Using an iPhone as Crypto Wallet? ZachXBT and Roman Storm Weigh In
ZachXBT says an outdated iPhone beats any {hardware} pockets for storing crypto. Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm agrees, however says one lacking characteristic breaks the entire iPhone pockets plan.
That characteristic is the BIP39 passphrase. It is a secret further phrase that hides your actual pockets behind an empty one.
The One Feature the iPhone Wallet Plan Is Missing
The on-chain investigator’s frustration has a monitor file behind it. Bybit lost $1.5 billion in February 2025 after attackers tricked its signers into approving a nasty transaction. The keys stayed secure. The cash remains to be left.
“All {hardware} wallets are full rubbish and I don’t advise utilizing them for necessary duties like signing transactions or storing funds. Much higher to have a separate iPhone with its solely function being to make use of as your {hardware} pockets,” ZachXBT noted.
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Storm favored the thought. However, his reply comes with a warning.
“I’d agree – if there have been really a cellular app with BIP39 passphrase help.”
Here is why that issues. Your seed phrase is 12 or 24 phrases, normally written on paper. Add a passphrase, and those self same phrases open a totally totally different pockets.
So a thief who finds the paper sees an empty account. One UK holder misplaced roughly $172 million after his Trezor recovery phrase appeared on house CCTV. A passphrase would have made that recording nugatory.
The risk is rising, too. Chainalysis logged 158,000 private pockets compromises in 2025, almost triple 2022’s depend. Those assaults hit 80,000 victims for $713 million. Moreover, one seed phrase vulnerability alone drained $3.1 million this month.
Hardware Wallets Have It. Mobile Wallets Don’t
Storm listed the cut up. Trezor, Ledger, Coldcard, Keystone, and BitBox all help passphrases. Meanwhile, MetaMask has ignored requests since 2021. Trust Wallet skips it, too. Rabby solely gives it on desktop, leaving AirGap Vault as the lone cellular possibility.
His repair is easy. Mobile wallets ought to help passphrases and air-gapped signing, so the cellphone by no means connects to the web. Trail of Bits research backs the identical precept of capping losses when keys leak.
There is a draw back, although. Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp warned in an interview that individuals usually lose their passphrases and lock themselves out eternally.
The risk is not only thieves. Hong Kong can already pressure vacationers to unlock phones and wallets on the border.
Trezor Pushes Back on the Phone-as-Vault Plan
Trezor will not be conceding the purpose. Like Storm, Danny Sanders, the corporate’s chief business officer, praised ZachXBT’s detective work however rejected the swap.
Sanders argued that telephones are general-purpose units with too many doorways. Zero-click exploits are a documented actuality, he famous.
A {hardware} pockets additionally acts as an unbiased second display screen. If a cellphone is compromised, nothing separates checks from what you signal.
He added that creating seed phrases on a cellphone dangers iCloud backups and clipboard leaks. Even the battery works towards the plan. An iPhone saved for years can degrade, and reviving it wants Apple’s activation servers and an Apple ID.
Storm, who awaits a retrial in his Tornado Cash case, put the ball in pockets makers’ courtroom. If MetaMask or Trust Wallet provides the sphere, thousands and thousands of outdated telephones might develop into actual crypto vaults.
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