Hi there
I have Anchor Wallet on my Mac and I want to change the local password but can’t seem to find where to do this. Can someone please tell me where this is located in the wallet?
Thanks!
Ian
Currently (as of 1.0.5) there is no feature to change the password. You can however create a new wallet using a new password, it’s just a few extra steps since you have to set everything up again.
BEFORE YOU START: Make sure you have your private keys saved outside of Anchor. This process will require you to re-import all of your private keys and will erase any private keys currently stored in Anchor.
To change the password currently, you’ll do the following:
- Reset your wallet from the Tools section (button upper right). This will reset all settings, wipe all wallets, remove all accounts and restore Anchor to what it would be if you had just installed for the first time. It will have no knowledge of your old wallet.
- Click “Setup New Wallet” to start a fresh wallet, which you will select which networks to use and import your private keys. During this process you’ll be asked to set a new password.
Changing passwords is something we’d eventually like to get added into Anchor, we just need to find the time and make sure we do it right. Status can be followed from here:
Ok thank you for the reply Aaron.
So ended up importing all my keys but is there a reason why when you import your private keys you have to enter the local password to add the account to the Anchor Wallet? Seems like if you have the private keys you should be able to add it to the Anchor Wallet?
The keys are all encrypted using the local wallet password, so currently to either read or write to the private key storage area, the password is required.
We’ve had a lot of users express they’re tired of entering passwords so much so we’re looking to figure out a way to reduce it - but it’s a tricky situation to deal with. The most simple approach would be to have the wallet “remember” your password until you quit the application, but that would leave all the keys slightly more exposed to potential attacks.
Aaron I thought this might be the case. Also, when the desktop Wallet is open I and I have authorized an account I can send a transaction without further action (similar to Scatter), have you thought about something like a PIN for transfers of tokens? In future, I hope the MacBook and iMac will have FaceID. That way you can integrate biometrics for Anchor security on the desktop App. My MacBook Pro has the finger print reader so I guess you could you use this instead of the password for the wallet? In the meantime I have been really impressed by the Anchor mobile authenticator and use this more than the desktop App. I feel safer using FaceID.
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We have thought about starting to use the biometrics on the desktop version, it’s just a matter of finding the time to develop it properly. It’s a bit rough because there’s a large lack of standards around biometrics on desktop computers between windows/linux/mac, and it will likely require custom work for any or all of those variations.
Hopefully we’ll get around to that someday when we’re looking for things to get integrated into the desktop version. It’s just been hard to put at the top of the priorities list because we assume only a small fraction of the overall desktop userbase has biometrics on desktop.
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Hi Aaron, I recently forgot my password in Anchor. In resetting my wallet, will my NFT’s in my wallet be lost if I do that? Appreciate your response. Thanks!
No - resetting Anchor will only erase the data that Anchor has about your account and private keys, but anything on-chain (like NFTs or tokens) will remain associated to your account.
Just make sure you have your keys backed up safely before resetting Anchor! Then once you’ve reset, and re-imported your keys again, everything will be there as it was before the reset.
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