Blockstream Jade Plus Setup: Air-Gapped QR Mode

Blockstream Jade Plus Setup: Air-Gapped QR Mode

This is the first-time setup for the Blockstream Jade Plus, the same path as in the video. You create the wallet on the device, write down the recovery words, then connect the official Blockstream app by scanning QR codes.

The Jade Plus can connect with a USB cable, with Bluetooth, or with QR codes. This guide uses QR codes. That way the device does not need a cable or Bluetooth while you set it up and later when you approve payments.

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Do this at home, on a table, with no one filming the recovery words.

What you need

  • The sealed Jade Plus box
  • The USB-C cable from the box, so you can charge the device first
  • A phone
  • A pen
  • The paper seed sheets from the box

Charge the Jade Plus before you start. The screen and camera need power to finish the QR steps.

1. Open the box

Look at the wrap on the box. If it looks cut and taped back up, stop and talk to the seller.

Jade Plus retail box. Check the seal before you open it.
The Jade Plus box. Check that it looks new and sealed before you open it.

Inside you should find:

  • The Jade Plus
  • A USB-C cable
  • Paper sheets for the recovery words
  • A short paper guide
In the box: Jade Plus, USB-C cable, seed sheets, and the paper guide.
Everything in the box: the device, the cable, the recovery sheets, and the paper guide.

2. The buttons and the camera

Power on the underside. Left and right move the menu. OK accepts. Camera on the back scans QR codes.
Power button on the underside. Left and right move through the menu. OK confirms. The camera on the back reads QR codes.
  • The power button is on the underside
  • Left and right move through the menus
  • OK confirms a choice
  • The camera on the back is what reads QR codes from your phone

3. Start the setup

Turn the device on. On the first screens, move right until you see Setup Jade and open that.

You get two choices:

  • Begin setup is the normal path. Use that here.
  • Advanced setup is extra. It can create the recovery words with dice, save those words as a QR code called a SeedQR, or add a hidden extra word. You do not need any of that for this guide.
Setup Jade screen showing Begin setup option.
Setup Jade, then Begin setup. That is the normal first-time path.
Advanced setup options on the Jade Plus.
Advanced setup. Leave this for later unless you already know you want the extra options.

Tap Begin setup, then Create new wallet. That makes a brand new wallet on this device.

Create new wallet screen on Jade Plus.
Create new wallet. Use Restore only if you are moving an old wallet onto this Jade Plus.

4. Write down the recovery words

The device now shows a list of words, in order. That list is the backup for the wallet. If the Jade Plus is lost or broken, those words are how you get the bitcoin back.

Write every word on the paper from the box. Keep that paper off the internet. When the device asks you to confirm the words, do that on the screen.

Writing seed phrases on the Jade Plus.
Write the words on the paper sheets, then confirm them on the Jade Plus. Do not photograph this screen.

The PIN you set later only unlocks this device. It does not replace the paper words.

5. Choose QR as the connection

The device asks how it should talk to your phone:

  • USB is a cable
  • Bluetooth is wireless pairing
  • QR is scanning codes on each other's screens

Choose QR.

Selecting QR connection type on Jade Plus.
USB, Bluetooth, or QR. This guide uses QR.
Jade Plus in QR air-gapped mode.
QR mode. The phone and the Jade Plus only pass information by scanning codes.

6. Unlock the device with the phone

The Jade Plus shows a QR code and tells you to open a Blockstream page on your phone. Scan that code so the page opens.

Then you go back and forth a few times:

  1. Press OK on the Jade Plus and choose a PIN you will remember
  2. Tap Done on the phone
  3. Allow the phone camera when it asks
  4. Scan the code on the Jade Plus with the phone
  5. Press OK on the Jade Plus
  6. Scan the code on the phone with the Jade Plus camera

When that is finished, the device is unlocked and the first half of setup is done.

Phone scanning QR code on Jade Plus during PIN unlock.
The phone scanning the QR code on the Jade Plus.
Jade Plus scanning the QR on the phone to finish unlock.
The Jade Plus scanning the QR code on the phone to finish the unlock.

If a scan does not catch, move the phone a little closer or farther and try again.

7. Install the Blockstream app

The device now holds the wallet, but you still need the official app to see the balance and to start a send. On blockstream.com open the menu, go to Products, and download the Blockstream App from there. That takes you to the App Store or Google Play.

Open the app and tap Connect Jade. Choose Connect via QR. Because you already unlocked the device in the last step, choose Jade already unlocked.

Connecting Jade Plus to the Blockstream app via QR.
Connect Jade, then Connect via QR, then Jade already unlocked.

8. Share the public key with the app

The app now needs the public part of the wallet so it can show addresses and balances. That public part is called an xpub. It is not the recovery words, and it cannot spend your bitcoin.

On the Jade Plus open Options, then Wallet, then Export xpub. The device shows a QR code. Scan that code with the app.

Exporting xpub from the Jade Plus.
Export xpub on the Jade Plus. The app only gets the public information. Spending still needs the device.

After the scan, the app is connected. Setup is done.

9. Do a small test before you move real money

In the app, open Receive and compare that address with what the Jade Plus shows if it asks you to check it. Then send a small amount of bitcoin in. When that arrives, you can send a small amount back out. How to send is in a separate guide: How to send bitcoin from Blockstream Jade Plus

Quick checklist

  • The box looked sealed
  • The Jade Plus had charge
  • The app came from Blockstream, the App Store, or Google Play
  • I created a new wallet on the device
  • I wrote the recovery words on paper and confirmed them on the screen
  • I chose QR as the connection
  • I finished the phone and device QR unlock
  • I exported xpub into the Blockstream app
  • I have not photographed the recovery words

Review: Blockstream Jade Plus review

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