Electrum Wallet Issue - Warning Some Data...

[Stalker22]

I am using Android and am on version 4.4.6
~snip~

If you have a seed, I would suggest that you uninstall Electrum and download an older version, I suggest one of the versions that were released about 1 year ago. These would be versions 4.3.3 or 4.3.4 which can be downloaded from the official Electrum site. Of course, you need to download the apk version and install it manually.

https://download.electrum.org

Old versions have bugs in them. He's better off using the latest version which he can get from the playstore.

Special circumstances sometimes require older versions of the application, despite potential bugs or missing features.
Besides, there are no security risks or vulnerabilities in the Electrum versions that Lucius suggested, as far as I am aware.

[nc50lc]

This is so confusing because one topic says that there IS a work-around and then something else or someone else says that it does NOT work and that money is just gone even though it's sitting right friggin' there

Please show where it says that there's a workaround so we can see the other info that you've shared where they came to the conclusion that it's recoverable.
BTW, this thread started with an entirely off-mark issue that isn't actually the issue, the "QR Code warning",
perhaps they're talking about the work-around to that, because it's just about the exportation of the unsigned transaction.

Anyways,
Here's an easy-to-understand explanation: Bitcoin isn't something like a bank account.

It is "self-custodial" and every bitcoin is recorded in every Bitcoin Node's blockchain, not in anyone's wallet, Electrum is a self-custodial wallet.
Even the nodes where the Blockchain is stored have no control over the funds stored in them since those can only be unlocked by the correct private key.

Wallets just display coins that it can watch or spend depending on what's stored in it:
"Spending" bitcoins require the "private key" of the address where it's sent to.
"Watching" only requires the public info which can be the address, public key or xpub key (in  Electrum: Wallet->Information).
Your watching-only wallet doesn't contain any private key.

I hope that the terms I've used here are not confusing.

I created that wallet about a year ago when I first downloaded electrum and started using BTC.  It's always worked and have made hundreds of transactions.  Until the last one.

Are all those hundred transactions inbound?

If not, you may have more than one wallets available in your wallet list and you've just loaded the watching-only wallet that you've (accidentally) created.
How about the 12-word "seed phrase" that the wallet instructed to write on a paper/backup?
You can't proceed without backing it up.

If yes, it's normal that you can receive bitcoins to a watching-only wallet because all it needs to receive is to provide an address to the sender.
But you can't spend it without the usual non-watching-only pair where the xpub/address came from.

[Lucius]

Old versions have bugs in them. He's better off using the latest version which he can get from the playstore.

The OP is using the latest Android version, and since he has a problem, I advised him to try the version he was using when he first installed Electrum. It helped me when I had a similar problem, and the goal is of course to get access to the coins that are in the current wallet and then start using the latest available version.

I found the topic where I reported my problem and I think there are some answers there ->

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5449436.msg62166840#msg62166840
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/8374

[WhyEvenTry?]

There was some talk in a forum I am part of where a mod said their attack dog was "nuking some peoples' wallets" who were trying to scam others in the group.

Your Electrum wallet cannot be nuked, it is in your own self custody and you control the keys. Your funds can only be confiscated if you use a custodial wallet, so this cannot be what the problem is.

This is so confusing because one topic says that there IS a work-around and then something else or someone else says that it does NOT work and that money is just gone even though it's sitting right friggin' there

It is not possible for a wallet you were using normally to just turn into a watch only wallet, to create a watch only wallet all you need is your master public key. But in this situation you claim you have been making tx's with this wallet, so i think you are leaving some details out here. If you own the wallets, where are your backups?[B/]

"It is not possible for a wallet you were using normally to turn into a watch only wallet.[B/]"  Why would I make this up and claim I've been using a watch only wallet this whole time?  If I had messed with settings or done anything different, I would have mentioned that.  On top of that, there have been several other people with the same experience as me.

It is my wallet and I have made many transactions using that default wallet and never created or changed anything.  I got a replacement phone (same exact model) and and the data was transferred from the old to the new.  Only had to type in my password to access the same electrum wallet on the new phone.

Maybe it changed/updated the version my previous phone was running.  But, that's a stretch because I was able to make a successful transfer several days prior with the new phone which is difficult to explain with that theory.  If I WAS running an old version for some reason, wouldn't it have updated on the new phone automatically?  So, the coincidence that it happened to update versions weeks after using the electrum wallet, that it would all off the sudden decide to update itself.  
I was able to create a new wallet out of curiosity and it is NOT watch only.  I cannot send from my watch only to that one.  I am officially done with BTC and Electrum can eat it.  Moving to lite or XMR and already am using Cake wallet instead of Electrum. BTC fees are way too high and this experience has me questioning the reliability of something else happening. 

I have successfully "cloned" the wallet on my PC and was able to send the coin to an exchange as the computer wallet was not a watch only.  Money is back after some insane mining fees plus the exchange's fees.  Besides the fees (lost nearly $50 sending to my wallet and getting back as the mining fees were out of control), the fact that this happened is concerning.  Wonder how often this happens and someone doesn't ask for help from the right place (here, NOT Reddit where that dude was trying to pull a fast one).  Or, they get answers but are not technically savvy, they are not going to have a fun time.

Several topics referenced in this thread said it happened to several people even also on the PREVIOUS version update 4.3 to 4.4 and then currently from 4.4 to 4.5 where there were similar stories.  IIRC, all issues revolved around watch only wallets being place unintentionally rendering their funds essentially very tough to get. The fact that it's occurring to a small population of android users who have no clue how this happened - I think it's something that just randomly happens to electrum wallets on androids on rare occasions and I'm one of the lucky ones.  I consider myself somewhat literate when it comes to technology and this was an absolute nightmare.  Cannot imagine having thousands stuck like that and being even less knowledgeable about troubleshooting this kind of thing than I am.  There were some lovely accusations, almost every single reply to this had a completely different set of instructions to attempt a resolution and also another saying I'm screwed.

Thank you all SOO much for the help.  To summarize my solution: I was able to get the money OUT of the watch only wallet by installing Electrum on my computer and using the seed to open a new default wallet.  Then, bam.  Money is there in a usable wallet.  I am positive the issue woudl have been solved earlier if I hadn't have had to work as much as I currently do.  Stressful as hell and long hours do not justify decent pay for me right now in life.  I'm looking for some type of job within my realm of studies and the jobs I've held.  But, definitely a different industry.  I need a bit of work/life balance and not be on call literally 24/7.


Apologies for any grammar or odd words.  It's been a long week and weekend at work for me.  Back at it tomorrow.