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Polkadot-JS UI (Wallet)

Polkadot-JS is for developers and power users only. If you need help using the Polkadot-JS UI, you can contact the Polkadot Support Team. For more user-friendly tools see the wallets, apps and dashboard pages.

The Polkadot-JS UI is the native application for accessing all features available on Substrate chains as Polkadot and Kusama. The UI is one of the moving parts of Polkadot-JS tool collection, and its functionalities go beyond normal wallet functionalities such as transfers.

Note that the UI may not precisely align with the functionality of individual parachains. For more information see the Polkadot-JS Page.

Main Functionalities​

Here we describe those functionalities that will likely be useful to most users. Those functionalities include account generation, balance transfers, and staking.

Accounts​

In this section of the UI, you can see accounts injected from a browser extension, such as the Polkadot-JS Extension or other in-browser wallets. It is also possible to expand balance details and see different account balance types. You can also:

  • Add an account (this option must be enabled under Settings). Note that if you clear the cache of your browser, you will lose it, and you will need to recover it through seed phrase or JSON file.
  • Recover and account from JSON file.
  • Add an account from QR code.
  • Add an account from a Ledger device (this option must be enabled under Settings).
  • Create a multi-signature account.
  • Add a proxied account (see Pure Proxies for more information).

For each account visible in the UI, you can perform different actions, including adding a proxy, setting an identity, and sending tokens.

For more information about adding and recovering accounts, see the Account Generation page.

Network (Staking)​

In this section of the UI, you can participate in staking. In the Staking menu you can access:

  • The Overview tab showing active or waiting validators.
  • The Accounts tab (visible only if you added an account) showing accounts that are currently used for staking (stash and staking proxy), bonded amount, and nominations. In this tab, you can do staking-related transactions such as bonding more funds or changing nominations. If you have staking proxies here, you can use them while signing for staking-related transactions.
  • The Payouts tab (visible only if you added an account) showing any pending rewards that still need to be paid out to you.
  • The Pool tab showing all registered nomination pool with the respective state (open, blocked, or destroying). This tab can also be used to create and join a pool.
  • The Targets tab showing detailed information about validators such as commission and return. More information can be found in the Nominator Page.
  • The Bags tab (visible only if you added an account) showing the bag you are in ("My bags") and all bags within the bags list. Here (if applicable), you can rebag accounts that do not belong to the bag you are in, and you can move your account in front of the account having less stake than you.
  • The Slashes tab showing if there are any global slashes.
  • The Validator stats tab showing statistics for a chosen validator.

Settings​

In this UI section, you can change general settings such as appearance and language. You can also:

  • Allow local in-browser account storage. This is used to add accounts directly in the UI (which differs from having an account injected from a browser extension).
  • Choose to attach Ledger devices. This adds an account directly in the UI from a Ledger device.

Under Settings you can also do the metadata update. Usually, if there is an update, this will be shown as a notification. For more information about metadata updates, see the dedicated section.

Other Functionalities​

In this section, we describe those functionalities that will less likely interest the average user.

Network​

In addition to staking, in the Network section, you can also:

  • See the Explorer with the most recent blocks and events.
  • Inspect parachains.

Governance​

In this section of the UI, you can participate in governance.

Developer​

In this section of the UI, you can access advanced features such as:

The Extrinsic tab provides the use to access more granular functions such as pure proxies and time-delayed proxies, change nomination pool settings (nomination and roles) and use non-transfer proxies, destroy assets, and much more.

Beginner's Guide to Polkadot-JS​