Topic: Lost bitcoins - Transferring from android to iOS (Both wallets from same seed) (Read 371 times)

Found an interesting note in the "Bitcoin deterministic wallet compatibility" spreadsheet that is available here: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=584F122BA17116EE!313&app=Excel


It seems that prior to version 1.4... Mycelium for IOS was using a "different" derivation path:





So, I would suggest that you try and import the seed into Electrum, when prompted for the script type/derivation path, Click on the "legacy (p2pkh)" option... and then change the derivation path from: m/44'/0'/0' to: m/44'/0'/0'/0

The screen should look like this:



Hopefully that will find the missing addresses/transactions/coins etc.

If you are sure that it was the same seed then your problem is the right derivation path.
I would suggest you import it on Electrum already suggested above but this time you will need the xPub or zPub under wallet>information you will need to analyze it using xPub analyzer.
Here's the tool https://blockpath.com/wallets/new?action=appxpub

Then paste the xPub or zPub of your wallet then scan all, if the tool found used addresses with balances you will see the derivation path on the left side use it to find the exact derivation path of your wallet.

I assume you meant "% sure we never used a passphrase".
If it's a bug or corruption that made the two wallets different, then there's nothing else you can do about it.

You can try to build and install the exact version when you've restored it in IOS: github.com/mycelium-com/wallet-ios/releases
Then restore your seed phrase there, but as I've said, (AFAIK) Mycelium haven't changed their BIP39 seed derivation.

Hi again,

@HCP

To test with different derivation paths did not solve my issues.

All 4 transactions are to different addresses.

When I look at it I see that I might have given you wrong information earlier, from what I can see on oxt.me it looks like this:

1. Trying to recover bitcoin balance on mycelium iPhone, showing balance 0 etc
2. Trying to recover bitcoin balance to  android mycelium, showing correct amount BTC
Ps. Both iPhone and android were restored using the same seed.
3. Sending all balance to the iPhone mycelium wallet, since the android phone wasn't mine. (In theory sending to and from myself, same seed)
4. A few days later selling 1 BTC at Kraken. First small transaction, then 0,99 BTC.

5. Then a year later wanting to check, finding mycelium on iPhone is not installed. Installing app, recovering with seed, finding the balance is 0,000X and not the correct. Also testing with android, but also showing 0,000X BTC.
Ps. We do not know what happened to the mycelium app on the iPhone, maybe we deleted it, but at least thinking it was the same seed, since we recovered with seed and sent between two wallets with same seed.

@nc50lc

The amount on our wallet is the same as the change address on the transaction 4.
For me looking it looks like it leads to a new transaction, from where the BTC is laying unspent.

What I make out of this is that we only see 4 transactions, all from transferring BTC from android to iPhone (same seed - no passphrase)

We are missing the transactions from a few days after, selling the BTC on kraken from the mycelium iPhone. This was also done in two transactions.
One to verify and one to sell when seeing it is working.

---

The question is why these transactions do not show up (not even on the iPhone), and that there might have been a glitch between the mycelium android and iPhone versions causing the two wallets to be different even with same seed? (One for the android and one for the iPhone).

And that is why the wallet showed 0 BTC, and that when we sent the BTC to "ourselves" iPhone version created a different set of addresses and did not manage to attach it to our wallet seed used in the android?

Ps. The phrase we had on the same paper is not our passphrase as we are 99,99999999999999999999% sure we never used a seed and only used the same seed on both phones, we do not have knowledge about this so we did check it throughly before doing the transactions. (Not throughly enough though it seems like).

Any ideas on where to go from here?

Yes... did you send the small amount and the big amount to the same address?


Yes... when you're creating the wallet, you need to select options, check the BIP39 option... then when prompted between "Legacy", "Nested" or "Native"... select based "Legacy" and change the derivation path to m/44'/0'/1' (it will default to m/44'/0'/0' which is the "main" account in Mycelium).

You can also check m/44'/0'/2'... but Mycelium only allows one "unused" account, so it's probably not worth checking anything higher than 2' or 3' (unless you know you had setup lots of "accounts" in Mycelium).

NOTE: You will need to create a new wallet in Electrum for each Mycelium "account" that you want to check.

Yes, there's no way that two same wallets (Mycelium) with the same seed, will generate two different wallets unless the other has a passphrase.
As you can see, when you restored the seed to your current installation, it keeps on generating the same wallet as the Android Myceium.

---

By the way, since you can see the transactions.
Search the output of transaction #4 and check it it's now spent. If it is, it's most likely that your previous deleted IOS Mycelium was a fake.
If not spent, it may be the correct app and you still have a chance if you can guess your passphrase or found the correct seed phrase.

To check if it's spent:

• First, change the blockexplorer option in the settings, among the choices, blockchain.info(com) is the one with easy indicator if the output was spent.
  (that's in "Menu/...->Settings->Block explorers->Bitcoin->blockchain.info")
• Go to 'Transactions' tab, tap transaction #4 (should have red amount for 'send-out txns', the amount should be the "missing funds")
  It will be highlighted, then click "Show Details" above.
• Click on the "Hash" and you will be redirected to blockchain.com through your default browser.
• In that page, look for the outputs ("to" or the green arrow pointing right);
  spent outputs have a "red globe" icon next to it instead of a "green globe" (unspent). the change should be green since it's still in your wallet.

---

Last note: It's not recommended to write the BIP39 passphrase on the same paper as the seed phrase, or it will defeat its purpose.

@BitMaxz

I am not sure I understand what you mean. But the balance is the same on the iPhone and the Android now when restoring.

When I am at the balance side (iPhone) I cannot see any address, I entered the public key, main account, (hope this is what you mean) into blockchain and the balance and transactions looks the same.

"there are 3 types of address on balance" On the balance tab, I only have Main account balance, send, receive and cold storage (iPhone). But that might be different on the Android, at the time of writing this I can not verify that. Probably I need the Mycelium app for android to check all three account types?

With regards to looking into the Electrum wallet it says:
Script type: p2pkh
Wallet type: standard
Seed available: False
Keystore type: bip32
Lightning: Not available for this wallet
Derivation path: m/44'/0'/0'

This makes me wonder, since I seem to remember that to restore my mycelium wallet the guide said to check bip39, could this mean something?

@HCP

Sorry for the stupid question, but are you referring to if the "output" addresses are the same in #3 and #4?

I tried adding new accounts (iPhone) with no success.
But did not get a question to ensure it was HD accounts.
I do not have the possibility to check the android at the time of writing this. Would you know how I could check this in electrum?

@nc50lc
Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the assistance.
I think you are correct on the balance that it is the change of transaction #4.

I do not think it was backed up after the transfer, therefore no new seed. With "keep on restoring it with your commonly used passphrase." you mean that I should try to guess the passphrase?
(Most likely I do not have any). The reason why I am so sure about this is that I have the seed written down with one additional code, not for this. I had these with me when performing the transactions, so if any new seed and or passphrase they would most likely have been noted down on the same place.

Thanks :-)

So it's the other way around in comparison to your previous reply, hmm...
But it still subjected to the fact that you've sent the funds to your IPhone Mycelium that 'you think' has the same seed as your Andoid Mycelium.
And the final balance "0.000X BTC" that you're seeing is the change of that #4 transaction.
The rest of the balance is in that deleted wallet, it's basically same thing.

If HCP's suggestion to create the second HD account didn't work,
you'll have to search for another seed phrase backup or keep on restoring it with your commonly used passphrase.

Are the addresses that the coins were sent to in #3 and #4, the same or different?

In any case, it seems that instead of sending to the wallet on iPhone that uses the same seed and/or derivation path as the wallet on the Android device, it's been sent to a completely different wallet... otherwise, you would see the "incoming" transactions from #3 and #4 and not just the outgoing ones


Have you tried adding new "accounts" in Mycelium to see if maybe the addresses you sent to in #3 and #4 are in different HD accounts in Mycelium? (This is effectively the same as changing the derivation path in Electrum from m/44'/0'/0' to m/44'/0'/1', m/44'/0'/2' etc)

Click the "Key+" icon or tap 3 dots and select "add account"... then select "Add Bitcoin HD Account"... Note that Mycelium only lets you have one "unused" HD account... so you may not be able to add a 3rd (or subsequent) account if the 2nd one has no transaction history.

If they're not there, then your chances of recovering these coins are going to be very low...

So both of them have no balance between iPhone and Android?

Sometimes mycelium is not syncing if you imported a new seed you can't see the updated balance right away.
That is why I suggested you go into the balances tab copy the address there and paste it to any block explorer like blockchair.com to check the transaction history and current balance.

Take note there are 3 types of address on balance tab so copy all of them and check them one by one on blockchair.com
To see other types of addresses just tap the QR code and it will change from p2pkh to p2sh if you tap it again it will change to Bech32. Let see which address that you actually use check them all to block explorer to see the updated status about that address.

Hi,

Thanks a lot for following up and assisting.

I have four outbound transactions in when restoring the wallet.

As I remember them:

All outgoing from Android Mycelium wallet:

1. Small to check that transfer from android to Kraken is working.
2. Sending 1 BTC from android to kraken.
3. Sending small portion from android to iPhone to see I it works.
4. Sending the rest of the balance from android to the iPhone.

5. Deleting mycelium on iPhone
6. Restoring and balance is same as Android Mycelium, 0.000X.

I am trying to look into oxy.me to fully understand the transactions, but since I am before beginner, it takes some time.

All ideas, assistance,  "dummy" guides for transaction explanations and oxt.me guides are heartly welcome :-)

He had posted that in his "information update" in Post number 11.
What I get is: From android to Iphone (almost all funds), then Iphone to Kraken (just a portion, left a change with large funds).

So you sent 1 BTC to Kraken before you transferred the rest to the iphone? So, you can see that as a separate transaction in your transaction history? If so, then that would make nc50lc's theory incorrect:

As the transaction happened before the coins were transferred to the "deleted IOS wallet"... which then begs the question...

what is the last transaction that you can see in your recovered wallet? Following your description, it should be the transaction that sent from "Android to IOS"... is that correct?

It also falls to scenario 1 or 2 in the list in my previous reply of "possible scenarios".

See, if your IOS and Android Myceliums are different wallets (due to IOS having a passphrase or just a different seed entirely) and you've sent the balance from Android to IOS.
The change "0.000X BTC" that you're seeing is the change of that "from Android to IOS transaction", thus balance of the Android Mycelium.
The change of "from deleted IOS wallet to Kraken" transaction should be in that deleted wallet, not in the Android Mycelium.

And since the original deleted IOS Mycelium seems to be a different wallet (I mean not a copy of your Android Mycelium),
when you restored using the seed of  "Android Mycelium", the restored wallet to IOS Mycelium only has the "0.000X BTC" balance which is the change of the "from Android to IOS transaction".

With all the statements, it seems like you've added a passphrase that made the deleted IOS Mycelium a totally different wallet; if not, it has a different seed to begin with.
Specially the very first paragraph in the OP:

The seed phrase doesn't need to be updated. Your seed phrase can generate all your addresses (The addresses you have used so far, the addresses you will use in future and all your change addresses).


That means your wallet has generated 9 private keys (and 9 addresses) so far.
The total balance of those 9 addresses is 0.000X BTC.

Thanks again for all the answers,

@hosseinimr93
I am 99,999999% sure no passphrase was added. That makes it a bit weird. And leads me to thinking sending coins from yourself (android) to yourself (iPhone) leads to the seed not being updated on the changes on the iPhone after and the coins being sent to another address.

@BitMaxz
We deleted the Mycelium app from the iPhone after the transfer. (At least that is what we think happened)
The iPhone is now showing 0.000X and not the complete balance on the iPhone, so if we backup now this is the balance we backup (0,000XBTC) and not the balance with the total amount of BTC?

Looking at the Android vs the iPhone both balances are identical, also both showing the same transactions.

@khaled0111
The phone was my wife's, so not to worried :-)
We have tried to restore in Electrum, showing same balance as on the iPhone and Android, 0.000X and not the complete amount of BTC.

@nc50lc
That is correct, but also before transferring to the iPhone we sent one BTC to Kraken to sell it, sold this one.
And the rest should be on the balance, but as mentioned it now says 0.000X instead of correct amount.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

iPhone vs Android

Now both Android and iPhone shows same transactions;
Looking at Android and iPhone
   1. Balance 0.000X
   2. Transactions identical

What I find on the Android mycelium app that I do not find on the iPhone mycelium app is this:

Android says:
Bitcoin HD 1
Account 1
Contains 9 private keys
Balance 0.000X BTC

Could these private keys be hiding the coins or would the balance then be correct?

Once again, thanks for assisting.

It's stated in the OP that the android phone is his wife's.

A little TL;DR of the whole thread: He said that he restored the same seed to his Iphone and His wife's Android;
but only the Android showed the correct balance so he sent the bitcoins to his IPhone.
Deleted the Mycelium app in IPhone after a transaction.
Then the issue occurs.

What do you mean by the phone wasn't yours? (Thank you nc50lc for the clarifcation). Did the phone owner have access to your wallet? When you restored it, did you protect it by a password/pin code? If the phone owner has access to your wallet then he can steal all your coins.  I' m not saying he did, but this is one of the (many) possibilities.

The first thing to do is to restore your wallet using a propper wallet such as Electrum and see if it has any balance then report back here so we can help you.

You can still able to back up the seed from your iPhone if the mycelium app is still installed from your iPhone.

Just go to the Accounts tab and choose the wallet that you want to back up seed after choosing a wallet you should see something like "create backup". Tap that button and it will ask if you want to do this now then choose yes and then show first word.

Until you complete the 12 words seed backup.


You can also confirm if they are used the same seed Android and your iPhone by checking the address if the address from iPhone is the same as the address from your Android then they are using the same seed.

It's not a glitch.
If you have the correct seed phrase (+ passphrase, if there's any), you can easily recover your fund.
Not only on mycelium, the seed can be imported into any other wallet that support BIP39 seeds.

You already said that both of your wallets (the android one and IOS one) had a same seed phrase.
If you have added a passphrase to your seed phrase, as stated by nc50lc, you need that too.