Topic: How to Import Private Keys into Smartphone Digital Wallet (Bitcoin Wallet app)? (Read 20887 times)

Thanks dude. It sound more convince for this problem

Replying old thread like this that's not updated anymore is prohibited by the forum I guess, much better if you make a new thread regarding to your question. But to answer your question Mycelium android wallet will do, as long as you have private keys of that wallet and yes importing it on mycelium wallet takes less than a minute.

I use electrum wallet on my pc. So, what is app compatible with that wallet on my Android app? Then what must I do to import my private key? (Export key was done)

I had the same problem, and was able to import the file from my phone that was saved by the android app into MultiBit.

I had to rename the file to end in .key in order for Multibit to allow the import, but once I did that, it accepted the encryption password
and allowed me to manage my wallet from Multibit on my windows 8 machine.

how about to import BIP38 encrypted private keys?

you should try our beta build of the Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet. The source is available at https://github.com/mycelium-com/wallet

importing private keys from vanity andresses, keeping address + private key seperate are core features. please note the software is currently in open beta and changes quite often. as long as you keep your paper backup everything should be alright, though.

But it makes things easier, with the date the app knows automatically how far back to resync. Btw: old versions of bitcoinj did not accept backup files with missing date at all (at least this was the case when using it with MultiBit, haven't tried keys without dates with Android Wallet yet).

The imported file doesn't need a time

You can also encrypt it via the method you used to decrypt the example one.  That's what I did, that way I didn't care if the file was read by a malicious app.  Make the text file, encrypt with openssl, stick in folder, easy.  The annoying part was having to reset the blockchain, and also going on blockchain.info to find the first use of the address so I could make sure I had a time before that date to put in the file.

Found it. There is some more hidden undocumented voodoo:

• save the unencrypted text file into the sdcard/Download folder, this is the only folder it will recognize, the same folder where it also dumps its own export files.
• don't open it with the external file explorer, this will only trigger the encrypted import, this will work only with encrypted files (bug?). Instead do it from within the wallet app, from the menu choose the key import function and then it will list a huge number of backup files to choose from and the one in the Download folder will also be there and here it will also allow unencrypted files.
• after successful import delete this unencrypted file immediately so it won't lie around there in the Download folder where every other app can read it (alternatively use only encrypted backup files created with MultiBit)

I can't get past the import dialog where it demands a password and otherwise would not enable the OK-button, no matter how the file is named, no matter which folder it is in, no matter whether it has dates behind the keys or not.

Maybe we should discuss this in the "Bitcoin Wallet for Android" sub-forum where the developers are, maybe its a bug. I see 2 and a half possible bugs here:

* the import function does not have a proper file chooser to select the backup file, this is extremely unconventional and confusing.
* the import asks for password on unencrypted files.
* one user reports that he can get past the import dialog without password while on other devices it is grayed out.

Ok, here is my configuration:
File 'bitcoin-private-keys' in SD/Download
Content of this file:
Yes, no date at all

Just tried it myself and my import button is greyed out if pasword is empty

I just tried and it works without password (just put nothing) if the file is unencrypted

Ok, then I did confuse it (I have moved around keys already between MultiBit and Android Wallet) or maybe they have changed something.

The alternative approach is this:

* (on your PC) start MultiBit
* ceate a new wallet
* import the file you just created (MultiBit will allow unencrypted import)
* export this wallet with password protecton (encrypted)

Note that it will export *all* keys from the active wallet, this is why I said create a new one if you don't want your entire MultiBit wallet available on Android.

* (on Android) import this password protected file into Android Wallet (move it to your SD-Card and open it or mail it to your gmail and open the attachment on Android [Edit: or save it to the Download folder and from within the wallet app use the import function])
* enter the same password you used during export from MultiBit and it should import into the Android wallet without problems.

You can also do it the other way arond and import the Android backup into a (new or existing) MultiBit wallet, so you can quickly react and move coins away if someone steals your Android device.

Key Import wants a password.

just create a new one with a text editor. Then save it to the SD-card, then use an android file explorer, navigate to the file, choose "open with" and select "Bitcoin Key Import" from the list.

[Edit: save it to the Download folder (no other folder!) and import it from within the wallet app (not with external explorer), otherwise it would ask for a password and won't work with unencrypted files]

After successful import delete the file from the SD card again so you don't have an unencrypted key lying around there where everybody can read it!

You can alternatively follow the other tutorials to import the key into a MultiBit wallet and then make an *encrypted* export from MultiBit and import that into the Android Wallet, so you don't need to move unencrpted files around on your Phone.

The wallet app stores its keys and its wallet in
/data/data/de.schildbach.wallet/files/
This folder is protected and owned by the wallet app, nobody can access it except the app itself, root and the system. The only official way to get keys in and out is the wallet key backup/restore function of the wallet app and the backup files are 100% compatible with the backup files from MultiBit.

Where would I find this file? All I have is my backup file which is encrypted.

It has a key import function. The file format is the same as the one from MultiBit (because both use the same engine), so all tutorials about how to import keys into MultiBit that explain the key import format should apply here too. Its a simple text file with one key per line, each line consists of the key and the date at which this key was created (so it knows how far back to rescan the blockchain)

it looks like this:

The time formatting with the "T" and the "Z" must be exactly as above or it won't work

BUMP.

I would like to know this.

Not sure this question belongs in this forum but seemed to be the closest area to what I need help on.

I have a smartphone android app I am using ("Bitcoin Wallet" by ANDREAS SCHILDBACH) and getting familiar with.

I have generated my own vanity Bitcoin wallet pub-priv key-pair on separate high-speed computing platform that I'd like to incorporate into my Smartphone's Digital Wallet. I am assuming that this app is using standard format wallet storage base 58. My problem is this app has no way that I can discern to directly import just a single new key-pair except that I can get the public key in by having it scan in a QR image that I can externally generate from cut-and-pate of key into a webutility. But the only apparent way to get the private key in is to import it with a new wallet file. I can't locate the directory in the android device to find the unencrypted "archive" version of the wallet that it says is in existence to hand edit in the private keys and import this way. I suspect I would have to root it to get to that data but don't want to void warranties or screw up the OS etc.  I can however find an encrypted version of it but of course can't easily edit in the private key and re-import the whole wallet again.

Any ideas on how to get a new key-pair into my smartphone wallet around the app without risking losing the existing keys the app auto-generated at first activation?