Using mobile phone as a full mobile wallet

[ampere]

This could be so hilarious but I just need you to contribute.

If someone has two mobile phones, deciding to use one as a mobile wallet. To me, this is a good idea as one of the phones can be useless. And having in mind to use it as wallet and putting these in consideration.

Having back up of his private keys or seed phrase.
Not using it to go online but online while making transactions
Still install anti malware against malware

So, he use the phone only as wallet and for crypto transactions. So, what do you think. Is this a good idea?

I also use this type of strategy, one phone contains all my crypto currency wallets, while i have my seeds saved privately.

The only thing i do not agree with is anti malware, either for your mobile phone, or your laptop, you do not need anything called anti malware.
For your phone and pc, all you have to do is activate the windows malware defender thats inbuilt with the devices, then you are safe.

[Lucius]

Chances of your second phone with mobile wallet app being stolen, lost, broken, becomes suddenly a brick after a new firmware update is higher than simply holding funds on a ledger/trezor like hardware wallet.

There is always a chance that something bad happens, but there is something called a backup that works on the same principle for any type of wallet. When something is stolen or broken, we use backup to recover lost information. The only difference with what is stolen is how good the protection of a particular device is, or rather to say how long it will take a thief to hack protection and steal assets.

Plus this hardware wallets have built in security, and your mobile has? Pin code ? Home screen protection code ?

I wouldn't agree that the thing is so simple, it actually depends on the device itself - whether it's a smartphone or a hardware wallet. Security in for example Trezor HW is somehow compromised because there is an unrecoverable exploit that allows a thief to retrieve a seed in a very simple and fast way if the user has not set a passphrase.

Looking at the average smartphone, these newer ones have a fingerprint reader, PIN and face locking, but I think every mobile wallet is had PIN lock (at least Electrum is have), and you can encrypt your data as additional protection. Which would be easier to hack in a specific case, Trezor HW or smartphone locked with PIN/fingerprint + extra pin for crypto wallet+data encryption?

The only thing i do not agree with is anti malware, either for your mobile phone, or your laptop, you do not need anything called anti malware.
For your phone and pc, all you have to do is activate the windows malware defender thats inbuilt with the devices, then you are safe.

It is never wise to underestimate the enemy, in this case malware, spyware or adware - and I personally have great confidence in Malwarebytes Premuim protection who has been serving me very well for years. What is a problem for most of those who do not want to use commercial av/antimalware programs is their cost and the old myth that they use too much resources and slow down their computers. But on devices that have sufficient RAM, this impact is almost negligible.

[Teinkle]

I don't stay home coz i work mobile so it is easiest for me to have my ohone as my full e wallet. I store all my coins in different wallets over my mobile phone.

[Saint-loup]

Okay, here's the procedure to create a cold-storage mobile Electrum wallet:

• 1. Install Electrum on both devices, and create a standard wallet on the "cold storage" device, that will be your main wallet that contains all the keys and shouldn't be connected to the internet even once (a newly formatted device/new device is better).

In fact it's better to remove the sim card or to only use an out of order one if your device can't work without one.
Because a malware could try to send your seed by SMS or by a phone call if it can't connect to internet.

[NavI_027]

So, what do you think. Is this a good idea?

Yeah of course it was a good idea because I've done it. I actually had two smartphones before. One for texting, music and accessing this forum — the phone I normally used outside — and the other one is for my wallet digital wallet as well as the storage for my important files and notes. Unfortunately, the latter one broke due to excessive gaming . Nevertheless, I can say that it was a good way of securing your account against theft or getting misplaced. But this is only practical if you have two phones already.

[jademaxsuy]

So, what do you think. Is this a good idea?

Yeah of course it was a good idea because I've done it. I actually had two smartphones before. One for texting, music and accessing this forum — the phone I normally used outside — and the other one is for my wallet digital wallet as well as the storage for my important files and notes. Unfortunately, the latter one broke due to excessive gaming . Nevertheless, I can say that it was a good way of securing your account against theft or getting misplaced. But this is only practical if you have two phones already.

I haven't tried it yet because I don't have another mobile phone but it is indeed a good idea to use other phone for wallet. Base on previous post about someone (theif) breaking in to your house and steal yoir gadgets left at home is to create a hiding place for your phone to hide and It is possible to do so just make sure it is hard to notice that there is a hidden compartment.

[KrisAlex18]

I don't think that this would be a great idea because there also a possibility that the second phone might be broken and stolen by other people. Having a phone and using only for online transactions is not 100% sure as well because all things happen online can be hack or attacks by hackers. The offline wallet will still be the safest wallet for me it is the safest wallet compared to other types of wallets. It is not accessible by hackers, the only thing Tuscan be the reason for losing your money when using it is when it gets broken.

Okay, here's the procedure to create a cold-storage mobile Electrum wallet:

• 1. Install Electrum on both devices, and create a standard wallet on the "cold storage" device, that will be your main wallet that contains all the keys and shouldn't be connected to the internet even once (a newly formatted device/new device is better).
  Make sure that the seed was saved in a physical backup like a piece of paper.
• 2. Click the wallet's name on top of the screen and click "Master Public key" twice to open the QR code.
• 3. On the online phone, create a new wallet using the option "Standard Wallet->Use a master key", then click the camera icon to scan the cold-storage wallet's QR code.
  This will create a watch-only wallet version of your cold-storage wallet.
• 4. Confirm if the address in the receive tab is the same.

Now to use those wallets:

• You just have to create a transaction using the online watch-only wallet using the send tab.
• Fill out the recipient, amount, etc. then, click pay (select if you want to opt-in RBF, yes) and click the QR code icon below.
• In the cold-storage wallet, go to send tab and click the camera icon on the right side and scan the other device's QR code.
• The transaction will be imported to the cold-storage wallet, now click option->sign (enter your pin) and it will be marked as "signed" above.
• Click the QR code icon, then scan this using your online watch-only wallet and the signed transaction will be imported and now you can use options->broadcast button to send it to the network.

If you're not familiar with Electrum's defaut bitcoin denomination, you can change it from mBTC to BTC in the settings->denomination.

Such an informative reply mate, thanks for sharing, I will try this one someday.

[JoMarrah Iarim Dan]

2 Mobile phones? Then it's better to use the other one as a cold-storage for signing transactions,
and use the main online phone as the paired watch-only wallet for monitoring the balance and creating transactions.
It's a lot safer than just using one of the phones as a wallet.

I agree to this. When we are making signing transactions it is kinda risky sometimes. Our wallet can be easily detected and hacked. But since the other is only used by monitoring then yes it is safe. For me it is also OK to put my wallet on my mobile phone coz unlike desktop or laptop or pc, I can bring it everywhere. But of course I am very carefulcoz I might misplaced ot lose my phone which happened to be my everything.

[AakZaki]

I agree to this. When we are making signing transactions it is kinda risky sometimes. Our wallet can be easily detected and hacked. But since the other is only used by monitoring then yes it is safe. For me it is also OK to put my wallet on my mobile phone coz unlike desktop or laptop or pc, I can bring it everywhere. But of course I am very carefulcoz I might misplaced ot lose my phone which happened to be my everything.

Using a mobile wallet is indeed more efficient, practical and portable. The risk of a mobile wallet certainly depends on the security of the smartphone and also depends on the user. Do not install third-party applications that you do not trust. To anticipate when the phone is lost, use screen lock security and make sure your phone is still connected to the internet to keep track of it when your phone is lost.

[raymondavid1]

Well, this sounds like a good idea if you can afford two phones. But there are people here that might no be able to afford two phones.
- My advice for you is to try as much as possible not to save your private key on your e-mail.
- write down your private key on a piece of paper. Don't write it down letter for letter, try and add some few extra letters so as to avoid someone using it in your absence...
- ALWAYS CLEAR YOUR CACHE

[Subbir]

So, what do you think. Is this a good idea?

Yeah of course it was a good idea because I've done it. I actually had two smartphones before. One for texting, music and accessing this forum — the phone I normally used outside — and the other one is for my wallet digital wallet as well as the storage for my important files and notes. Unfortunately, the latter one broke due to excessive gaming . Nevertheless, I can say that it was a good way of securing your account against theft or getting misplaced. But this is only practical if you have two phones already.

I haven't tried it yet because I don't have another mobile phone but it is indeed a good idea to use other phone for wallet. Base on previous post about someone (theif) breaking in to your house and steal yoir gadgets left at home is to create a hiding place for your phone to hide and It is possible to do so just make sure it is hard to notice that there is a hidden compartment.

Using a mobile as a full mobile wallet may be a far better idea. I exploit a mobile wallet and therefore the number of lost and stolen items is far lower we will easily hide its information and make the transaction much easier. I can transact from anywhere I would like.

[kalihunter]

thanks for your guides. hardware wallet is expansive Ledger and trezors.

what about to use any linux distro on Virtualbox as cold wallet? u can turn there off internet forever. Is that good?

[Mpamaegbu]

Well, I don't see much of a hassle with using a phone as a mobile wallet if it hodls less than a single Bitcoin. All this talk about safety of funds and wallets depends on humans using them and not on the apps. It's the way I see it. People got to be very careful and mindful while at it. I don't see why anyone hodling an appreciable amount of Bitcoin on their phone should not be weary of links they click.

- My advice for you is to try as much as possible not to save your private key on your e-mail.

Who does that without expecting to reap the repercussions of their thoughtless and needless act? Surely, the penalty always comes.

- write down your private key on a piece of paper. Don't write it down letter for letter, try and add some few extra letters so as to avoid someone using it in your absence...

Smart move.

[Daodex]

Cold storage is nothing without a secured private key, using another mobile phone for storing your keys or transacting a payment won't be secured enough, this still can be hacked, forget this idea and buy a hardware wallet, the hassle will be less.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>
- write down your private key on a piece of paper. Don't write it down letter for letter, try and add some few extra letters so as to avoid someone using it in your absence...
<…>

Bear in mind though, that the words that are actually acceptable are delimited to a list of 2048 words. Although adding a few characters to words may seem to disguise it a bit better, someone capable of contrasting against the list will likely spot the extra added characters.

Additionally, if they were to be added as trailing characters (i.e. act-> acted; action-> actionable), there are wallets (i.e. Ledger) that will guess the word based on the first few characters you input for each word.

All in all, even though it could be an extra measure, it may not really deem effective really.

[cheezcarls]

This could be so hilarious but I just need you to contribute.

If someone has two mobile phones, deciding to use one as a mobile wallet. To me, this is a good idea as one of the phones can be useless. And having in mind to use it as wallet and putting these in consideration.

Having back up of his private keys or seed phrase.
Not using it to go online but online while making transactions
Still install anti malware against malware

So, he use the phone only as wallet and for crypto transactions. So, what do you think. Is this a good idea?

If I were you, it's better to invest in a hardware wallet to store your assets. It's a lesson I've learned so hard after my 3 Metamask/Trust Wallet accounts have been hacked due to the malware that I didn't know and it was a costly mistake in my part for felling off in the hacker's antics.

Right now when I do transactions using my Metamask or Trust Wallet, I only left a few dollars for each blockchain (e.g,  Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, etc.) for gas fee payments, buying certain tokens in private or presale campaigns or minting NFTs.

[Charles-Tim]

Right now when I do transactions using my Metamask or Trust Wallet, I only left a few dollars for each blockchain (e.g,  Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, etc.) for gas fee payments, buying certain tokens in private or presale campaigns or minting NFTs.

Trustwallet is a mobile wallet, Metamask is a web wallet. Web wallet are the most vulnerable to online attacks.

Do not get this wrongly, this is not about hardware wallet, hardware is secure, but this is about airgapped wallet, a wallet on a truly airgapped device are one of the most safe and secure wallets, airgapped wallets are cold wallet.