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Overview

Polkadot Live is a cross-platform desktop application designed to bring decentralized notifications and seamless chain interaction to your desktop. Funded by the Polkadot OpenGov treasury, Polkadot Live supports a wide range of use cases across Polkadot and Substrate-based networks—from monitoring on-chain activity to signing and submitting extrinsics.

Built with flexibility and user control in mind, Polkadot Live is fully open source and available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Users can download prebuilt binaries or compile the application directly from source via the GitHub repository. It provides a secure, non-custodial interface to interact with the blockchain while ensuring your private keys remain on your chosen hardware or software wallet.

Key features

Polkadot Live enables users to monitor activity across multiple accounts and networks through a robust, subscription-based notification system. These subscriptions can track a variety of events—such as balance changes, staking rewards, OpenGov referenda, and more. Notifications are delivered both as native desktop alerts and as detailed event items within the app, often accompanied by links to tools like Subscan or the Staking Dashboard.

Accounts can be imported via Ledger hardware wallets, the Polkadot Vault app, WalletConnect-compatible wallets, or as read-only addresses. Full-access accounts allow for secure signing of transactions, while read-only imports are ideal for monitoring on-chain activity without requiring private key access.

Polkadot Live also includes built-in transaction handling. Users can create, review, and sign extrinsics—such as transferring tokens or managing staking rewards—entirely within the app. Each transaction is clearly summarized before submission, with real-time status updates and support for multiple signing flows.

Why use Polkadot Live?

  • Decentralized notificationsGet real-time alerts for critical account, staking, and governance events—delivered via native OS notifications or in-app event items.
  • Secure, non-custodial setupYour keys stay on your device. Polkadot Live integrates with trusted signing tools like Ledger, WalletConnect, and Polkadot Vault.
  • Multi-network supportA single imported account can operate across multiple Substrate-based chains, enabling unified management of assets and activity.
  • Actionable insightsFrom one-shot data previews to deep-linking into external dApps, Polkadot Live turns raw on-chain data into clear, actionable information.

As the ecosystem grows, so will Polkadot Live—continuously expanding its subscription types, account support, and transaction capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the Polkadot community.