Coinbase Wallet (Android) Authentication Failed

[encrypt]

Hello, friend of mine configured Coinbase Wallet (the self custody app) on his Android wallet in 2021.

Then he got a new phone and did not restore the wallet there yet. Now in 2023 he asked me if I can restore it and I wanted to restore from his old phone (he doesn't have the seed phrase).

App is showing "Authentication Failed" and a button to sign out ( I didn't sign out ) , his Coinbase Wallet app was outdated so we updated it through Google Play but still he gets the same message.

We also tried clearing cache for the app but it doesn't work.

Is there any way to recover from this error without deleting App data? I guess the private key is still on his phone in the app data but as said the wallet app throws "Authentication Failed" and you can only retry or sign out.
(https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~mmannan/publications/Horus-SecureComm2021.pdf)

Please help, don't tell me he needs the seed phrase as he doesn't have it but he has the phone and app with the seed data stored on android and we need to find a way to extract it.

I'll try to backup the app data before doing anything, hopefully it can be done as his phone is not rooted and afaik it's hard to backup app data without root. He is on Huawei Android 12 (EMUI 12).

Thanks

[1715686426]

1715686426

[DaveF]

By default there should be no sign out on the self custody wallet.
Did your friend link it to their coinbase account?

Where are you located? I don't think coinbase does any form of geoblocking on the self custody wallet, but if you are in a restricted country they might have turned on some odd blocking where even the self custody can't talk to their servers. But I really doubt that.

-Dave

[encrypt]

By default there should be no sign out on the self custody wallet.
Did your friend link it to their coinbase account?

Where are you located? I don't think coinbase does any form of geoblocking on the self custody wallet, but if you are in a restricted country they might have turned on some odd blocking where even the self custody can't talk to their servers. But I really doubt that.

-Dave

There is a Coinbase Wallet extension for Chrome and he linked the mobile Coinbase Wallet with it, but if he tries to do something like transfer the extension says to confirm the notification on his phone but he is not getting it as the app is broken.

He is in Europe so it shouldn't be a problem.

[BitMaxz]

Have you ever tried to contact Coinbase support? They can maybe give you some suggestions.
Another thing is Coinbase announced that old Coinbase users that are not active have limited access to send funds only. It should not affect your friends self custody wallet but would you mind trying to use a VPN there might be something blocking your friend's wallet if it didn't work then check the settings of the phone or some apps and maybe one of the apps or settings(permission) is preventing Coinbase wallet to authenticate. 

[DaveF]

By default there should be no sign out on the self custody wallet.
Did your friend link it to their coinbase account?

Where are you located? I don't think coinbase does any form of geoblocking on the self custody wallet, but if you are in a restricted country they might have turned on some odd blocking where even the self custody can't talk to their servers. But I really doubt that.

-Dave

There is a Coinbase Wallet extension for Chrome and he linked the mobile Coinbase Wallet with it, but if he tries to do something like transfer the extension says to confirm the notification on his phone but he is not getting it as the app is broken.

He is in Europe so it shouldn't be a problem.

The extension is a self custody wallet too. There is nothing that should matter. I think either he is not explaining it properly or there is a missing piece.
There is no 'link' between the extension and the wallet. You just put your seed in the extension.

And not all countries in Europe are supported. Spain, Belarus, and a few others are not allowed. Since it's self custody it should not matter, but the could just be blocking IPs from getting to their SPV servers.

-Dave

[OmegaStarScream]

There is a Coinbase Wallet extension for Chrome and he linked the mobile Coinbase Wallet with it, but if he tries to do something like transfer the extension says to confirm the notification on his phone but he is not getting it as the app is broken.

He is in Europe so it shouldn't be a problem.

He shouldn't have a problem regardless of his location. Have you tried to check his Google drive? I know their wallet allow you to automatically backup your wallet, maybe he did that?

[encrypt]

Have you ever tried to contact Coinbase support? They can maybe give you some suggestions.
Another thing is Coinbase announced that old Coinbase users that are not active have limited access to send funds only. It should not affect your friends self custody wallet but would you mind trying to use a VPN there might be something blocking your friend's wallet if it didn't work then check the settings of the phone or some apps and maybe one of the apps or settings(permission) is preventing Coinbase wallet to authenticate. 

Yes, we tried contacting them but unfortunately support is awful. They just said if you lost your seed you're on your own. I tried asking to escalate the ticket to an engineer for the Android app and now waiting.

We checked permissions for the app and gave all the permissions but that didn't help.
I think my friend used Face ID or fingerprint for login to the app, but it doesn't even let him authenticate, it just says Authentication Failed.
I read other posts about people resetting Face ID and then unable to login to the app so I won't touch Face ID or fingerprint settings yet.

[encrypt]

By default there should be no sign out on the self custody wallet.
Did your friend link it to their coinbase account?

Where are you located? I don't think coinbase does any form of geoblocking on the self custody wallet, but if you are in a restricted country they might have turned on some odd blocking where even the self custody can't talk to their servers. But I really doubt that.

-Dave

There is a Coinbase Wallet extension for Chrome and he linked the mobile Coinbase Wallet with it, but if he tries to do something like transfer the extension says to confirm the notification on his phone but he is not getting it as the app is broken.

He is in Europe so it shouldn't be a problem.

The extension is a self custody wallet too. There is nothing that should matter. I think either he is not explaining it properly or there is a missing piece.
There is no 'link' between the extension and the wallet. You just put your seed in the extension.

And not all countries in Europe are supported. Spain, Belarus, and a few others are not allowed. Since it's self custody it should not matter, but the could just be blocking IPs from getting to their SPV servers.

-Dave

There is a such option! You don't import any key to the extension, just link it to your mobile. See screenshot:
https://i.ibb.co/tmJ8y8d/Screenshot-2023-05-07-at-10-39-10.png

We tried via VPN but didn't help.

[encrypt]

There is a Coinbase Wallet extension for Chrome and he linked the mobile Coinbase Wallet with it, but if he tries to do something like transfer the extension says to confirm the notification on his phone but he is not getting it as the app is broken.

He is in Europe so it shouldn't be a problem.

He shouldn't have a problem regardless of his location. Have you tried to check his Google drive? I know their wallet allow you to automatically backup your wallet, maybe he did that?

Unfortunately, he didn't do the backup. Big mistake, but the app was working and the key is somewhere on his phone, most probably in the App Data of Coinbase Wallet (org.toshi) or secure enclave of the phone.

[JeromeTash]

most probably in the App Data of Coinbase Wallet (org.toshi) or secure enclave of the phone.

Accessing that file and perhaps extracting it is going to be hard or close to impossible. You might need root access, which is possible by rooting the device. Problem with rooting is it can wipe off the very data you need or brick the phone

Also, I must warn you about Huawei Android back up using their Hi suite. I don't think it does the job well. I lost a lot of data sometime back when I backed up using the app and factory rest my phone. On trying to restore my data, most of my important files were missing.

[DaveF]

There is a such option! You don't import any key to the extension, just link it to your mobile. See screenshot:

It's just for approving transactions. It allows you to have a copy of your wallet on the desktop (ETH only) but use your phone as a 2fa device.



Did your friend not save the recovery phrase or did they loose it?

I'm thinking either
1) The wallet is corrupted so putting in the correct passcode does not work
or
2) They forgot the passcode to the wallet and the one you are entering is just the wrong one.

Either way, even if you get to the wallet data on the phone it's still encrypted with the passcode that is either wrong or useless.

-Dave

[logfiles]

There is a such option! You don't import any key to the extension, just link it to your mobile. See screenshot:

It is there

I have just been able to import a test Coinbase wallet using the generated seeds from mobile to my extension. Matter of fact, I can even access the seeds.

Settings --> Show Recovery Phrase --> Enter password

[encrypt]

There is a such option! You don't import any key to the extension, just link it to your mobile. See screenshot:

It is there

I have just been able to import a test Coinbase wallet using the generated seeds from mobile to my extension. Matter of fact, I can even access the seeds.

Settings --> Show Recovery Phrase --> Enter password

https://i.imgur.com/FqsgK4J.png

Ok, but this is if you setup the wallet on Chrome from the beginning. He setup the wallet on mobile and linked it with the extension, thus no option to show the seed phrase:
https://i.imgur.com/XWYit1o.png

Can only be done on Android with the mobile app but we can't get in... argh

[encrypt]

There is a such option! You don't import any key to the extension, just link it to your mobile. See screenshot:
https://i.ibb.co/tmJ8y8d/Screenshot-2023-05-07-at-10-39-10.png

It's just for approving transactions. It allows you to have a copy of your wallet on the desktop (ETH only) but use your phone as a 2fa device.

https://i.imgur.com/x5lg6mNl.png

Did your friend not save the recovery phrase or did they loose it?

I'm thinking either
1) The wallet is corrupted so putting in the correct passcode does not work
or
2) They forgot the passcode to the wallet and the one you are entering is just the wrong one.

Either way, even if you get to the wallet data on the phone it's still encrypted with the passcode that is either wrong or useless.

-Dave

They didn't save the recovery phrase, we checked google drive and he doesn't remember writing it down.
The problem is, he cannot even get to the point to authenticate via pin or fingerprint/face id. The app spends like 30sec on the loading wheel and then shows this (sorry in german):
https://i.imgur.com/mR9g55a.jpg
"Authentication Failed
We couldn't unlock your device
Do you want to sign out or retry?"

[DaveF]

That is the same error you get if you put in the wrong pin.

The question becomes is  the phone / app is not displaying the PIN & keypad screen OR is it crashing before that.

If you just leave it alone does the error come up OR do you have to touch the screen?
If you have to touch the screen before the error comes up, you might be able to possibly fake entering the PIN by guessing where the numbers actually are.
If it just dies, you are probably going to have to extract the wallet file somehow.


As a last ditch effort, if everything else fails can you update the phone to 13?

-Dave

[Becassine]

Did your friend only change his phone but kept the same number?

Did you try to put the sim card back in the old phone? If the old phone works properly, you should try with the same sim card (same number) and the same email that was used to download the app.

[encrypt]

That is the same error you get if you put in the wrong pin.

The question becomes is  the phone / app is not displaying the PIN & keypad screen OR is it crashing before that.

If you just leave it alone does the error come up OR do you have to touch the screen?
If you have to touch the screen before the error comes up, you might be able to possibly fake entering the PIN by guessing where the numbers actually are.
If it just dies, you are probably going to have to extract the wallet file somehow.


As a last ditch effort, if everything else fails can you update the phone to 13?

-Dave

It just dies, no matter if you touch the screen or not. Huawei doesn't have any newer updates, so we're stuck with 12.
We did a backup to Google Drive for apps and app data just to be safe.

[encrypt]

Did your friend only change his phone but kept the same number?

Did you try to put the sim card back in the old phone? If the old phone works properly, you should try with the same sim card (same number) and the same email that was used to download the app.

Yes, he kept the number and transfered the sim card to his new phone.
Great idea, we haven't thought about this. Will let him know to put the sim card back in the old phone and see if it helps, I guess it's very possible the Coinbase Wallet app is checking if the sim card is inside and if not fail to authenticate.

[Becassine]

Did your friend only change his phone but kept the same number?

Did you try to put the sim card back in the old phone? If the old phone works properly, you should try with the same sim card (same number) and the same email that was used to download the app.

Yes, he kept the number and transfered the sim card to his new phone.
Great idea, we haven't thought about this. Will let him know to put the sim card back in the old phone and see if it helps, I guess it's very possible the Coinbase Wallet app is checking if the sim card is inside and if not fail to authenticate.

You can't imagine how happy I'd be if it worked! Don't forget to come back and tell us (and bring good news  )

[logfiles]

Yes, he kept the number and transfered the sim card to his new phone.
Great idea, we haven't thought about this. Will let him know to put the sim card back in the old phone and see if it helps, I guess it's very possible the Coinbase Wallet app is checking if the sim card is inside and if not fail to authenticate.

Surprises my why a non-custodial wallet would first have to check for a phone number for authentication, but then again, I am not surprised. Even Coinbase non-custodial wallet collects lots of personal data from a user's device as far as I understand

Keep us updated.