Due to historical reasons, the EOS wallets used by domestic users of China are wallets based on the Scatter protocol, such as Start, Maizi wallet, and so on. The characteristics of these wallets are that they have a built-in browser inside the wallet. Users can only verify their EOS accounts through the built-in browser to use dApps usually.

The Scatter protocol development team, however, has stopped updating the code. In the EOS ecosystem, more and more recently created dApps are beginning to support the Anchor protocol rather than the Scatter protocol, which has been heavily cultivated there. As a result, many well-known dApps in the EOS ecosystem cannot be used for the first time by EOS users who continue to insist on using wallets based on the Scatter protocol. For instance, to join the EOS Respect community, you must verify your identity and log in using your EOS account. Currently, the community website only supports logging in using the Anchor wallet.

In addition to Scatter's maintenance discontinuation, Anchor wallet has unique advantages. Unlike our commonly used wallets based on Scatter protocol, Anchor has no built-in browser. Instead, it takes a different approach to directly access dApps through the device's browser and then verify and login into dApps by scanning or jumping to the wallet. The advantage of this is that it eliminates the limitations of built-in browsers and allows UI design of blockchain dApps that make it the same as the Apps on the ordinary Internet (web2). This is also one of the main reasons why dApps use Anchor as their first supported wallet.

Even so, as an EOS user, it seems urgent to start using the Anchor wallet to use dApps in the ecosystem without difficulty, regardless of why many recently developed dApps in the EOS ecosystem initially only support Anchor.

So let's start using Anchor wallet together with this article.

Because the team behind Anchor, Greymass, is based overseas (Out of China) and users in China have a unique network environment, a VPN is almost essential when installing and using the Anchor wallet. However, the good news is that most Chinese users in the crypto area are already using a VPN.

Look for a reasonably stable VPN if you don't already have one.

The Anchor desktop wallet can still be used without a VPN, which is also good news. You could use the Anchor wallet immediately if you changed the EOS network's API on Anchor for desktop.

Currently, the Anchor wallet for Android can only be downloaded and installed through Google Play. If you want to use the Anchor wallet on your Android phone, you must first ensure that your phone can install apps from the Google Play store.

Most Android phones in China do not have Google Play installed, and even if you try to install it yourself, it can be tricky. You can try downloading and installing the Google Services Framework from various app markets and then downloading and installing Google Play, along with a VPN. You can search for tutorials on how to use Google Play on your specific phone model on a search engine.

Some tutorials on using Google Play may involve obtaining root access on your phone. My advice is to avoid rooting your phone. After all, our operations involve crypto assets, so it's better to be cautious.

Considering the completeness of its features, I recommend that you first download and install Anchor for desktop. The Anchor for mobiles is relatively simple, like a basic account authenticator, and lacks many wallet-related features. On the other hand, the Anchor for desktop comes with complete auxiliary tools. For example, it has a function for generating and storing public-Private Key pairs, while Anchor for mobile can only manage accounts by importing Private Key from external services. Additionally, Anchor for desktop has a node API setting function and a complete node performance analysis tool, which allows us to quickly switch to the API with the best performance without needing a VPN to use Anchor. In China, you can only use Anchor for mobiles while simultaneously connected to a VPN. Anchor for desktop also has governance voting, resource management, and hardware wallet support features unavailable on Anchor for mobiles.

Therefore, I recommend you consider downloading and installing the Anchor for desktop. Of course, downloading the desktop and mobile wallets simultaneously would be more convenient. Anchor also supports using an EOS account on a device without Anchor installed by scanning a QR code. This eliminates the binding relationship between the account management device and the device used, which is a leap in user experience at a different level. I highly recommend that you try it out!

Next, I will explain the download and installation methods for Anchor for mobiles and desktops separately.

To download and install the Anchor app on an Android phone, open a VPN and search for the app in the Google Play Store using the search bar (Please refer to Chapter 1 of this article for instructions on how to use a VPN and install Google Play). Look for the app with the Anchor logo, as shown in the image above, and click to download and install it.

Due to the openness of the Android system, you can find Anchor on other Android app markets or websites. Still, the distributor of these installation packages may be a third party other than Greymass, the development team behind Anchor.
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Note: These unofficial installation packages cannot guarantee that no one has tampered with their original code, thereby causing our accounts to be stolen.

For Apple phones, search for Anchor in App Store, download, and install the app with the Anchor logo, as shown in the image above.

After installation, if you do not have an EOS account yet, it is recommended that you create an account following our tutorial "How to create an EOS account?". If you already have an EOS account, you can import it according to the content in Chapter 3 of this article.

Download the desktop installation package from the official website of Greymass:

https://greymass.com/en/anchor

Choose to download the Windows, MacOS, or Linux version depending on the system version of your device.

Of course, you can go to their Github code repository to download:

https://github.com/greymass/anchor/releases/

You also need to choose different versions depending on the system version of your device. The installation file starting with "win" represents the Windows version, "mac" represents the MacOS version, and "linux" represents the Linux version. The name containing "x64" means the 64-bit system version.

Some of these installation packages are relatively large, ranging from tens of MB to more than 100 MB. This is the complete version of the installation package. Some are only a few hundred KB, which is a version that requires downloading and installing files during installation. I suggest using the complete version. Due to our network connection problems in China, problems may occur when downloading and installing simultaneously.

After downloading is complete, double-click the installation package to start the installation. Under normal circumstances, you can complete the installation following the installation guide. During the installation process, you can choose the installation directory as needed. To avoid losing wallet data when reinstalling the system due to device system crashes, install the wallet on a non-system disk (generally C drive is the system disk).

After installing Anchor on your desktop for the first time, it should ask you to set an account protection password. This password is used to confirm your identity when verifying transactions, exporting Private Keys, and other operations related to fund security. This can protect your account and fund security when other people can access your device. Be sure to set a password that is relatively complex and not easy to guess but can be remembered.

When you first start the Anchor wallet, it defaults to the account creation and import interface because it does not yet have managed accounts. However, the following steps describe how to import an account when the wallet already has managed accounts. If this is your first time, the steps will be slightly different. In this case, you can ignore the steps described below for accessing the import interface. You can jump to section 3.1.2 importing other private keys.

If you do not have an EOS account, we recommend that you create an account following our tutorial "How to create an EOS account? ."

As shown in the above image, click on Manage Wallets at position 1, then click on position 2 to access the account list page as shown in the following image.

As shown in the above image, click on + Import Account(s) in the account list page to access the account import page as shown in the following image.

If the Private Key corresponding to the account you want to import is already stored in the Anchor for desktop, click Scan for Accounts to import it easily. For example, if your account was created using a public-Private Key pair generated by the Anchor desktop or if you created a new account using a previously imported Private Key, you can use Scan for Accounts to import it. Then, follow the instructions in section 3.1.1 to continue the import process.

If you want to import an account using a Private Key that is not saved in Anchor, click Import an existing Account and follow the instructions in section 3.1.2 of this article to continue the import process.

This section describes how to import an account managed by a Private Key pair already saved in the Anchor for desktop by clicking on the Scan for Accounts import option.

After clicking on Scan for Accounts, Anchor will scan for accounts managed by the Private Key pairs stored in the key management of Anchor for desktop that has not yet been imported into Anchor. Anchor will display all the accounts that can be imported and managed, as shown in the following image.

As shown in the above image, check the checkboxes next to the account and its corresponding permission (usually select the @active permission), and then click the Import Account(s) button. A password verification window will pop up, as shown in the following image. Enter your wallet management password and click Authorize to proceed.

After successfully verifying your password, you will be taken to the account management interface. As shown in the following image, you can now see the account imported.

If you want to import a backup key pair from outside of Anchor for desktop, please click Import an existing Account in the wallet management interface (as shown in the above image), and you will be redirected to the interface shown below.

Click on the Import Private Key button in the image above to enter the page for entering your Private Key. For security reasons, it would be best for you to manually enter the Private Key using your keyboard.

Alternative import method without verifying the Private Key:

Suppose another wallet already manages your account. In that case, you can also generate and store a key pair on Anchor for desktop, and then add the public key of this newly generated key pair to the active permission of your account through permission management. Then, use the safe import method described in section 3.1.1 of this article to import the key into the Anchor for desktop.

After typing in your Private Key, the wallet will check for validity. The Import Account(s) button will turn dark green if the private key is valid. Clicking on Import Account(s) will display the accounts that can be imported and their corresponding permissions. @active indicates the manager permission, while @owner indicates the owner permission. We generally only use the manager's permission, so check the checkbox before account@active and click Import to import the account.

After completion, you will be returned to the accounts list page, where you will see your newly imported account. Once the import is complete, you can use the Anchor wallet to sign transactions for your account.

The import steps below describe how to import other accounts into Anchor when you are already using Anchor.

If you have just installed Anchor, opening Anchor will take you directly to the page that guides you through creating or importing an account. The page will show the same as the third page in the image below. In this case, you can ignore the previous steps and proceed directly to the steps after the third page.

As shown in the picture above, to import an account, you need to click on Accounts -> ADD ACCOUNT -> IMPORT ACCOUNT, and then you will be taken to the page where you can input your Private Key (the last page).

You can manually input your Private Key or scan the QR code to input it. For security reasons, I think you should not use the copy-paste method to input your Private Key, as some apps may read your clipboard and leak your Private Key.

After inputting your private key, Anchor will automatically scan and verify the corresponding account. If the private key is correct, the corresponding account options will appear. Select the corresponding account and permission to import. Again, for security reasons, if your private key manages the account's owner and active permissions, please import the active permission. The owner's permission is only needed for account transfer operations, which are rare.

Once the import is complete, you can use the Anchor wallet to sign transactions.

Typically, the blockchain wallet we use completes initiating and verifying transaction requests internally. For example, the Scatter protocol's wallet usually has a built-in browser, and to use a dApp, you type the dApp's URL into the built-in browser, so all browsing and verification are done within the wallet.

However, the Anchor wallet is different. It does not have a built-in browser, and almost all operations require coordination with the device-owned browser. We browse the dApp on the browser, initiate the verification request on the dApp in the browser, then switch to the Anchor wallet for verification. Finally, the dApp on the browser recognizes the information that the verification was successful. This requires repeated coordination between Anchor and the browser.

Now, let's talk about a typical Anchor verification scenario.

As shown in the picture above, we are browsing the Unicove.com web wallet developed by Greymass on our computer browser. We click on the Login button in the upper right corner of the page, and a QR code page appears, as shown in the picture.

At this point, we can open the Anchor wallet on our phone and then click SCAN QR at the bottom of the page to enable the QR code scanning function and scan the QR code on the screen to log in to the Unicove web wallet. We can also click Launch Anchor to open the local Anchor for the desktop and proceed with the verification to log in.

When the desktop Anchor wallet receives a verification request, the page shown in the picture above will appear. At this point, click on the green button in the lower right corner to verify the password, and the verification will be successful.

Signing transactions on the Anchor mobile app will be presented as shown in the picture above. The bottom bar of the signing page may display CANCEL or LOGIN. Now, click LOGIN and complete the verification through biometric recognition. Alternatively, a green slider may be displayed. Slide the green slider to the right to the checkmark, and complete verification through biometric recognition.

If you are unable to scan the QR code and the Launch Anchor button does not bring up the verification page, you can click on the small text copy request link between the QR code and Launch Anchor to copy the requested link.

Sign through the requested link on Anchor for desktop:

To sign transactions using the Anchor for desktop wallet through a copied request link, as shown in the two pictures above, click on Broadcast transaction on the main wallet interface, then click on Import ESP payload on the pop-up interface, and then paste the copied request link into the input box. Finally, the verification window will appear as expected. Click the green button in the lower right corner to complete the verification.

Sign through the requested link on Anchor for mobiles:

As shown in the picture above, after copying the requested link to the clipboard on your phone, you can click the paste icon in the upper right corner of the SCAN QR window to broadcast the transaction. After broadcasting, the verification page will appear as expected. Follow the usual verification process to complete.

The Anchor wallet itself does not have a convenient option for transferring funds. Anchor for desktop can only transfer EOS tokens, while Anchor for mobiles does not have the option to transfer funds at all.

To address the need for transfers, the Anchor wallet developer team, Greymass, has developed the web wallet Unicove.com.

On Unicove web wallet, you can use the transaction verification method described earlier to perform transfer operations.

Author: Josh Chung

Editor: Randall Roland, Cristhian Rincon

Translator: Josh Chung

Sources and References: