Jade's Temporary Signer feature allows you to temporarily access a wallet, ideally by scanning a SeedQR. This will not affect your PIN-accessible wallet, and Jade will forget the Temporary Signer wallet as soon as you turn off your Jade.
View our guide to learn how to use Temporary Signer for stateless signing.
Note: Users typically leverage Temporary Signer to bypass PIN server interaction, which can be helpful for the situations described below.
Access a QR Session
People who use Jade's Scan QR feature are typically trying to avoid USB and Bluetooth connections, which are currently the only available methods to unlock Jade via PIN. In order to access Jade for air-gapped functions, Temporary Signer is necessary.
Tip: View the guide below for more information about accessing a QR session.
Signing with Jade Connected to an Offline Device
Jade uses a blind PIN server to help protect your assets, which essentially functions as a "remote secure element". This feature provides additional security, but it requires your companion app to have communication with the PIN server (and thus an internet connection) in order to log in to your Jade.
However, some users may want to use an offline device to create and sign transactions. Choosing to access a wallet using Temporary Signer will not require communication with the PIN server, so you can still use your Jade in such a setup. Simply create your transaction using a compatible platform (such as Electrum), log in to your Jade using Temporary Signer, sign the transaction on your Jade, then save or export the transaction from your companion app for broadcasting using an online device.
Temporary/Multiple Wallet Access
There could be several reasons you may prefer to only access your wallets temporarily. For example:
- If you only log in using this feature and never fully initialize your Jade, it will appear to anyone who finds your Jade that you do not have a wallet set up. This provides some obfuscation as your wallet is actually only accessible using your recovery phrase backup.
- You may choose to set up a wallet via PIN, but also keep a separate wallet only as a recovery phrase backup that you may log in to using this feature to spend funds.
- If you have multiple recovery phrases, you can access them all using one Jade without the hassle of factory resetting your device and erasing the current wallet before using the next one.
PIN Server Outage
In the unlikely event your Jade's PIN server were to ever experience an outage, you would not be able to unlock Jade using the typical PIN entry method. Instead, you can use Temporary Signer to access Jade and spend any funds in an emergency situation.
Tip: Jade also allows you to run and specify your own PIN server so you are not dependent on Blockstream, however this requires some additional technical expertise to set up.