Accounts

Account import options

Polkadot Live supports several methods for importing accounts, giving you flexibility based on your preferred tools and level of control. It's an ideal tool for managing multiple accounts across separate hardware devices, with built-in support for Ledger hardware wallets, the Polkadot Vault app, and wallets using the WalletConnect protocol. You can also import an account by simply pasting an address. The first three options provide full control over the account, including the ability to sign extrinsics (transactions). Pasting an address, however, imports it as read-only.

Read-Only accounts

Read-only accounts are useful for monitoring. You can import any valid address from supported Substrate-based networks, even if you don't control the private key. While these accounts can't sign extrinsics or perform actions like transfers or staking, you can still enable subscriptions to receive real-time event items and native OS notifications, just like with full-access accounts.

Importing via Ledger, WalletConnect, or Vault

When importing an account via Ledger, WalletConnect, or Polkadot Vault, Polkadot Live provides a dedicated interface for each method. These flows connect to your hardware device or external wallet app to retrieve the account's public key and register it within the application.

Signing transactions

Signing happens later, when you submit an extrinsic—such as a transfer or staking action. Polkadot Live will initiate a separate signing flow, prompting your connected wallet or device to securely authorize the transaction. At no point does Polkadot Live access or store your private key; it simply facilitates the request.

Generic account view

Once imported—regardless of method—all accounts appear as Generic Accounts. Polkadot Live uses the account's public key to derive network-specific addresses for all supported Substrate chains. This allows a single account to function seamlessly across multiple networks.

After importing

After importing, you can add the account to the main window, configure subscriptions, and begin receiving both on-screen event items and native OS notifications for supported activity.