<p>If you have made (and tested! very important to test!) backups for the wallet, then yes you can remove the wallet software from your device.</p>
<p>The thing is, if you ever want to use any wallet functions (eg, sending coins out, or generating new receiving addresses), then you'll need <em>some</em> wallet software installed on <em>some</em> device to accomplish this.</p>
<p>To mitigate against 'hacker' type attacks, many users prefer using cold-storage (offline) hardware wallets. This style of wallet isolates your private keys in an offline environment, and it can then be paired with some wallet software that is running on an online device, in order to send/receive transactions (though this online wallet will not have access to your private keys, hence the safety enhancement).</p>
<p>Also worth noting that it is preferable to not only keep private keys offline, but to <em>generate them offline in the first place</em>. That way the user can have greater assurance that they will not fall victim to some malware/etc based attack due to a compromised device at the time of key generation.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-27T21:09:22.627Z
2024-12-27T21:09:22.627Z
chytrik
<p>I've come across various reports of people losing access to their assets, whether due to their own mistakes, backdoor vulnerabilities, or other reasons. It appears that keeping a wallet app installed directly on your device may not be the safest option.</p>
<p>Even the official documentation from Electrum recommends different security strategies that need more than one device, such as using watch-only wallets or multisig setups. However, we all agree that not everyone has the resources or technical know-how to implement these protective measures. Additionally, it’s important to recognize that we can never guarantee our devices are completely secure and free of threats.</p>
<p>This leads me to ponder whether it might be wiser to simply remove Electrum (or any other wallet app) from our devices. By doing so, we could potentially reduce the risk of hackers or malware accessing our wallets, even in the event that our devices become compromised.</p>
<p>I believe this approach could offer a higher level of security, especially for those of us who are HODLers.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>

<wallet><security><wallet-security><passphrase>
Can we just delete Electrum (or any other wallets) from our device and just keep the phrase safe to make sure we don't get hacked?
a.sa.5969
# Can we just delete Electrum (or any other wallets) from our device and just keep the phrase safe to make sure we don't get hacked?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-27)

I've come across various reports of people losing access to their assets, whether due to their own mistakes, backdoor vulnerabilities, or other reasons. It appears that keeping a wallet app installed directly on your device may not be the safest option.

Even the official documentation from Electrum recommends different security strategies that need more than one device, such as using watch-only wallets or multisig setups. However, we all agree that not everyone has the resources or technical know-how to implement these protective measures. Additionally, it’s important to recognize that we can never guarantee our devices are completely secure and free of threats.

This leads me to ponder whether it might be wiser to simply remove Electrum (or any other wallet app) from our devices. By doing so, we could potentially reduce the risk of hackers or malware accessing our wallets, even in the event that our devices become compromised.

I believe this approach could offer a higher level of security, especially for those of us who are HODLers.

What do you think?

**Tags:** wallet, security, wallet-security, passphrase


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-12-27. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

If you have made (and tested! very important to test!) backups for the wallet, then yes you can remove the wallet software from your device.

The thing is, if you ever want to use any wallet functions (eg, sending coins out, or generating new receiving addresses), then you'll need *some* wallet software installed on *some* device to accomplish this.

To mitigate against 'hacker' type attacks, many users prefer using cold-storage (offline) hardware wallets. This style of wallet isolates your private keys in an offline environment, and it can then be paired with some wallet software that is running on an online device, in order to send/receive transactions (though this online wallet will not have access to your private keys, hence the safety enhancement).

Also worth noting that it is preferable to not only keep private keys offline, but to *generate them offline in the first place*. That way the user can have greater assurance that they will not fall victim to some malware/etc based attack due to a compromised device at the time of key generation.


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