access etc today might seem convenient,
one single small mistake at any point in time can result in complete loss of all your crypto!
it's better to learn and understand how to safekeep your crypto, don't rely on any third parties, don't expose yourself unecessary(phones especially, but also computers, browsers, etc).

for all you know your crypto access was exposed since day one and someone is just waiting for you to fill it up more!
get a safe device(hardware wallet/clean computer), get a wallet, move all funds over, and then it's good!  ;D