As a crypto investor, the less app you install the better.

[snowpega]

<snip>

I was aware of it already because those applications that you install from Google are open-source applications that may have loopholes in them which can help scammers or hackers to scam your information or money. I used to install these kinds of applications before and when I came to know about them I deleted them at all. Those applications were movie applications that I used to use in my spare time. So these kinds of applications may cause to compromise of your data. My suggestion is to avoid them all. Espacially do not install any open source application in the device where you hold your personal data or crypto assets.

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[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I feel this is a serious warning to most crypto-newbies, who are very reluctant about the security of their crypto-asset, or probably because they don't know the kind of risk that those non-deafult keyboard-Apps can put their asset. Some people like those Keyboards because they have fancy colors and nice design, unknown to them that they can contain some malware that can possibly steal every secret information from their device or grant their device access to hackers.

[Dunamisx]

It's not about making installations because you will at the long run needed some apps to be installed for one or two purposes, but the advice I will give in this condition is to make use of a different device for your wallet which may not even have an Internet connection at all, this will help prevent you from using the google to browse or make downloads of apps that may be risky to your system, treat your wallet on a different device not accessible to everyone.

[hatshepsut93]

As crypto investor, you should have separate environments for your investment activities and for your other stuff. If you are trading thousands of dollars worth of coins, you should just get a cheap laptop for trading instead of using apps on your phone which is always online and does whatever it wants on the Internet. And for your wallet you should have a hardware wallet or a cold storage PC/laptop. Mobile wallets should be only for tiny daily expenses.

[Myleschetty]

The image below is mine, I took this screenshot because Unstoppable wallet, a open source crypto wallet is the only crypto wallet that I have on my phone that warned me about using a non default keyboard, and I have many other crypto wallets on my smartphone including metamask and trust wallet.

Although you can import the wallet into your Unstoppable wallet and never use the Trust wallet again because you no longer require it, I'm amazed that you still have the Trust wallet given the capabilities and functionality of the Unstoppable wallet.
There's no need to have many apps on the phone, or operating system you use for your crypto.

[Z390]

As a crypto investor, you should invest in a good open source hardware wallet or keep your coins on an airgapped device. This way you don't have to worry about what you download on your mobile or desktop cause it's not linked to your holdings.

If you have to use a regular mobile device, you have to take necessary precautionary measures.
• Don't use third party keyboards,
• Don't use closed source wallets like trustwallet,
• Don't store passwords or seed phrases on the device,
• Don't click on unsolicited links.

Who told you that they don't have to worry about what they download? What about trying to update the hardware wallet? Most hardware wallets still update only by connecting them to a PC and using a USB cable, are you saying that this is not a risk of using a hardware wallet?

What about those Ledger users that got scammed by fake Ledger apps on third-party stores? People still fall victims to this isn't it? You are talking as if once they buy the hardware wallet all risks are over.

As a hardware wallet owner, you still need to write down your recovery seed in a safe location, isn't it? A lost recovery seed makes a hardware wallet useless, as funds can be moved out, just like when your softer wallet is compromised, tell me that hardware wallet is risk free...

The main purpose of my topic is for software wallet users not hardware wallet users, many crypto beginners still use software wallets like Electrum and other open source software wallets, not everyone can afford hardware wallet and it's not completely free of scam risks if they can get a hardware wallet too.

[lovesmayfamilis]

You can simply boil this entire post down to one conclusion: if you are a crypto investor, do not store your funds on your phone. Some amounts are needed for certain operations, but the entire amount should not be trusted, even with a pure iPhone or an Android.
Just buy yourself a device that will not come into contact with the Internet or a hardware wallet that has only one purpose: to keep your crypto safe.

[sokani]

Having so many apps on your phone with a good portion of your funds is not advisable, it exposes you to more risk. Fake applications can avoided by verifying the signature before downloading, but to save yourself the stress, just get a hardware wallet and keep your coins or use your device to create an airgapped wallet. When you do this, you'll be less worried about a malware such as keylogger that can take record of your key strokes and send it to the scammer.

[snowpega]

I feel this is a serious warning to most crypto-newbies, who are very reluctant about the security of their crypto-asset, or probably because they don't know the kind of risk that those non-deafult keyboard-Apps can put their asset. Some people like those Keyboards because they have fancy colors and nice design, unknown to them that they can contain some malware that can possibly steal every secret information from their device or grant their device access to hackers.

Dear, you raised a good point about "fancy keyboards" These kinds of applications that provide such kinds of styles to the user keyboards are open-source applications because most of them are available on Google websites. I used to avoid downloading any open-source applications from Google But I remember when I was the newbie in the crypto space I used to make these kinds of mistakes and when I came to know about these things I started to avoid them. Most of the applications were movie applications but I deleted all of them later when I came to know about it.

[aTriz]

The image below is mine, I took this screenshot because Unstoppable wallet, a open source crypto wallet is the only crypto wallet that I have on my phone that warned me about using a non default keyboard, and I have many other crypto wallets on my smartphone including metamask and trust wallet.



This shows that all these apps are sensitive to everything we do on our smartphone, I will like to advice beginners to avoid non default keyboards, as they have the potential to collect every data on your phone, the sensitive ones and the less sensitive, even the words we type through them.
This is just a reminder for this new year, if you are just starting your crypto journey avoid doing this with your phone.

Avoid using a non-default keyboard, stick with the default keyboard

Avoid taking screenshot of your wallet seed phrase, somehow this can get to the hands of the wrong ones.

Avoid unlocking your phone bootloader, all OEM security is gone after the unlock, unless you know what you are doing.
My final advice for all smartphone users is that the less apps you install on your phone the better, the less likely you are exposed to data leaking apps or malicious app, and don't use any app store to install apps, directly find their official website, that should direct you to the right apps on stores or direct download.

that's 100% true.I experienced getting hacked 2, 3 times  myself by downloading different software. but mine was in desktop versions. thankfully never had this issue from mobile which is my primary source of wallets.
after experiencing those incidents, I stopped downloading any software program in my laptop.  too afraid to download even trusted software at this point.
As a Crypto user everyone should be careful about these things because hackers are everywhere nowadays.

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip

~
The main purpose of my topic is for software wallet users not hardware wallet users, many crypto beginners still use software wallets like Electrum and other open source software wallets, not everyone can afford hardware wallet and it's not completely free of scam risks if they can get a hardware wallet too.

Yes, all of this is understandable. There are many bitcoin users who don't have a hardware wallet to store their bitcoin, it's not a big problem and I think it's still okay. The problem is, they have to find a way to properly secure their bitcoins even if it is not completely risk-free. All wallet options have their own level of risk, but at least they know how to be safer by minimizing the risks.

Having a hardware wallet is certainly better in terms of minimizing risks, but it also doesn't completely guarantee that your bitcoins remain safe. However, if you have a large amount of assets, then the best choice is a hardware wallet rather than a software wallet.

[Upgrade00]

Who told you that they don't have to worry about what they download? What about trying to update the hardware wallet? Most hardware wallets still update only by connecting them to a PC and using a USB cable, are you saying that this is not a risk of using a hardware wallet?

Updating your wallets frequently on an airgapped device is not necessary, unless there is a serious security flaw, you can use the older versions for along time. Furthermore the risks in getting a updated version is nothing compared to having your wallet on your regular device.

What about those Ledger users that got scammed by fake Ledger apps on third-party stores? People still fall victims to this isn't it?

Ledger is not an open source wallet, I recommended you use that for more security.
Getting scammed by fake stores is a whole 'nother discussion which is unrelated to my initial comment.

[Porfirii]

It is always a good advice to go for the browser version of any service instead of installing the App in your smartphone: the data they are able to collect from you are much less via browser, and it is easier to control which you share. Of course, you have to trust your browser, but I think that they are safer from the design.

And, even better, do the exercise of evaluating which services are worth using and stop using all those you think that are dispensable. Not only from the point of view of security, but for a better use of your time too.

[albon]

I will like to advice beginners to avoid non default keyboards, as they have the potential to collect every data on your phone, the sensitive ones and the less sensitive, even the words we type through them.

I have found many applications for non-default keyboards that have been modified and developed and added attractive features. These modified applications are not only for the keyboard but also for communication applications. You may find WhatsApp Gold or Telegram Plus and unofficial versions developed by unknown people. When someone uses one of these applications, these applications may collect essential and sensitive information, violate privacy, and expose his phone to big risks and his wallet to be exploited through the permissions obtained by them. The best thing is to use another phone for these wallets without downloading unofficial or non-default applications, whether on Google Play, the Apple Store, through the search engine, or any advertisements.

Thank you, OP, for this valuable advice.

[PrivacyG]

I do not get the point of inserting a Seed or other sensitive information using the Default Keyboard anyway.  A keylogger type of infection could easily pick up the keys you push on your screen but will likely not pick up any thing if the App you are using has its own keyboard unrelated to your phone system.

Using Third Party keyboards is the worst thing you can do.  You are compromising the Security of your Wallet for a more eye pleasing personalized experience.  It makes zero sense.

But then also be careful about Apps requesting permissions for Screen Overlay and such.  These can be just as dangerous.  It is always important to often check your Device Settings and see which permissions do your Apps have enabled.  But then again.  You probably should not have a Wallet installed on a phone which you use to install all sorts of suspicious Apps.

[doomloop]

My final advice for all smartphone users is that the less apps you install on your phone the better, the less likely you are exposed to data leaking apps or malicious app, and don't use any app store to install apps, directly find their official website, that should direct you to the right apps on stores or direct download.

Yeah, I don't recommend using mobile wallets to cryptocurrency investors in the first place. They are not secure and mobile phones or any devices connected to the internet are always vulnerable to hacks and exploits, so it's better to store your cryptocurrencies elsewhere even if you are using an online wallet which you shouldn't, make sure that it's not always installed and available for anyone to access through the device as your device can get in the hands of anyone.

People often make the mistake of having their wallets in their mobile phones and then saving their important credentials such as passwords and seed phrases inside that phone, in such cases, if your phone is lost or stolen, you basically lose all your funds since you have everything in that phone.

[Odusko]

In the cryptocurrency world, one feature that we like most and always prefer is what we call privacy and for that, any action that will expose us, we always try as much as possible to avoid, and just like installing multiple third-party apps on our devices because we don't know which one comes along with a malware that could affect our system.
So we all have to try as much as possible to only keep clean and secured apps on our phones or computer devices, this is very important to save us from every possible vulnerability attack that may come along the way.

[The Cryptovator]

I strongly advise you to just avoid storing your crypto on your smart phone. We have to be careful about smart hackers as well. When we use a hardware wallet, hackers won't get access to your wallet unless you compromise your seed phrase. Our mobile devices and computers would be affected anytime when we installed something that we weren't well aware of. So we might lose everything, and our wallet would become empty. We have seen many cases where hackers attack through malware when installing something from untrusted sources.

[Victorik]

True, but how is it possible to do that considering the fact that there are so many apps for airdrop and doing testnet these days. I literally do not even know the number of apps I have in my phone these days. Maybe, one needs to get a different phone for farming airdrops and testnet.

[Cryptoababe]

The worse part of it is that any keyboard can get compromised with account synchronisation. So, the best thing is to use offline keyboards to avoid getting hacked or compromised with keyboad. I use my keyboard offline now.