Why Not To Use Mobile Altcoin Wallet - But Use Desktop Wallet

[Pezroly]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

[Yogee]

One of the campaign managers here named julerz12 has been hacked recently and he's been using Electrum's desktop version https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5433643.0 You may be right on adding anti-virus as an added layer of protection since julerz12 didn't have one on his computer. I just posted that to serve as a lesson for every reader.

Desktop wallets are probably less vulnerable in comparison to mobile version but don't be too complacent just because you're using the former. Practice the best security and aim to have a cold or hardware wallet if you can afford one.

[jrrsparkles]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

FYI, either its IOS or android its not going to be affected by viruses but malwares and phishing attacks are the major cause for losing money while using smartphones and the reason is simple people use their smartphones more than their desktop so they are unaware of what they are clicking or installing which cause them loss.

Using desktop version isn't safe either and virus can affect the desktop easily even with best anti virus installed so don't take it for granted and make sure you're installing the wallet from original source and increase your knowledge about how to avoid attacks of hackers.

[Mahanton]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

I could say that they are somewhat safe and i've been making use of these wallets for how many years and i dont have any problems nor have some history or incident of hacked funds.
When it comes to Bitcoin wallet then im using up Electrum App on Playstore and Myetherwallet for erc20 and trustwallet extension in Chrome.
I dont have any problems and ive been using these things as long you do know on how to keep your device safe.Just like the rest been saying for adding up more layer of protection
then installing AV is recommended, dont click up random links and dont make up some random downloads.

[JunkieMiner]

Also I had used the wallets in the desktop, but I had faced the hacking issues in my previous laptop, because there were some softwares like movavi and if we got them for lifetime, then it got hacked my laptop and wallets too. So, that's why it is also not safe at all. What we should do now?

[cryptoaddictchie]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

The best one are always open source. Even its mobile or desktop as long as there are no closed source or centralized aspect its safe. There are many wallets proclaiming to be decentralized but of course we must not be deceived by those. Regarding malicious files. Im not sure if desktop are more safer than mobile though a lot of viruses have been found on desktop versions.

[nakamura12]

As you can read from Yogee's post is that there is a forum member that he mentioned where this person got hacked and I agree with Yogee that desktop version are less vulnerable to hacking but it is very possible. About mobile wallets, it can be safe if you are very careful using your mobile device but compared to desktop in terms of security then desktop is better than mobile phones. Anyway, all of it is true but it doesn't mean that you can't use mobile wallet or you shouldn't use mobile wallet jist because desktop is better. Honestly, I am very careful using my mobile phone which I have a crypto wallet which is Trustwallet and I am using it since 2018 until now (That makes it 5 years already). It's all up to you on what you decide to do. Just sharing my experience using mobile wallet.

[o48o]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

I haven't yet encountered any keyloggers or wallet stealers on my phone. I only download official wallets and don't install anything shady into it. Yet i have encountered many such things by using my laptop. I am pretty sure that most viruses are targetted for personal computers rather then for phones.

As a rule of thumb, if you have a wallet installed in your phone or in your laptop. Don't use that device to surf on shady places and never ever install anything you don't need. It's equivalent to leaving your house door open when you are not home.

[bitcampaign]

there is no safe place to put crypto money either on a cellphone or on a computer and laptop, because everything has loopholes depending on how we store the wallet keys and seeds safely.
many cases because of the carelessness of the user so that the wallet is easy to steal, it's the same as when you save money in the bank. Is it safe in your opinion? I don't think so either, save it and make sure the wallet key is also seed securely is the key I'm saving money on my phone it's pretty safe so far just avoid apps that aren't official and don't need to be downloaded

[Quidat]

there is no safe place to put crypto money either on a cellphone or on a computer and laptop, because everything has loopholes depending on how we store the wallet keys and seeds safely.
many cases because of the carelessness of the user so that the wallet is easy to steal, it's the same as when you save money in the bank. Is it safe in your opinion? I don't think so either, save it and make sure the wallet key is also seed securely is the key I'm saving money on my phone it's pretty safe so far just avoid apps that aren't official and don't need to be downloaded

You do mean on saving on apps? As long you do possess its private keys or phrases then it should be fine.It is really that included on users responsibility on taking good care
of those keys which is really that far off with other peoples awareness which it would cause for those coins to be hacked or been accessed.
There are lots of choices and it does only require off that common sense on making those coins for those to be in safe side.
Dont make yourself that dumb on obvious possible exploits that could impose of.

[blockman]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

It's just the same, both mobile and desktop wallets are being targeted by hackers. And when someone gets infected, it's because of their carelessness.
Whether you use a mobile wallet which you think is safer than a desktop, you shouldn't be confident with that and vice versa. Hackers target anyone that's being used by people and both of it has a wide range of users worldwide.
Being safe depends on your browsing attitude.

[nakamura12]

You do mean on saving on apps? As long you do possess its private keys or phrases then it should be fine.It is really that included on users responsibility on taking good care
of those keys which is really that far off with other peoples awareness which it would cause for those coins to be hacked or been accessed.
There are lots of choices and it does only require off that common sense on making those coins for those to be in safe side.
Dont make yourself that dumb on obvious possible exploits that could impose of.

I think op wanted to share that using wallets that are installed in a computer is less vulnerable in terms of security compared to wallets that are installed in mobile phones. I think that's what op wanted yo express here and at first I was confused about it because the thread title starts with why and I know that it is a WH question but when you read the OP, it is all about "stop using crypto wallet apps in mobile phone and better use desktop wallet. Maybe OP didn't know someone who use a mobile app for storing crypto and I guess I am one of the people who use mobile apps for storing crypto such as Trustwallet for example and have been using for years withdraw getting hacked or losing any crypto at all (I also installed Electrum mobile version).

[Apocollapse]

@OP instead of talking why malware and viruses are only targeting mobile phone, can you even describe the difference between virus and malware in the first place? also explain too what's the difference between mobile phone and desktop security, how exactly the malware and virus can only affect mobile phone, but they can't affect to desktop.

If you're don't understand it's better if you shut your mouth and don't mislead anyone, use hardware wallet is the most better option if you don't have enough technical knowledge.

[KiaKia]

You will see more hacking on a desktop PC than a mobile phone, take this or leave it, I don't like storing my coins on a PC wallet because it's easier to get hacked than using a smartphone.

I have been hacked on a smartphone and I lost some money but that was my fault because I have saved the recovery seed online and also import the recovery seed into a few new wallets and even iancoleman.

I can't point that this is where things went wrong because some people even blamed the coinomi wallet team for lost of assets on the wallet.

But on PC the hacks happened more than once.

[Jating]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

I'm not sure what you mean here, for me the threat is the same, regardless of you are using mobile or desktop wallet, as both for sure are always connected to the internet.

And some anti-virus can be bypass by this hackers, as they are one step of the game here. Unless you use a airgapped PC as your desktop or sort of hardware wallet. The thing is that we should always knows the safety practices and we need to keep a separate desktop if we can for our crypto related task.

[DanWalker]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

I haven't yet encountered any keyloggers or wallet stealers on my phone. I only download official wallets and don't install anything shady into it. Yet i have encountered many such things by using my laptop. I am pretty sure that most viruses are targetted for personal computers rather then for phones.

As a rule of thumb, if you have a wallet installed in your phone or in your laptop. Don't use that device to surf on shady places and never ever install anything you don't need. It's equivalent to leaving your house door open when you are not home.

I also agree with this point of view, I think using a mobile wallet is much safer than the desktop version. Most reported attacks are used on computers, I have not heard of any wallet attacks on smartphones. Malware or viruses are mainly used to attack operating systems like windows and mac OS rather than mobile platforms. But either way, both are risky as both are devices that are connected to the internet frequently so using a hardware wallet is a safe option for us.

[justdimin]

One of the campaign managers here named julerz12 has been hacked recently and he's been using Electrum's desktop version https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5433643.0 You may be right on adding anti-virus as an added layer of protection since julerz12 didn't have one on his computer. I just posted that to serve as a lesson for every reader.

Desktop wallets are probably less vulnerable in comparison to mobile version but don't be too complacent just because you're using the former. Practice the best security and aim to have a cold or hardware wallet if you can afford one.

Came here only to post in thread but I got hooked reading that link posted there. Julerz is not a newbie. He knows that he hold a good amount of money and yet he seems to be confident enough that no one will hacked him.

On topic. I think every computer do always came up with an anti-virus but even if we noticed that they aren't installed, we will download one immediately because computers are more vulnerable to attacks than in mobile. With that said, I can trust mobile wallets more than the desktop one but of course I will choose the best brand of wallets out there. I am a long time mobile wallet user and so far so good. I never experience any issues yet.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

I haven't yet encountered any keyloggers or wallet stealers on my phone. I only download official wallets and don't install anything shady into it. Yet i have encountered many such things by using my laptop. I am pretty sure that most viruses are targetted for personal computers rather then for phones.

As a rule of thumb, if you have a wallet installed in your phone or in your laptop. Don't use that device to surf on shady places and never ever install anything you don't need. It's equivalent to leaving your house door open when you are not home.

I also agree with this point of view, I think using a mobile wallet is much safer than the desktop version. Most reported attacks are used on computers, I have not heard of any wallet attacks on smartphones. Malware or viruses are mainly used to attack operating systems like windows and mac OS rather than mobile platforms. But either way, both are risky as both are devices that are connected to the internet frequently so using a hardware wallet is a safe option for us.

There is such attack on mobile phone, but it's more sophisticated specially with the whole OTP (one time pin) being used by many wallets right now, even credit card companies used it.

But if you download from some unknown source or even in Google play when you thought that the apps are genuine but it was disguise as such, you could still be a victim, identify stolen and worst our crypto as well. Both have it's pros/cons and still up to us, which we prepare and how do we protect ourselves from such attacks.

[Gnanadev]

There are several reasons why it may be more secure to use a desktop wallet rather than a mobile wallet for storing altcoins:

Security: Desktop wallets are generally considered to be more secure than mobile wallets because they are less likely to be hacked or infected with malware.

Control of Private Keys: With a desktop wallet, you have full control over your private keys, which are necessary to access your altcoins. Mobile wallets, on the other hand, may store your private keys on the device, which can make them vulnerable to hacking.

Backup and Recovery: Desktop wallets usually have an option to backup your wallet, which allows you to recover your funds in case of a device failure or loss. Mobile wallets may not have this feature.

Customizability: Desktop wallets offer more options for customizing the settings and configurations to suit your needs, whereas mobile wallets are often more limited in this regard.

Performance: Desktop wallets can handle more transactions and have a better performance than mobile wallets which can be slow and limited.

That being said, it is important to use a reputable and well-reviewed wallet, whether it is mobile or desktop, and to always keep your private keys safe and make sure you have a backup of your wallet.

[iv4n]

Mobile altcoin wallets are not safe, because there are viruses and malware targeting mobile phones. The best way would be use desktop wallet versions. Also antivirus soft are mainly developed for desktop.

In the end, we all need multiple wallets. For saving and long-term holding is better to use desktop wallets, and even better to buy... I have Trezor T, just my choice. But if you are active in the crypto community, if you like to trade or gamble, and participate in all crypto things around you will need a wallet that will be used for all those daily stuff. Don't use your main wallet for everything, safety first.