Documentation

Installing on Windows

1. Download the ZIP archive.
   Visit the official IOTA Wallet download page and download the latest .zip package for Windows.
2. Extract the contents.
   Locate the downloaded file, right-click it, and select “Extract All” or use your preferred archive tool. Choose a destination folder where the application will be stored.
3. Open the wallet.
   Inside the extracted folder, locate the main executable file (for example, IOTA-Wallet.exe) and double-click it to launch the wallet.
4. Create a shortcut (optional).
   To make access easier, you can right-click the executable and select “Send to → Desktop (create shortcut)”.

No installation wizard or additional setup is required — the Windows build runs directly from the extracted folder.

Installing on macOS

1. Download the .dmg package from the official IOTA Wallet website.
2. Open the downloaded file to mount it as a virtual disk.
3. Drag the IOTA Wallet icon into your Applications folder.
4. Launch the wallet from the Applications folder or via Spotlight search.

On macOS, the .dmg package contains a ready-to-use application. However, depending on your security settings, macOS may prompt you to confirm the app’s launch in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Once confirmed, no further installation steps or dependencies are required.

Installing on Linux

1. Download the AppImage file from the official IOTA Wallet release page.
2. Enable execution permissions.
   Right-click the file, open Properties → Permissions, and enable “Allow executing as a program.”
3. Run the wallet.
   Double-click the file to launch IOTA Wallet immediately.

The AppImage version runs on most modern Linux distributions without installation or root access. You can store it anywhere — even on external drives — and run it on any compatible system.

Verifying Your Download

Every official release of IOTA Wallet includes a SHA-256 checksum and a PGP signature. These allow you to confirm that the downloaded file is authentic and hasn’t been modified.

• Compare the provided checksum with the one generated on your system.
• Optionally, verify the file’s signature using the IOTA public signing key for full authenticity.

Verification is optional but strongly recommended for users managing significant funds or running the wallet in a production environment.

Troubleshooting

If the wallet doesn’t open or fails to start:

1. Confirm that your operating system version is supported.
2. Ensure you’ve extracted the Windows ZIP file completely before launching.
3. On Linux, verify that AppImage execution is supported by your environment.
4. If the application still doesn’t run, review the startup logs or contact support via the official IOTA Wallet GitHub page.

1. Creating a New Wallet

If this is your first time using IOTA Wallet:

1. Select “Create a New Wallet.”
   The application will generate a new master seed — a sequence of words that acts as your cryptographic key. This seed is the only way to access your funds. There is no recovery option or central backup service.
2. Write down your seed phrase.
   You’ll see a list of words (usually 24). Write them down carefully on paper and keep them offline — never screenshot or store them digitally. Anyone with this phrase can control your assets.
3. Confirm the backup
   The wallet will ask you to re-enter a few words to confirm that you’ve saved the seed correctly. This step prevents accidental data loss later.
4. Set a local password.
   After confirming your seed, you’ll be prompted to create a password that encrypts wallet data on your computer. This password protects the wallet file from unauthorized access on your local device.
5. Finalize setup.
   Once confirmed, the wallet will initialize and connect to the IOTA network. You’ll then see your main dashboard with an empty balance, ready to receive tokens or create additional accounts.

2. Importing an Existing Wallet

If you already have a seed from another IOTA Wallet instance:

1. Select “Import Existing Wallet.”
   The application will prompt you to enter your seed phrase.
2. Enter your recovery words.
   Type your 24-word seed in the correct order. Double-check spelling and spacing — any mistake will result in an invalid import.
3. Set a new local password.
   The imported wallet data will be stored encrypted on your current device. This password is unique to your installation and can differ from previous setups.
4. Load your wallet.
   Once confirmed, IOTA Wallet will synchronize with the network and automatically display your accounts and balances.

You can now manage your tokens, native assets, and NFTs just as before — all using your existing seed.

3. Choosing a Network

By default, IOTA Wallet connects to the Mainnet — the primary, production-grade network where all real IOTA tokens exist. This is the environment where your transactions are recorded permanently on the distributed ledger and verified through milestone confirmations. Mainnet ensures complete reliability, real-time validation, and compatibility with all live ecosystem tools and exchanges.

However, advanced users or developers may prefer to work with alternative networks, such as Devnet or Shimmer, depending on their goals. These networks are fully compatible with the wallet but serve different purposes within the IOTA ecosystem:

• Mainnet — the live, production network holding real assets; all transactions are final and verifiable.
• Devnet — a testing environment with no real value, perfect for development, automation, and feature validation.
• Shimmer — an innovation network running ahead of Mainnet, used for experimenting with tokenization, NFTs, and new protocol layers.

You can switch between these environments anytime by navigating to Settings → Network, selecting the desired network, and confirming. The wallet will automatically reconfigure itself, update node connections, and reload the appropriate ledger data.

These separate environments are invaluable for testing transactions, validating smart contracts, or developing automation scripts — all without risking actual funds. They also allow the community to preview features like IOTA Rebased, new consensus mechanisms, or updated tokenomics before they are deployed to the Mainnet.

4. Interface Overview

Once the setup is complete, you’ll be taken to the main dashboard. The interface is designed to remain simple while exposing all essential wallet functions. You’ll see:

• Account list on the left, where you can manage multiple accounts under one seed.
• Balance and assets view in the center, showing your IOTA tokens, native assets, and NFTs.
• Send / Receive buttons for quick transfers.
• Activity tab to review your recent transactions.
• Settings where you can customize appearance, network connections, and security preferences.

The wallet operates locally and communicates directly with IOTA nodes. All balances and transactions are fetched securely from the Tangle network.

5. First Synchronization

When you launch IOTA Wallet for the first time, it automatically begins the synchronization process — the crucial step that connects your local wallet to the live state of the IOTA network. During this stage, the wallet communicates with the selected node (Mainnet, Devnet, or Shimmer) to retrieve the most recent ledger milestones, verify network consistency, and confirm that all addresses derived from your seed are up to date.

The process involves scanning the Tangle for any unspent outputs (UTXOs) linked to your wallet addresses. This ensures that your displayed balances and transaction history exactly match the official network ledger.

Once your wallet is fully synced, it becomes network-ready — meaning it can both receive and send transactions immediately. At this point, the app automatically generates your first receiving address, which can safely be shared with anyone sending IOTA or other native assets.

1. Open the Wallet

Launch IOTA Wallet (Desktop) from your applications menu or desktop shortcut. The first time it starts, the wallet connects automatically to a default IOTA Mainnet node and begins synchronizing. During this process, it downloads the latest ledger state, retrieves your account data, and ensures your balances and addresses are fully up to date.

You can monitor connection progress through the small status indicator in the bottom corner of the interface. A green icon means your wallet is connected and synchronized; a grey or red one means the connection is pending or temporarily offline. No action is needed — synchronization happens automatically, and once complete, the wallet displays your dashboard with your account list and a current balance (likely zero if your wallet is brand new).

Receiving Your First Tokens

Before you can send IOTA, you’ll need to receive some tokens into your wallet. This process is straightforward and requires only your receiving address.

1. On the main dashboard, click Receive.
2. The wallet will generate a unique receiving address for your account.
3. Copy this address and share it with the sender — or use the generated QR code for convenience.

Each address is derived from your private seed and is completely unique. Once a transaction is sent to that address, it becomes part of your account history and will appear in your wallet once confirmed.

When a transfer is initiated, it will first show as Pending in the Activity tab. This means the transaction has been broadcast to the Tangle but is waiting for confirmation. The IOTA network operates asynchronously — every new transaction helps confirm two previous ones. Because of this, confirmations typically happen within seconds to a few minutes depending on network activity.

Once confirmed, your transaction status will update automatically, and your balance will reflect the new tokens. You’re now holding IOTA in your wallet.

3. Sending Tokens

To send IOTA or any other supported asset, use the Send tab on your dashboard. The process is similar across all platforms, but the core steps remain the same.

1. Click Send and enter the recipient’s address.
2. Specify the amount and choose the asset type you want to send (IOTA, a native token, or NFT).
3. Optionally, add a message or tag. This small metadata field is recorded in the transaction and can be useful for labeling payments or adding context.
4. Review all details carefully before confirming. Once you click Send Transaction, your wallet will sign the transaction locally using your private keys and broadcast it to the Tangle network.

Because IOTA is a feeless protocol, there are no miners or gas costs. The exact amount you send is what the recipient receives — the network does not deduct fees.

The transaction will appear immediately in your Activity tab as “Pending,” and its status will update to “Confirmed” once validated by the network. You can open the transaction to view full details, including timestamp, message, and address references.

4. Checking Balances and History

Your wallet’s dashboard gives you a complete overview of your holdings. At the top, you’ll see your total balance in IOTA and, if applicable, the value of any native assets or NFTs you hold.

Each account you create within the wallet has its own transaction history. To explore details, click on an account to open its overview page — there you’ll see a list of incoming and outgoing transactions, confirmation statuses, and timestamps.

The Activity tab keeps a chronological log of everything that’s happened in your wallet. Each entry includes the transaction ID, type, and status, along with direct links to view it on a public Tangle explorer if you want to verify it independently.

Since IOTA transactions are immutable and fully recorded on the network, this history acts as a permanent ledger of your activity. The wallet simply indexes and displays it in real time.

5. Managing Addresses

IOTA Wallet automatically handles address creation for you. Each time you receive tokens, the application generates a new address from your seed using deterministic derivation. This means you can create thousands of addresses under the same wallet without worrying about losing track — all of them can be restored from your seed phrase if you ever reinstall the wallet.

Using fresh addresses enhances privacy because it prevents others from easily linking multiple transactions together. It also prevents potential replay or double-use of addresses, a common issue in DAG-based ledgers.

If you ever want to view your used or unused addresses, you can open the Address Manager inside the wallet. It lists every address your seed has generated, along with whether each one has been used for incoming or outgoing transactions.

6. Understanding Network Sync and Status

The IOTA network is a live, distributed environment, so the wallet constantly synchronizes with it to display accurate information.
At the bottom of the interface, you’ll see a network indicator that reflects your current connection:

• Green – Fully connected and synchronized with the latest ledger milestone.
• Yellow – Synchronizing or catching up with recent transactions.
• Red – Temporarily disconnected or node unavailable.

Synchronization ensures that your wallet always shows correct balances and transaction statuses. If your wallet becomes unsynchronized, it will automatically reconnect and rescan. You can also switch to another public node in Settings → Network if your current one is unreliable.

Advanced users can connect to their own node for greater privacy and independence. Doing so allows the wallet to query the network directly without relying on external infrastructure.

7. You’re Ready

At this point, your wallet is fully operational. You’ve successfully connected to the IOTA Mainnet, received your first tokens, sent your first transaction, and learned how to read your account balances and history.

IOTA’s Tangle ensures that every transaction you make helps strengthen the network itself — there are no miners, no gas fees, and no intermediaries. Everything happens peer-to-peer, secured by cryptography and validated by the community.

From here, you can start exploring the wallet’s more advanced capabilities:

• Create additional accounts under the same seed for organization or project separation.
• Experiment with native tokens and NFTs through the Stardust tokenization framework.
• Connect to the Shimmer network or custom nodes for testing new features.

The possibilities expand as the IOTA ecosystem evolves — and your wallet is designed to stay fully compatible as it does.

1. Account Structure

Each account in IOTA Wallet is a deterministic branch of your master seed. That means all addresses, balances, and transaction histories within an account are cryptographically tied to your seed phrase — but remain isolated from other accounts for privacy and organization.

You can think of your wallet like a tree:

• The seed is the root — the source of all keys and addresses.
• Each account is a separate branch derived from that seed.
• Each branch contains multiple addresses, where your tokens and assets live.

This structure allows you to manage multiple identities or use-cases under one secure seed — for example:

• A personal account for your main holdings.
• A separate account for development or testing.
• Another for business or staking activity.

All accounts share the same encryption and security level, but their balances and activity remain distinct.

2. Creating and Managing Accounts

You can create as many accounts as you need within the wallet.

1. Open the main dashboard.
2. Click Add Account.
3. Assign a name or label (e.g., “Main,” “Trading,” “NFT Vault”).
4. The wallet generates a new set of addresses derived from your master seed.

Once created, your new account appears in the sidebar along with its balance summary. You can switch between accounts instantly — the interface updates to show each one’s tokens, transaction history, and network status independently.

Accounts are created locally and require no network registration or external validation. They are recognized automatically by the IOTA ledger through their unique derived addresses.

3. Balances and Token Types

Each account can hold multiple types of assets simultaneously thanks to IOTA’s Stardust protocol — an upgrade that transformed the Tangle into a fully tokenized multi-asset ledger.

Within your account view, you’ll find:

• IOTA balance: your base currency used for standard transfers and as a storage deposit.
• Native tokens: user-created or project tokens, each with its own supply and metadata.
• NFTs: unique, immutable assets directly issued on Layer 1 — without smart contracts.

You can expand any token entry to see detailed information, including:

• Token ID
• Issuer address
• Metadata or attached documents
• Total supply and circulating amount

This multi-asset model allows full interoperability within the same wallet — you can send, receive, or store IOTA tokens, native assets, and NFTs in the same account without cross-chain bridges or wrapping mechanisms.

4. Address Management

Each account contains multiple addresses that are generated automatically as you transact. New addresses are created deterministically from your seed, so even if you reinstall the wallet or restore it elsewhere, every previous address can be recovered exactly as before.

The wallet manages address generation automatically:

• When you click Receive, a new unused address is created.
• Once funds arrive, that address becomes “used,” and a new one will be prepared for the next transaction.

This method ensures both privacy and compliance with IOTA’s design, which discourages address reuse. You can view your entire address list, including used and unused addresses, in the Address Manager panel.

If you operate multiple accounts, each maintains its own address list, ensuring that your personal, business, or testing activities remain distinct.

5. Viewing Activity and Transaction History

Each account maintains an independent transaction history that includes:

• Incoming and outgoing transfers.
• Token minting or burning events.
• NFT creation, transfer, or destruction.
• Staking or reward distributions (if applicable).

You can view this history in the Activity tab for each account. Transactions are listed chronologically, with clear labels for amount, asset type, address, and confirmation status. Clicking any entry opens a detailed view with full metadata, transaction ID, and a link to the public Tangle explorer for verification.

Because all data is stored on-chain, your history is permanent, verifiable, and recoverable on any device that restores the same seed.

1. Overview of Transfers in IOTA

Transactions in IOTA operate differently from traditional blockchains. Instead of miners or validators, the Tangle is a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) where each new transaction confirms two previous ones. This structure enables parallel confirmations, near-instant finality, and zero network fees.

When you send a transaction from IOTA Wallet:

• It creates a digital message bundle containing the transfer details.
• The transaction is cryptographically signed with your private key stored locally.
• The signed message is then broadcast to the Tangle through the connected node.
• Once confirmed by subsequent transactions, your balance updates automatically.

This approach ensures complete decentralization — your wallet directly interacts with the network without any central relay.

2. How to deposit funds to IOTA wallet

Receiving funds in IOTA Wallet is straightforward and secure:

1. Open the account you want to receive funds into.
2. Click Receive on the dashboard.
3. A new, unused receiving address will be generated automatically.
4. Copy this address or scan the displayed QR code.
5. Share the address with the sender.

Each address is derived from your wallet seed but is unique to that transaction. Once used, the wallet will automatically generate the next address for future transfers.

When a sender broadcasts a transaction to your address:

• It first appears in your Activity tab with a “Pending” status.
• Once the transaction is confirmed by the network, the balance updates automatically.

Incoming transfers can include:

• IOTA tokens (the base currency).
• Native tokens, created by projects via the Stardust framework.
• NFTs, which are unique on-chain assets with metadata and immutability guarantees.

You can expand any transaction entry to view details such as the sender’s address, attached metadata, and the transaction ID (which can be checked on a public Tangle explorer).

3. Sending Tokens or Assets

Sending tokens works just as smoothly — the wallet builds and broadcasts your transaction in a few seconds.

1. Click the Send button on your account dashboard.
2. Enter the recipient’s address in the address field.
3. Specify the amount and asset type (IOTA, native token, or NFT).
4. Optionally, include a message or tag — this can be used for labeling payments, referencing invoices, or embedding small data notes.
5. Review your transaction details carefully and click Send Transaction.

The wallet signs your transaction locally, encrypting it with your private key. It then sends the signed data to the Tangle via your chosen node connection.

Within a few moments:

• The transaction will appear under Activity as “Pending.”
• Once confirmed, the status will change to “Confirmed.”
• The recipient’s balance will reflect the incoming funds automatically.

Because the IOTA network has no fees, the full amount you send arrives exactly as entered. However, some assets (especially native tokens or NFTs) require small IOTA deposits for storage costs — this ensures ledger sustainability and prevents spam outputs. The wallet calculates these automatically, so you don’t have to manage them manually.

4. Understanding Transaction States

Every transaction goes through several clearly defined stages:

• Pending: The transaction has been created and broadcast to the network but is still awaiting confirmation.
• Confirmed: The transaction has been accepted and validated by the network; balances have updated.
• Conflicted / Rejected: The transaction failed due to invalid inputs, double-spending, or node desynchronization.

The wallet continuously monitors these states and updates them automatically. You can click any transaction to open a detailed view — showing network confirmation depth, timestamp, inputs and outputs, and the link to verify it on the public Tangle Explorer.

If your wallet temporarily loses connection to the network, transactions remain in a “pending” state until reconnection, at which point synchronization resumes automatically.

5. Viewing Transaction History

The Activity tab keeps a detailed log of every incoming and outgoing transaction. Each entry displays the transaction type, asset, amount, timestamp, and current confirmation status. Clicking on a transaction opens a full detail page with:

• Sender and recipient addresses
• Transaction ID
• Message or tag content (if used)
• Network confirmation level

For advanced users, a direct link to the Tangle Explorer allows you to verify the transaction independently and view its underlying outputs. This transparency is central to IOTA’s open-ledger philosophy — every confirmed transaction can be independently audited on-chain.

1. Understanding Staking in the IOTA Ecosystem

Unlike many blockchain systems that require locking tokens into validator pools, IOTA’s staking mechanism is lightweight and trustless. It allows wallet holders to “signal participation” by assigning their balance to a staking event, without moving or risking ownership of their tokens.

In IOTA and its sister network Shimmer, staking serves two main purposes:

Staking Benefits

• Reward Distribution: rewarding participants with new native tokens during defined campaigns.
• Governance & Participation: enabling holders to support upcoming network proposals or ecosystem projects.

When a staking event begins, eligible token holders can opt-in through their wallet interface. Their wallet marks specific outputs as “participating,” and from that point on, those tokens accrue rewards until the event ends or the user opts out.

Your IOTA or Shimmer tokens never leave your wallet — they remain fully under your control at all times.

2. Activating Staking in IOTA Wallet

The wallet provides a simple interface to start staking:

1. Open your account on the dashboard.
2. Click the Staking tab.
3. You’ll see all currently active staking events, including the asset name, duration, reward ratio, and network.
4. Choose the event you wish to join and click Start Staking.
5. Confirm your participation.

Once activated, the wallet sends a small transaction to mark your IOTA or Shimmer tokens as “staked.” This process is feeless and takes only a few seconds to appear in your activity log.

Your staking status will then display in real time, showing your accumulated rewards and current progress.

3. Earning Rewards

Rewards in the IOTA ecosystem are distributed in the form of newly issued native tokens specific to each staking campaign. These may represent ecosystem assets, project tokens, or future governance tokens.

Your rewards accumulate automatically as long as your tokens remain in the staking state. The wallet displays:

4. Unstaking and Withdrawing

You can stop staking at any time:

1. Open the Staking tab in your account.
2. Click Stop Staking for the selected event.
3. Confirm the action — your tokens will be marked as “unstaked.”

Once unstaked, your tokens are immediately free for transfers or other operations. Rewards already earned remain credited to your account and can be used independently.

Unlike some networks, IOTA imposes no lockup period — you can move or unstake at any time without penalties or waiting periods.

5. Viewing Staking History

Each staking action is recorded in your Activity tab, including:

• Start and stop transactions.
• Accrued rewards and payout timestamps.
• The type of token received and associated event ID.

This log ensures complete transparency and traceability. For on-chain verification, each staking transaction includes an output reference you can inspect directly in the Tangle Explorer, confirming your participation in the event.

1. Security Philosophy

IOTA Wallet follows a zero-knowledge and zero-trust design. The wallet never sends, stores, or exposes your seed to any external service. All cryptographic operations — from seed generation to transaction signing — happen locally in your system’s memory.

This design ensures:

• No central recovery system exists.
• No external validator ever touches your private data.
• Every action that involves the seed is deterministic and verifiable by the user.

Your device, your seed, your control — that’s the fundamental security model.

2. Local Key Architecture

When you create a wallet, the seed is generated and then encrypted within a local vault. This vault exists only on your machine and is protected by a password you set during setup.

The encryption uses strong symmetric ciphers (AES-256 equivalent), and the decrypted version of the seed never leaves volatile memory. When you send a transaction, the wallet:

1. Derives the private key for the relevant address directly from the seed.
2. Signs the transaction entirely in memory.
3. Immediately wipes the derived key after signing.

No persistent copy of private keys is ever written to disk. This architecture minimizes attack surface — even if someone gains partial access to system storage, they cannot extract usable private data.

3. Entropy and Determinism

The IOTA Wallet uses a secure randomness source on your device to generate a 24-word BIP39-compliant mnemonic. This mnemonic is a human-readable encoding of 256 bits of entropy — a value large enough to make brute-force attacks mathematically impossible.

From that single seed, the wallet deterministically derives all keys using hierarchical key paths defined by the IOTA protocol.

This means:

• Every account and address is reproducible.
• The same seed will always generate the same set of addresses, on any device.
• No external synchronization is needed — your seed alone contains the full state of ownership.

Deterministic derivation also means one backup secures everything: accounts, balances, and even NFTs.

4. Threat Model and Countermeasures

The wallet assumes a realistic modern threat landscape — from clipboard sniffers to memory scraping malware. Its defense mechanisms focus on reducing exposure time and ensuring local-only cryptography.

Attack vectors considered:

• Malicious extensions or clipboard monitoring tools.
• Disk inspection after memory dumps.
• Fake update installers or phishing attempts.
• Keyloggers requesting mnemonic input.

Mitigation:

• Seeds never appear in plain text once saved.
• Wallet processes isolate signing tasks from the user interface.
• Memory is cleared after cryptographic use.
• Clipboard interaction for sensitive data is disabled where possible.

If an attacker does not already control your operating system before wallet installation, stealing the seed is computationally infeasible.

5. Operational Security Practices

While the wallet’s cryptography is robust, user behavior remains the final line of defense. To maintain integrity of your seed:

• Use a clean, offline environment when creating new wallets.
• Never type your seed on a website or third-party app.
• Avoid cloud sync or password managers for storing mnemonics.
• Keep your backup offline and redundant (paper, metal, or engraved).

The wallet’s encryption protects local storage, but it cannot protect against users revealing their seed — social engineering remains the most common compromise vector in crypto.

6. Responsibility Model

IOTA Wallet is built on the principle of self-custody. The developers do not hold backups, recovery keys, or “reset access.” This architecture guarantees sovereignty — but also means you are solely responsible for safeguarding your seed.

Losing your seed is equivalent to destroying your private keys; no support team or network mechanism can restore it. This trade-off is intentional: it ensures your assets remain entirely under your control, immune to central points of failure.

1. Backup Philosophy

The wallet is built around the principle of deterministic reconstruction. Every account, address, and asset can be recreated from your seed — but the backup system goes beyond that by adding encrypted state persistence, ensuring that restoring a wallet feels seamless and verifiable.

There are two distinct backup layers:

• Seed-level backup: The 24-word mnemonic that mathematically defines your wallet’s root.
• Encrypted local backup: A serialized, encrypted snapshot of your wallet’s configuration — including account labels, preferences, and cached metadata (but never private keys in plaintext).

This dual model lets you restore either from scratch using your seed, or instantly resume your full environment using a verified encrypted backup file.

2. Local Encrypted Backups

IOTA Wallet can generate an encrypted backup file at any time from Settings → Security → Backup Wallet.
When initiated:

1. The wallet packages your encrypted seed vault, account indexes, and UI configuration into a single archive.
2. It derives a backup key from your password using a strong key derivation function (PBKDF2 or Argon2 equivalent).
3. The package is encrypted symmetrically using AES-256 and saved as a .iota-backup file.

This file contains no plaintext secrets — only encrypted data. It can safely be stored offline, on removable media, or inside a hardware-encrypted USB.

3. Cold Storage and Offline Backup

For long-term protection, the wallet supports cold storage workflows — backups that never touch the internet.
You can export your encrypted .iota-backup file or write down your seed entirely offline.

Cold backups should:

• Be stored on devices that are never connected to a network.
• Use removable, encrypted media or printed QR representations.
• Be verified periodically by importing them into a test environment to ensure integrity.

Advanced users can even generate a wallet and export its seed entirely in air-gapped mode, never connecting that device again after the seed is created. This approach provides maximum isolation and is ideal for treasury or institutional custody setups.

4. Recovery Process

If you lose your local data or migrate to a new machine, IOTA Wallet supports two recovery paths:

A. Recovery from Encrypted Backup

1. Install IOTA Wallet on your new system.
2. Open Import Backup from the start screen.
3. Select your .iota-backup file and enter your password.
4. The wallet decrypts and verifies the package.
5. All accounts, balances, and UI preferences are restored instantly.

Because all sensitive data inside the backup remains encrypted, the restoration process is trustless and local — no remote validation or internet dependency is required.

B. Recovery from Seed

1. Choose Restore from Seed instead.
2. Enter your 24-word phrase in the correct order.
3. The wallet regenerates all keychains and addresses.
4. Once synchronized with the Tangle, your balances and transaction history appear automatically.

This method is fully independent of any previous backup — all state is mathematically reconstructed from your seed alone.

5. Verification and Integrity

Every backup file includes a cryptographic checksum (SHA-256) and an internal signature derived from your wallet ID.

This allows the wallet to detect:

• Corrupted or modified backup files.
• Mismatched passwords or tampering attempts.
• Partial restores or incomplete archives.

During restoration, the wallet verifies the checksum before decryption — if any bit of the backup has changed, the process halts and alerts you immediately. This ensures that a compromised or altered backup can never overwrite a valid local vault.

7. Multi-Environment Recovery

Because the IOTA Wallet runs identically across Linux, macOS, and Windows, backups are fully cross-compatible. A backup made on one OS can be restored on another without loss of functionality or data.

If you use multiple devices, you can maintain read-only replicas:

• Export an encrypted backup from your main machine.
• Import it on a secondary device in “view-only” mode (no signing capability). This lets you monitor balances and activity without exposing your main signing environment.

8. Disaster Scenarios

Even if your primary device and backup storage are destroyed, your 24-word seed still recovers everything. As long as you’ve stored that phrase safely, your funds remain untouched on the network.

However, if both the seed and encrypted backups are lost, recovery becomes impossible. The wallet developers, IOTA Foundation, or any node operator cannot restore your data — there is no centralized authority or recovery mechanism.

1. Keep the Wallet and System Updated

Security in crypto isn’t static. Both the IOTA network and the desktop wallet evolve with new features, bug fixes, and protocol improvements.
Always keep:

• Your IOTA Wallet updated to the latest version.
• Your operating system and dependencies patched regularly.
• Any firmware for hardware wallets (e.g., Ledger) up to date.

Updates often include critical fixes to low-level cryptographic libraries or dependency chains. Delaying updates is one of the most common causes of compromised wallets in long-term storage setups.

2. Verify Authentic Sources

Phishing remains the number one threat in crypto. Attackers frequently clone websites, social media pages, or Discord servers to distribute fake wallet builds.

To stay safe:

• Bookmark the official IOTA Wallet website and use it exclusively.
• Verify the download’s SHA-256 checksum or signature before installation.
• Never click “Update” prompts that appear inside your OS notifications or web browsers.
• Be skeptical of messages claiming wallet issues or “urgent version updates.”

The IOTA Wallet itself never pushes updates or requests private data — all legitimate downloads are published manually and verifiably.

3. Maintain a Clean Environment

The wallet assumes that your local system is trustworthy. If your computer is compromised, even perfect encryption won’t help.

Follow these principles:

• Keep your desktop free from unnecessary background apps, browser extensions, or untrusted software.
• Avoid installing crypto-related browser plugins that claim to “track balances” or “auto-sign” transactions.
• Use dedicated profiles or even separate OS users for crypto operations.
• Consider a dedicated offline machine for high-value wallets.

If you’re managing substantial assets, isolation is security — the fewer moving parts, the smaller the attack surface.

4. Protect Against Phishing and Social Engineering

No legitimate service, developer, or community moderator will ever ask for your seed phrase, password, or backup file.

Common phishing tactics include:

• Fake support chats asking for “temporary verification.”
• Emails claiming “suspicious wallet activity” and linking to lookalike sites.
• Messages urging you to “resync your wallet” or “restore access” via a provided form.

The correct response is always the same: ignore, report, and never share credentials. If you suspect you’ve entered your seed on a fraudulent site, immediately move your assets to a new wallet with a freshly generated seed.

5. Local Security Practices

Security isn’t only online — local threats can be just as damaging.

• Disable automatic clipboard sync between devices. Clipboard sniffers are common on both Windows and macOS.
• Avoid remote desktop software or screen-sharing while your wallet is open.
• Encrypt your local drive using OS-level disk encryption (BitLocker, FileVault, LUKS).
• Use a strong, unique password for your wallet — never reuse one from another service.

If your system ever behaves abnormally (sudden slowdowns, unknown background tasks), disconnect from the internet before opening your wallet.

6. Node Connection Hygiene

Every IOTA Wallet connects to a node to read and broadcast transactions. While default nodes are secure, advanced users may choose to connect their own.

Best practices:

• Use nodes you trust or operate yourself.
• Prefer HTTPS or WebSocket Secure (WSS) endpoints.
• If using custom nodes, verify SSL certificates and avoid plaintext connections.
• Regularly check node uptime and synchronization status.

For additional privacy, you can run your node locally — this ensures your wallet never queries external infrastructure.

7. Evaluate Your Threat Model

Security is relative to your use case. A user holding a few hundred MIOTA on a personal laptop has a different risk profile than an organization managing treasury funds.

Ask yourself:

• Who could realistically target me?
• What would be the impact of compromise?
• What level of inconvenience am I willing to accept for more protection?

For high-value environments:

• Use air-gapped systems or hardware wallets.
• Employ multi-person custody (split seed storage or multisig coordination).
• Audit your backup integrity at least once per quarter.

8. Golden Rules

• Never share your seed or password.
• Always verify download integrity.
• Keep systems updated and minimal.
• Store backups offline and encrypted.
• Trust only official communication channels.
• Assume full responsibility — your wallet, your keys, your control.

Following these fundamentals removes 99% of real-world risk vectors faced by desktop crypto users.

1. Overview of IOTA Networks

The IOTA ecosystem consists of multiple operational networks, each designed for specific use cases. While they share protocol compatibility, they differ in token value, stability, and intended use.

• Mainnet — The production environment where all real IOTA tokens exist. Transactions are permanent, validated through milestone confirmations, and publicly visible. This is the live ledger that secures your real assets.
• Devnet — A sandbox for developers and testers. Tokens have no monetary value, allowing for experimentation, debugging, and API integration without risk. It’s ideal for learning and validation before deploying real transactions.
• Shimmer — A network built for innovation and testing of new protocol features. It supports real-value SMR tokens, NFT creation, and tokenization features introduced ahead of Mainnet integration.

2. Automatic Connection and Node Management

When the wallet starts, it automatically connects to a reliable, secure node for your selected network. These nodes are maintained by the IOTA Foundation and trusted community operators. The wallet continuously monitors their status to ensure smooth connectivity.

• Node selection is automatic, but you can override it manually.
• Secure HTTPS/WSS channels are always preferred for encrypted communication.
• If a node goes offline, the wallet seamlessly switches to another verified endpoint.
• Node latency and milestone synchronization are checked in the background.

This process ensures that even users with no technical background stay connected to a fully synchronized and trustworthy part of the network.

3. Switching Between Networks

Switching networks in IOTA Wallet is straightforward but powerful. You can move between Mainnet, Devnet, or Shimmer through Settings → Network, and the wallet reconfigures itself instantly.

When you switch:

• The wallet clears cached ledger data from the previous network.
• It reconnects to the appropriate default node for the new environment.
• Account data and balances are refreshed based on that network’s ledger.

Your seed and account structure remain identical, but balances may show as zero when switching — this is normal, since each network maintains its own chain of records.

Developers often use this feature to test automation logic or integrations on Devnet before deploying production-ready code to Mainnet.

4. Network Health Indicators

The wallet interface provides a quick, visual way to assess your node connection. A small status indicator reflects the real-time sync condition of your current node.

• Synchronized — The node is up to date with the latest milestone; transactions are safe to broadcast.
• Syncing — The node is catching up; transactions are temporarily paused.
• Disconnected — No active connection; the wallet is offline.

If synchronization drops, the wallet automatically suspends pending operations until the node regains full sync, preventing accidental submission to outdated ledger states.

5. Custom Node Connections

For users who want greater control, IOTA Wallet allows connection to custom or private nodes. Running your own node enhances both transparency and security — you independently verify network data instead of trusting a third-party operator.

To add a custom node:

• Open Settings → Network → Custom Node.
• Enter your node’s endpoint (e.g., https://node.example.com:443).
• If necessary, include authentication details or access tokens.
• Save and confirm the connection.

The wallet validates:

• Node availability and version compatibility.
• Proper network identification (Mainnet, Devnet, or Shimmer).
• Secure transport protocol (HTTPS/WSS).

If validation passes, your wallet connects directly to that node and remembers it for future sessions.

6. Advanced Configurations

Advanced users and organizations may choose to operate multi-node or failover setups. These configurations improve uptime and resilience in case a node becomes unreachable.

• You can configure multiple nodes in rotation.
• The wallet will automatically fail over when a node is down.
• Milestone indexes are cross-checked between nodes for consistency.
• Proxy and port customization are supported for enterprise deployments.

This kind of setup is ideal for developers, infrastructure providers, or custodial services that require 24/7 availability.

7. Security Recommendations

Node connections define how your wallet interacts with the network — and therefore, they also define what metadata you expose.
To maintain strong security hygiene, follow these principles:

• Always use SSL-secured (HTTPS/WSS) endpoints.
• Avoid connecting to public community nodes unless you trust the operator.
• Keep your custom nodes updated with the latest stable release.
• Never expose node authentication tokens to third parties.
• Regularly check node health metrics and synchronization state.

Even though private keys never leave your wallet, your network connection is the bridge between local security and the outside world — keep it clean and verified.

8. Key Takeaways

The IOTA Wallet’s network system is designed for both simplicity and power. It allows everyday users to connect effortlessly while giving advanced users full autonomy.

• The wallet supports Mainnet, Devnet, and Shimmer out of the box.
• Default nodes are secure and maintained by trusted operators.
• You can add custom or private nodes for full independence.
• Network switching doesn’t affect your seed or accounts.
• Secure connections and synchronization checks ensure safe transactions.

Understanding and managing your Network Settings is the first step toward mastering how IOTA actually communicates with the decentralized Tangle.