Imported bitcoin address

[Strufmbae]

This is the situation.  
I changed my phone and reset my former phone without back up which holds my private keys to my electrum wallet.  

And I install electrum app wallet to my new phone and inported my bitcoin address.

So my question is, can i send my bitcoin to other wallet.?  Actually i haven't tried to do transaction with my  current wallet which i didn't enter my private keys.

[NeuroticFish]

This is the situation.  
I changed my phone and reset my former phone without back up which holds my private keys to my electrum wallet.  

And I install electrum app wallet to my new phone and inported my bitcoin address.

So my question is, can i send my bitcoin to other wallet.?  Actually i haven't tried to do transaction with my  current wallet which i didn't enter my private keys.

The private key is the "thing" that tells the network that you own that money. Only the owner of the money can spend.
Without private key (or, for some wallets, the seed based on what the private key is built) you are not the owner of the money.
The address is something anybody can access, but only to see the transactions and balance, not spend.

I didn't use electrum on mobile, but I think that you've imported the address only in "view only" mode and you cannot spend.

[Strufmbae]

So i can not send any balance if ever there would be.?  This is a real problem.

[Abdussamad]

Did you write down the seed words of your wallet? If you didn't then those funds are gone. The private keys that let you spend your bitcoin are derived from the seed so that writing that down makes it possible for you to easily backup your wallet.

The address is not secret information. It is what people use to send you money. If it was possible to spend money using your addresses anyone could spend your money.

[carlfebz2]

This is the situation.  
I changed my phone and reset my former phone without back up which holds my private keys to my electrum wallet.  

And I install electrum app wallet to my new phone and inported my bitcoin address.

So my question is, can i send my bitcoin to other wallet.?  Actually i haven't tried to do transaction with my  current wallet which i didn't enter my private keys.

How sad for that thing happen into you but you wont really have any access into that wallet anymore. If you havent neither the seed or private keys then those bitcoins inside of that wallet is lost forever. This is why we should always mind on setting up back up on our wallet because unexpected circumstances can really happen anytime and carelessness or not paying attention into important things can really cost us money.

[BitMaxz]

So i can not send any balance if ever there would be.?  This is a real problem.

I think you didn't import the right private key and I think the public key is what you import into electrum, which is watch-only mode you can't send any bitcoin with watch only mode so if you backup your private key in your old phone you must write it on the piece of paper or scan the private key QR code to your new phone so that you can spend your bitcoin to your new mobile if you import the right private key from your old phone to your new phone and wallet.

Like the other said if you save the seed phrase on the piece of paper you can recover it, but if you don't have both private key and seed phrase there's no chance to recover your wallet and send your bitcoin to other wallets.

[Strufmbae]

I did it accidentally,  what i remember is i copy and paste the private keys in a notepad that i downloaded from playstore, so after formatting my old phone, i have deciced to use my new phone and i install an electrum app, then all of a sudden i realized that i need the private key (but it was deleted after the format)  so i have a copy of my electrum btc address and imported it,  it was succesful that i imported the address but i am doubtful that i can spend some of my btc left on that wallet, and now its impossible. The amount is not that big.

[nc50lc]

so i have a copy of my electrum btc address and imported it,  it was succesful that i imported the address but i am doubtful that i can spend some of my btc left on that wallet, and now its impossible. The amount is not that big.

You can't spend using that "watch only" imported wallet.
If that's possible, anybody else can just steal someone else's funds just by importing addresses with huge balance.

The only options you have to restore a spendable wallet are:

• The Seed that you've instructed to write down during the first wallet creation process.
• Each of the Addresses' private keys.

The addresses are always visible to the public, example: blockexplorers.
By the way, if you're not sure: Addresses starts with 1, 3 or bc1 ; Private Keys Starts with 5, K or L ; and the SEED consist of words like dog sheep life science geek maid...etc.

[Strufmbae]

If that's possible, anybody else can just steal someone else's funds just by importing addresses with huge balance.

This is what i was actually thinking i have tried to import random electrum address and i succesfully watched it,  but as what other say i cannot have full access to it.

 I made a decision i am not using electrum wallet anymore since i cannot take care of the important informations. But,  i am not saying that electrum is not safe it depends to the owner, so thank you for your answers.

[Lucius]

This is what i was actually thinking i have tried to import random electrum address and i succesfully watched it,  but as what other say i cannot have full access to it.

 I made a decision i am not using electrum wallet anymore since i cannot take care of the important informations. But,  i am not saying that electrum is not safe it depends to the owner, so thank you for your answers.

Your decision not to use Electrum will not change nothing in future if you not change your thinking how things works. Any wallet you use need to have backup, in the form of private keys/wallet file (for every generated address), or in the form of seed. If you have any of these before hard reset your phone the problem would not exist.

Depending of value of coins in that wallet maybe you can try some recovery service/program to restore the data, it is possible that they are still there.

[radjie]

it's hard to return the bitcoin you have if the storage wallet you're using is the wallet of an app that's on the phone, especially if the private key you have is never copied on offline records. it's no use if you reinstall the storage wallet app on your phone if the private key is unknown.