<blockquote>
  <p>As far as I understand, my bitcoin [..] are somewhere in the big block chain and are not bound to a specific app.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is correct, what is held within your app is the private key that allows you to spend the bitcoins held at that key's address. Without the key, the coins cannot be spent. </p>

<p>So, to make the bitcoins accessible in your blockchain.info wallet, you can do one of two things:</p>

<ol>
<li>Send a bitcoin transaction using bread, to a receiving address generated by your blockchain.info wallet.</li>
<li>Import your bread wallet into blockchain.info, by inputting the bread wallet seed phrase or private keys into the blockchain wallet. Doing this will copy the keys held in your bread wallet, effectively creating two instances of the wallet instead of just one. </li>
</ol>

<p>I don't know your exact reasoning or circumstance for switching wallets, but for what its worth, I like the security model used by bread much more than the one used by blockchain.info. At any rate, make sure your seed phrase is stored in a secure place!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T23:01:35.983Z
Thanks for the quick reply! I was not thinking about switching as such, more wanting to make sure that my bitcoin was not bound to a specific app. Are there any disadvantages of having two instances of a wallet? Edit: So my seed phrase is actually what is important, not which wallet I choose to use?
marlar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T23:27:17.677Z
Yes, the seed phrase is what is important. The seed phrase is used to generate your 'master private key', and all subsequent private keys your wallet generates will be derived from that master key. You can literally delete the app off your phone if you'd like (so there is no wallet instance), and then just restore later from the seed phrase. The seed phrase format is standardized, so many different wallet implementations will work, you are not bound to some specific software.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T23:28:49.080Z
Disadvantages of multiple instances of a wallet: more possible ways for an attacker to steal your coins. Unless you have a good reason for doing so, I wouldn't recommend it. Having multiple instances is NOT a good way to 'back up your wallet', securely storing your seed phrase in a non-digital format is what you want to do.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T16:19:41.007Z
That makes sense. The reason why I asked is that I out of curiosity installed Blockchain and noticed it was possible to buy bitcoins directly in the app. So I figured that if I did that and wanted the bitcoins to be visible in bread, I would somehow had to link these two wallets. Alternatively I could transfer them to my Bread wallet, but I guess there would be a fee then?
marlar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T21:29:21.487Z
@marlar yes, bitcoin transactions pay a fee to the network's miners. If the transaction is not urgent then you can easily just wait until the network traffic is low, and send the tx for cheap (I sent some for as low as $0.25 recently). Right now tx fees are higher though, [you can check the tx backlog on this website](https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#30d). Keep in mind tx fees depend on the size of the tx in bytes, not the amount transferred. In my opinion, paying the fee is worth the safety of your bitcoins. As I mentioned before, I don't like the security of blockchain.info's wallet.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T22:55:53.260Z
2017-12-18T22:55:53.260Z
chytrik
<p>I have a small amount of money in <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.breadwallet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bread</a> which I got a year ago. I see the money when I log into Bread.</p>

<p>Now I have installed <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=piuk.blockchain.android" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blockchain</a>. As far as I understand, my bitcoin cents are somewhere in the big block chain and are not bound to a specific app.</p>

<p>How do I connect the Blockchain app to my existing wallet which I see in Bread? Is it even possible?</p>

<client>
How to see my bitcoins in another app?
marlar
# How to see my bitcoins in another app?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-18)

I have a small amount of money in [Bread](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.breadwallet) which I got a year ago. I see the money when I log into Bread.

Now I have installed [Blockchain](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=piuk.blockchain.android). As far as I understand, my bitcoin cents are somewhere in the big block chain and are not bound to a specific app.

How do I connect the Blockchain app to my existing wallet which I see in Bread? Is it even possible?

**Tags:** client


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-12-18. Score: 1

> As far as I understand, my bitcoin [..] are somewhere in the big block chain and are not bound to a specific app.

This is correct, what is held within your app is the private key that allows you to spend the bitcoins held at that key's address. Without the key, the coins cannot be spent.

So, to make the bitcoins accessible in your blockchain.info wallet, you can do one of two things:

1. Send a bitcoin transaction using bread, to a receiving address generated by your blockchain.info wallet.
2. Import your bread wallet into blockchain.info, by inputting the bread wallet seed phrase or private keys into the blockchain wallet. Doing this will copy the keys held in your bread wallet, effectively creating two instances of the wallet instead of just one.

I don't know your exact reasoning or circumstance for switching wallets, but for what its worth, I like the security model used by bread much more than the one used by blockchain.info. At any rate, make sure your seed phrase is stored in a secure place!

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the quick reply! I was not thinking about switching as such, more wanting to make sure that my bitcoin was not bound to a specific app. Are there any disadvantages of having two instances of a wallet? Edit: So my seed phrase is actually what is important, not which wallet I choose to use?  
> **username_1**: Yes, the seed phrase is what is important. The seed phrase is used to generate your 'master private key', and all subsequent private keys your wallet generates will be derived from that master key. You can literally delete the app off your phone if you'd like (so there is no wallet instance), and then just restore later from the seed phrase. The seed phrase format is standardized, so many different wallet implementations will work, you are not bound to some specific software.  
> **username_1**: Disadvantages of multiple instances of a wallet: more possible ways for an attacker to steal your coins. Unless you have a good reason for doing so, I wouldn't recommend it. Having multiple instances is NOT a good way to 'back up your wallet', securely storing your seed phrase in a non-digital format is what you want to do.  
> **username_0**: That makes sense. The reason why I asked is that I out of curiosity installed Blockchain and noticed it was possible to buy bitcoins directly in the app. So I figured that if I did that and wanted the bitcoins to be visible in bread, I would somehow had to link these two wallets. Alternatively I could transfer them to my Bread wallet, but I guess there would be a fee then?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 yes, bitcoin transactions pay a fee to the network's miners. If the transaction is not urgent then you can easily just wait until the network traffic is low, and send the tx for cheap (I sent some for as low as $0.25 recently). Right now tx fees are higher though, [you can check the tx backlog on this website](https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#30d). Keep in mind tx fees depend on the size of the tx in bytes, not the amount transferred. In my opinion, paying the fee is worth the safety of your bitcoins. As I mentioned before, I don't like the security of blockchain.info's wallet.  

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