Set up Sparrow
A single-signature desktop wallet secured with a passphrase. It is sturdier than a phone wallet and a solid base to grow from. You will verify the app, create a wallet, back up your keys, and learn to receive, send and recover.
6 stepsabout 40 mindesktop, more secure
What you will have at the end
- ✓A single-sig Sparrow wallet, with the keys held by you
- ✓Your 24 words and passphrase written down and stored separately
- ✓The confidence to receive, send and recover on desktop
Download and verify Sparrow
Goal: Get Sparrow from the official site and confirm the download is genuine before installing.
- Download Sparrow for your operating system from sparrowwallet.com.
- Verify the download against its signature by following the verification steps on the Sparrow download page.
- Install Sparrow and open it.
⚠Only ever download Sparrow from sparrowwallet.com. Verifying the signature confirms nobody tampered with the file on its way to you.
Why verify the binary
A wallet handles your keys, so you want to be certain the file you installed is exactly what the developers published. Verifying the signature catches a corrupted or malicious download before it ever touches your bitcoin.
Create your wallet
Goal: Create a single-sig software wallet and generate a fresh 24-word seed.
- Open Sparrow and read the four intro screens, clicking Next through them.
- On the last one, click Later or Offline Mode. A public server is fine to start; a later guide moves you onto your own node.
- From the File menu choose New Wallet, give it a name, and click Create Wallet.
- Under Keystores, click New or Imported Software Wallet, then set the length to Use 24 Words.
- Tick Use passphrase?, then click Generate New to create your seed.
Why add a passphrase
The passphrase is an extra secret you add on top of your recovery words, not one of the words itself. If someone finds your written words, they still cannot reach your bitcoin without the passphrase. Kept apart, neither piece is enough on its own.
Back up your recovery words
Goal: Save your 24 words and passphrase on paper, then finish creating the wallet.
- Sparrow shows your 24 words. Write them down in order on paper, and write your passphrase down separately.
- Click Confirm Backup, re-enter the words when asked, then click Create Keystore.
- Click Import Keystore, then re-enter your passphrase to confirm.
- Note the master fingerprint shown, then click OK.
- Click Apply to save the wallet, then set an optional wallet password (it encrypts the file on your computer and is not your passphrase), or click No Password.
- Your wallet opens and starts loading its history.
⚠Store the 24 words and the passphrase on paper, in two separate places. You need both to recover your bitcoin, and neither one alone is enough. Record the master fingerprint too, so you can confirm a correct recovery later.
Receive bitcoin
Goal: Get a receive address so someone can send bitcoin to your wallet.
- Open your wallet and click the Receive tab on the left.
- Copy the address shown, and optionally add a Label to remember where the funds came from.
- Share the address with the sender. When it arrives, it appears under the Transactions tab.
- Sparrow gives you a fresh address each time. Never reuse one; click Get New Address if unsure.
Why a new address each time
Reusing an address links your payments together on the public timechain, which hurts your privacy. A fresh address for each receive keeps them separate.
Send bitcoin
Goal: Send bitcoin from your wallet to another bitcoin address.
- Click the Send tab. Paste the recipient address into Pay to, add an optional Label, and enter the Amount.
- Set the fee (Sparrow suggests one; check mempool.space and raise it if urgent or lower it if you can wait), then click Create Transaction.
- Review the details, then click Finalize Transaction for Signing.
- Click Sign, then Broadcast Transaction to send it.
- Open the Transactions tab to watch it confirm.
⚠Triple-check the recipient address before you broadcast. Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed.
How network fees work
Every transaction pays a fee to the miners who include it in a block. Block space is limited, so fees rise and fall with demand. A higher fee usually confirms within a block or two; a lower fee still gets there, it just waits longer. For low-value transactions 1 to 3 confirmations is enough; for larger ones, wait for up to 6.
If you lose your device
Goal: Restore your wallet onto a new computer using your recovery words and passphrase.
- Install Sparrow on the new computer, then click File, then Import Wallet.
- Set the first dropdown to the number of words in your phrase (24 if you followed this guide).
- Enter your words in order, add your passphrase, then click Discover Wallet (this can take a minute).
- Give the wallet a name (the optional password is unrelated to your passphrase).
- Your balance and full history reappear once discovery finishes.
⚠Treat the lost device as compromised. After recovering, create a brand new wallet (fresh recovery words and a new passphrase) and move all funds to it. Anyone who ends up with the old device or its written secrets could otherwise take your bitcoin.
Recovered but no transactions?
Almost always this means a wrong word, the wrong word order, or the wrong passphrase; any of those silently builds a different, empty wallet. Re-check each word and your passphrase exactly as first written. Your recorded master fingerprint confirms when they match.
Now you're hodling
You are self-custodied on desktop
Your bitcoin sits behind your own keys and a passphrase now. Keep both backups safe and separate, and when your stack grows, step up to a hardware wallet.
Overview