I got it all wrong from the beginning

[Macoach]

LOL I've been wondering for a long that the app I have on my phone is my wallet and all that. I had no idea that I had misunderstood this. Let me now explain what I recently learned about your wallet.
Let's start with the fundamentals of wallets for people who are new to this area.
 
It's not a wallet in the conventional sense, whether it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.

Actually, you can use these wallet software to securely maintain and access your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain assets.

Your private key or seed phrase is what makes up your wallet.

For illustration:

It provides the option to produce a seed phrase or private key when you install Metamask.
Other programs like Trust, MEW, and Atomic may all access your ETH if you use the same seed phrase across them all.
Therefore, the next time you download a wallet app, you won't need to create a new seed phrase; instead, you can import the one you already have to manage your current funds across different apps.

It's important to know that seed words are incredibly versatile and let you manage assets on any platform.

Your phone was lost?

No issue. Get a new one, put your seed phrase in whichever wallet you choose to install, and then. Because no other entity has access to your information, it cannot be hacked or copied.

Blockchain technology is so revolutionary because of this.

It's also important to stress that you should never give someone your private keys. The only access point to your blockchain assets is through your keys, which ensures their security.

[1714246773]

1714246773

[cryptoaddictchie]

Yes thats how it worked actually. As long as you have the seed phrase kept somewehere else besides the phone you used then you can always plug in that on new device and check your wallet. Sometimes having it written on a piece of paper and securing it is much better than save it somewhere online. Thats a back up plan that everyone must be accustomed too.

[pooya87]

Technically a "wallet" file contains your keys (public or public and private), addresses, transaction history and unspent transaction outputs (aka coins).
Your seed phrase is the "master" key that would create all your keys, this is why the only thing you need to backup is that phrase and you can recover it using any wallet software that supports the algorithm; but you still have to create a wallet to get all your keys and transactions and sync to be able to know your balance and spend.

Blockchain technology is so revolutionary because of this.

Technically what we discuss here is jut a key derivation function and KDFs existed before bitcoin and blockchain technology.
This technology is revolutionary for many reasons such as being able to create decentralized money.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.

It provides the option to produce a seed phrase or private key when you install Metamask.
Other programs like Trust, MEW, and Atomic may all access your ETH if you use the same seed phrase across them all.
Therefore, the next time you download a wallet app, you won't need to create a new seed phrase; instead, you can import the one you already have to manage your current funds across different apps.

You seem don't understand importance of mnemonic seed, private key and risk when you import your private key or mnemonic seed.

When you do it, do it offline.

When you are considering to import your wallet mnemonic seed to a website, a wallet software, you must know you are leaking it to a third party if that website or wallet software has back doors.

I advise you don't import your wallet mnemonic seed to any wallet software if you want to do it to have an experience or to satisfy your curiosity. It's risky.

[Pmalek]

Your phone was lost?

No issue. Get a new one, put your seed phrase in whichever wallet you choose to install, and then. Because no other entity has access to your information, it cannot be hacked or copied.

If you lose your phone, someone might gain access to it, penetrate a weak wall of security, and get to your wallet and keys. You shouldn't recommend to people to keep using the same wallets that a 3rd-party somewhere might be trying to get into.

But even if you are the only person in possession of the keys, it's still not the best way to use the same seed across multiple wallets and devices. Why? If one of those wallets gets hacked, it's as if all your wallets got hacked because they share the same seed/keys. If one wallet turns out to have weak RNG or malicious developers who backdoor it or make it vulnerable, it's as if all your wallets are like that. Ultimately, you lose your coins. It's better to spread them out among wallets generated by trusted software/hardware on safe devices. 

It's also important to stress that you should never give someone your private keys. The only access point to your blockchain assets is through your keys, which ensures their security.

Which is exactly why continuing to use a wallet whose keys are left on a phone you lost and someone else stole potentially weakens your security and makes you vulnerable to theft.

[Adbitco]

If you said they are wallet it shows your private keys can be manipulated that is, its through those app you can generate your private key and without any of them you can't generate keys and seedphrase to have your public address. So alternatively you can call them wallet as the name implies but someone to say that aren't wallet then you are trying to complicate issues among those who doesn't have a deeper revelation on how they are being configured and operated. Yes there is nothing argue about all you said, technically they are correct but analytically the noob needs to follow due processes to understanding more better.

But however you need to keep your keys and seedphrase out of your phone to another device or flash drive maybe to your system, and before your phone to get misplaced or stolen you needs a solid password otherwise if your phone isn't in security lock then there are every probability that someone can use your phone to transfer all your assets if your phone is without a good security locked.

[Pmalek]

But however you need to keep your keys and seedphrase out of your phone to another device or flash drive maybe to your system...

A wallet without its private keys is just a watch-only wallet that you can't do much with. If there are no private keys, there is no signing and broadcasting transactions from that phone. And if you can't do that, then the whole mobile wallet losses its point.

[Solosanz]

Keep note: if you generating an address from Trust wallet aka not secure because of closed source and you generate it through online, you can't expect it's already safe when you import it to secure wallet e.g. Bluewallet, Electrum, Bitcoin Core etc. This is because the closed source in Trust wallet make everyone don't know what they do with the customers' address.

So the best way is generating address in a secure wallet and use it in a secure wallet too.

[Forever101]

it best practice to always lock your important apps with password or finger print. Also ensure all security setup on the wallet is activated. This will secure your wallet from intruders if the phone get loss. If you have private key without a high security measure, the new holder of the phone can enter your wallet and transfer your asset.

Securing your is the most important. Login to your wallet on different phones is not too idea, if you will do that, make sure it's your phone, else you stand the risk of been hacked.

[hugeblack]

It is not an option to produce, but if the wallet does not give you a private key, it is most likely closed source and therefore you cannot trust it. Avoid using any closed source wallet, it is not well audited and there is no option to extract the private key.
As mentioned above, to enhance the security of your account, try to reduce exposure of seeds to the Internet or include them in other wallets.

I advise you to learn the basics by reading the book “Mastering Bitcoin”^[1] or watching Andreas’^[2] videos.

[1] https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook
[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWCJCWOxBYSi5DhCieLOLQ

[Z390]

Too many risks with crypto wallet OP, the idea of having to type in your recovery seed into a new wallet using your keyboard scares me, this is why I still have some love to paper wallet, they are offline and there is no fu*k up from wallet softwares or some stupid back door happening, even the hardware wallets can get messed up from the manufacturer through updates.
It's risky to be in crypto honesty, but it's just too risky to be out of Bitcoin, I consider learning everything to limit that risk so I suggest you do the same thing too.

Don't go around doing stupid thing on your phone, make sure you import recovery seed into a phone that's brand new, because old phones are unsafe, you never know the type of person that used the phone last.

Avoid stupid keyboards on play store, they might have access to every words you type on the phone and that includes you improving your recovery seed into your crypto wallet, better stick with OEM keyboard.
I am used to creating wallet offline and the day it goes online is the day I am ready to sell everything in that wallet, I monitor using my public address only, it's safer for your crypto wallet to be offline than online.

[Zaguru12]

it best practice to always lock your important apps with password or finger print. Also ensure all security setup on the wallet is activated. This will secure your wallet from intruders if the phone get loss. If you have private key without a high security measure, the new holder of the phone can enter your wallet and transfer your asset.

While doing so make sure you don’t fall into the risk of embedding them into app locks because most people use this app locks to password their applications like wallet and it is very risky because this third party locks can have access to things on the app that one wouldn’t be aware of.

Securing your is the most important. Login to your wallet on different phones is not too idea, if you will do that, make sure it's your phone, else you stand the risk of been hacked.

Read the replies above, even if it is your phone, it is a bad culture to be importing your seed phrase or keys on different devices, it creates redundancy to that seed and should any of the phone or device get caught with malwares that get your seeds them been even on other phones will be exposed. Develop the culture of storing them offline or in single device and then use watch only wallets on the others if need be

It is not an option to produce, but if the wallet does not give you a private key, it is most likely closed source and therefore you cannot trust it. Avoid using any closed source wallet, it is not well audited and there is no option to extract the private key.

It is actually hard to extract private key from some closed source wallets except maybe you use the mnemonic seed to extract it from ioncoleman but there are some that can actually gives one the private keys. But the biggest thing in avoiding closed source wallets is the fact that you can even be able to see the source code and most of them make changes unknowingly to the users. One can’t even find out how is keys were generated or even maybe they have back door to store it. Closed source wallet should be definitely avoided

[Pmalek]

Keep note: if you generating an address from Trust wallet aka not secure because of closed source and you generate it through online, you can't expect it's already safe when you import it to secure wallet e.g. Bluewallet, Electrum, Bitcoin Core etc.

Just one thing to add to what you said. You are probably talking about generating seeds/private keys and importing those in 3rd-party wallets because importing addresses won't get you anywhere as your coins will be non-spendable without the private keys. Bitcoin Core doesn't support the import of seeds. You can only import private keys into this software.

[BitMaxz]

Take note it's a bad security practice if you import the seed phrase into a different wallet software.
Sample if you generated a seed phrase from Coinomi it's not advisable to import it into Trustwallet, Electrum, or any wallet. That's a bad habit if you keep continue to do this you just make your wallet exposed to more potential security risks and privacy leaks.

Always remember that the security of your wallet is your responsibility and always follow the best practices to avoid potential risks.

[TakeItEasy]

LOL I've been wondering for a long that the app I have on my phone is my wallet and all that. I had no idea that I had misunderstood this. Let me now explain what I recently learned about your wallet.
Let's start with the fundamentals of wallets for people who are new to this area.
It's not a wallet in the conventional sense, whether it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.
Actually, you can use these wallet software to securely maintain and access your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain assets.
Your private key or seed phrase is what makes up your wallet.
For illustration:
It provides the option to produce a seed phrase or private key when you install Metamask.
Other programs like Trust, MEW, and Atomic may all access your ETH if you use the same seed phrase across them all.
Therefore, the next time you download a wallet app, you won't need to create a new seed phrase; instead, you can import the one you already have to manage your current funds across different apps.
It's important to know that seed words are incredibly versatile and let you manage assets on any platform.

In online works, security is very important, because If the phone you are using has been lost, if you have put a screen lock, a pattern or key lock then other users can't open it easily but if these security system hasn't been implemented then it would be difficult for the users to keep himself safe from the loss of his apps. So, there should be always some locks inside the mobile phone like fingerprint on every app, whether that includes your wallets which you are using and this also includes the YouTube channel information if someone has any. So, all this information would be safe.

But the seed phrase you have imported should also be saved on a USB, or in your laptop, and should be at least in three places. For example, if you lost your mobile phone and your laptop got dead, then it will be present in your USB. I hope you understand!

[Faisal2202]

You have started a good topic, it works as a piece of information for those who are not aware of this fact and a reminder for those who already know it. Well, both ways a good discussion it is, which most of the newbies don't question about. As they think they are storing their tokens on some drive or servers of the TW or any wallet.

The only thing that matters is you should consider a non-custodial wallet for your tokens or coins. Because "if you don't own the keys then you done to own the tokens or coins". Simple as that but if you chose the way of having seed phrase to yourself then you are the only person who will be responsible for the loss (if any happens) you will be keeping track of your keys and must make sure that it did not fall into the wrong hands.

And if you choose a way of custodial wallet like of some exchange wallet where you don't have the chance if keep a key for yourself because they are the ones with keys. And they can lock or do whatever they want to do with your tokens. How scary is that?

But many repeated exchanges have built enough trust among users that people don't even hesitate to store thousands of dollars on those exchanges.

[ZAINmalik75]

We all took things as wrong at the start so no tension and accepted the new technologies I am glad that you are making efforts and learning the potential of decentralization and non-custodial wallets. Because those who will learn these basics things and how much benefit these features have for an individual then they will automatically start to accept the fact that banks are doing wrong to us.
They are using our assets for their own benefits and besides this, we all should follow a single statement that those who have the keys are the real owners of the tokens they have. This means if you are using a custodial wallet where you don't have to get the key instead you are just relying on some wallet and giving your funds to them and then you are taking risks just like holding your funds on centralized exchanges.

But there are some pros and cons to it. For example, if you are storing your funds on cexs then you are no longer the real owner of your own funds but if they get lost and the cex you have chosen is a reputed one then that cex will refund you like the Binance and others. But they also refuse to refund so do not rely on others while you have the facility to be your own manager of your assets. Be your own boss and owner of your own assets and never depend on others in the case of tokens.

[Wapfika]

It's not a wallet in the conventional sense, whether it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.

Actually, you can use these wallet software to securely maintain and access your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain assets.

Your private key or seed phrase is what makes up your wallet.

I’m not sure what you really trying to prove here about the definition of wallet. All that you mention is technically functioning as a wallet since you can access your funds and manage it once you import your private key or seed phrases. Also you generate your seed phrase on one of this wallet and you can just use it on different wallet since they are just using same path to connect on blockchain.

Private key and seed phrase is by definition your keys to your wallet which holds asset on the blockchain. You can’t access your crypto assets on the blockchain without importing keys to the wallet. Having the ability to import your keys on different wallet software doesn’t mean that they are not wallet.

[Lida93]

Yes thats how it worked actually. As long as you have the seed phrase kept somewehere else besides the phone you used then you can always plug in that on new device and check your wallet. Sometimes having it written on a piece of paper and securing it is much better than save it somewhere online. Thats a back up plan that everyone must be accustomed too.

Storing seed phrase online is a risky way to safe keep and secure our funds as it can be
easily  hacked by an hacker attack. Keeping it written on a paper is a simple but convenient and secure way since it's offline all you got to do is to search for a safe place and keep the paper/booklet. While using paper we should also ensure that the ink we are using to write down our seed phrase is an indelible ink that won't fade off over time. Another alternate means to store private seed offline is by using the metallic steel carving in your seeds it's is sure to stand the test of time even over a hundred years owing that it's securely hidden.

[sokani]

It's not a wallet in the conventional sense, whether it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.

Actually, you can use these wallet software to securely maintain and access your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain assets.

Your private key or seed phrase is what makes up your wallet.

It is still a wallet since it holds your funds and transaction history but the seed phrase is the most important component of a wallet. Also, I wouldn't advise you to store your assets in a wallet that you've imported the seed phrase on different wallet applications such as Electrum, Bluewallet, Trust wallet, it exposes you to a lot of dangers.

No issue. Get a new one, put your seed phrase in whichever wallet you choose to install, and then. Because no other entity has access to your information, it cannot be hacked or copied.

Losing your phone and importing the seed phrase in another device is no guarantee that your funds will  be intact. A thief can steal steal your funds, always add extra layer of security on your phone and wallet.