In your Bitaroo Wallet you can freeze a UTXO so that it stays out of your sends, and add a note to remind yourself what it is. Both are optional, and both can be undone at any time. If UTXOs are new to you, start with What is a UTXO?
To freeze a UTXO
- Open your Wallet and select UTXOs.
- Tap the UTXO you want to freeze.
- Switch on Freeze this UTXO. The freeze applies straight away.
- Select Done.
The UTXO now carries a Frozen tag in the list. To unfreeze it, open it again and switch Freeze this UTXO off.
What freezing does
- A frozen UTXO stays in your Wallet and still counts in your total balance.
- Send and Max leave it untouched. The Send screen shows the amount available without it, and your Wallet shows how much is spendable and how many UTXOs are frozen.
- It cannot be picked when you choose UTXOs for a send, and its Send this UTXO button stays off until you unfreeze it.
- A freeze applies to that one UTXO, not to its address. Bitcoin that arrives at the same address later is a new UTXO and is not frozen.
When freezing is useful
- An unexpected deposit. If a small amount you do not recognise arrives in your Wallet, freeze it. Small unrequested amounts are sometimes sent in the hope that they will be spent together with your other UTXOs, which links them on the blockchain. A frozen UTXO is never spent alongside the rest.
- Bitcoin you are setting aside. Freeze a UTXO you do not want to spend by accident, and your sends draw only on the others.
To add a note
- Open your Wallet, select UTXOs and tap the UTXO.
- Type in the Note field. A note can be up to 120 characters long.
- Select Done.
The note appears under that UTXO in the list. To remove it, clear the field and select Done.
Things worth knowing
- Notes and freezes are saved on this device only. They are not written to the Bitcoin blockchain and they are not part of your recovery phrase. A Wallet restored on a new phone comes back with no notes and nothing frozen, so freeze again anything you want kept aside. The same goes for another wallet app opened with the same recovery phrase: it does not know about your freezes and can spend those UTXOs.
- Removing your Wallet from the app removes its notes and freezes.
- Freezing is for organising, not for security. A frozen UTXO can be unfrozen at any time from the same screen. What protects your bitcoin is still your recovery phrase and the lock on your phone, and every send still asks you to confirm the way you unlock your phone.