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Polkadot Vault Accounts ​

Use Polkadot Vault (formerly Parity Signer) to sign transactions from an air-gapped phone. The signing device never connects to the internet - all communication goes through QR codes.

Set up the Vault device for Bittensor ​

Before importing an account you need the Bittensor network on your Vault device.

From Add Account > Polkadot Vault > Add new network to app:

  1. Wait for chain specs and metadata to load from the connected RPC endpoint.
  2. Scan the chain specs QR code with your Vault device.
  3. If you are running Polkadot Vault below version 7.0, tap Load network Metadata and scan the animated metadata QR code. Keep the phone still until all frames are scanned.
  4. Tap Done.

The v7 toggle controls whether signing payloads include a Merkle proof. When enabled (the default), Vault decodes transactions using the embedded proof and does not need pre-loaded metadata. Turn it off only if your device runs an older firmware that requires metadata on-device.

On Finney mainnet, a link to metadata.opentensor.ai appears as an alternative way to load specs and metadata.

Import a Vault account ​

From Add Account > Polkadot Vault > Add Polkadot Vault Account:

  1. Open Polkadot Vault on your phone, select the key, and tap Show QR Address.
  2. Point the extension camera at the QR code.
  3. Review the address and set a name. A green border means the address is new; a red border means it already exists in the wallet (the add button is disabled).
  4. Tap Add Vault Account.

If the address is already tracked as a watch-only account, importing it upgrades the row to a full Vault account. Labels and ordering are preserved.

Authorize camera access ​

Browser extensions cannot use the camera directly from the popup. The wallet opens a dedicated tab to request camera permission from the browser. Once granted, the permission applies to the entire extension origin and persists across sessions.

Use the Authorize Camera button in the Polkadot Vault hub if scanning fails due to a missing permission. The tab is reused if it is already open.

Sign transactions with Vault ​

Signing is a two-step QR exchange:

  1. The wallet displays a QR code containing the transaction payload. Scan it with Polkadot Vault.
  2. Tap Scan signed QR and point the extension camera at the signature QR that Vault shows on the phone screen.

The v7 toggle is available on step 1 and regenerates the payload when changed. The signing session times out after 5 minutes. No wallet password is required - the air-gapped device itself serves as authentication.

This flow appears everywhere a Vault account signs: Send, proxy operations, multisig operations, announcements, custom extrinsics, and dApp approval requests.

Work within Vault constraints ​

  • Vault accounts support sr25519 (default when importing via QR URI) and ed25519, depending on the key type on the device.
  • The seed phrase cannot be exported from the wallet - it exists only on the Vault device.
  • Camera permission is needed for every scan, but it persists after the first authorization.
  • Vault accounts have the same capabilities as software and Ledger accounts - send, dApp connect, proxy delegate, multisig signatory - except seed export.