How to Set Up Your Solana Seeker: A Beginner’s Guide

You’ve waited over a year, dropped “wen Seeker” on CT over 50 times, and publicly cursed Toly’s tardiness - but your Seeker is finally here.

However, as you tear off the space-food silver packaging and slide the Solana Seeker out of its case, it suddenly hits you: “I’ve never had a crypto phone before.”

If you’re worried about doing something wrong and accidentally losing all your funds, don’t worry, you’re not alone. In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up your Seeker for the first time and go over all the things that make it special.

First Steps

First things first, make sure you’ve got everything. All 150,000+ Seekers were shipped out with the same additional materials, but it’s worth double-checking to see you’ve been provided:

• The Seeker device

• Quick Start guide, warranty info, and Seed Card

• USB Type-C charging cable

Turn on the phone by holding the power button on the side of the device and give it a second to boot up. Before you can dive into all the fun stuff, you’ll need to go through Android’s usual setup process, so make sure you’re connected to a WiFi network and tap through all the prompts to sign in with Google.

Most importantly, you’ll need to register your biometrics. With Solana Seeker, your thumbprint is the key to signing onchain transactions safely using the Seed Vault, which we’ll explore in a bit more detail next.

Set Up Your Seed Vault and Mint Your Genesis Token

By now, your Solana Seeker should be idling on its stormy-blue homescreen and waiting patiently for you to dive into the onchain world. But before you can start exploring the best Solana has to offer, you’ll need to set up your Solana Seed Vault and mint your unique Genesis Token.

To kick things off, tap the “Wallet” app pictured on the right of the home screen. If you already have a Solana wallet, you can import it using your seed phrase. Otherwise, tap “Create” to generate a fresh wallet. 

Whichever option you choose, you’ll be able to claim your Seeker Genesis Token, which will live in your wallet forever and could make you eligible for future rewards. The Genesis Token is why of Seeker’s distinct benefits, because it distinguishes you as a verifiable Seeker owner when you connect to onchain apps.

Be sure to record your Seed Phrase on the card provided, and never show it to anyone, not even someone claiming to be from Solana Mobile. Your seed phrase is like a master password to your wallet, and anyone with access to it can instantly steal all your funds.

Your Seeker ID

After you’ve logged your seed phrase somewhere safe and minted your unique Genesis token, it’s time to choose your Seeker ID, which serves as your passport to Solana and gives your wallet a human-readable name.

A Seeker ID designates a wallet as belonging to a high-value, verified user. By monitoring activity from .skr addresses, developers can distinguish authentic engagement from sybil-generated spam and focus on more valuable user behavior.

At this stage, you’re ready to dive into everything the Seeker has to offer and start exploring the onchain world. But before you run off to trade memecoins in the trenches or play onchain games in the dApp Store, there’s one more thing you should know.

What’s the Difference Between the Seed Vault and Seed Vault Wallet?

This is one of the biggest questions people ask when they boot up the Seeker for the first time. Given the extremely similar name and functions, it’s easy to understand how one might get them mixed up. Let’s break it down:

Seed Vault - The Seed Vault is a clever piece of hardware that sits at the center of the Seeker experience. It protects your private keys with encryption and biometric access (remember that thumbprint you logged before?). 

In many respects, the Seed Vault is like having a hardware wallet built directly into the Seeker, and it provides the highest level of crypto security available on any mobile device. 

The Seed Vault ensures that your private keys are never exposed to hackers and remain completely inaccessible to connected onchain apps and even Seeker’s operating system. All onchain transactions are approved with your thumbprint. Even if someone steals your phone, your assets will be completely inaccessible.

Seed Vault Wallet - If the Seed Vault is a piece a hardware, the Seed Vault Wallet is the software by which you interact with it. Designed by Solflare, the Seed Vault Wallet is a mobile-first wallet app that's natively integrated with the Seed Vault, combining the highest level of mobile crypto security with a brilliantly smooth UX.

First, let’s talk about how the Seed Vault Wallet handles transaction approvals. Whenever you initiate a transaction on the Solana blockchain, whether that’s swapping tokens, staking $SOL, collecting NFTs, or whatever you can think of, the Seed Vault Wallet’s interface seamlessly pops up to confirm that you’re making this transaction.

This streamlined approval process is to Solana Seeker what Face ID is to Apple Pay. I’ve run the gauntlet of crypto mobile wallets over the last few years, trialing everything from TrustWallet to Metamask. There has never been a mobile-first crypto UX so smooth and simplistic, while also offering the highest level of security.

Beyond the streamlined interface, the Seed Vault Wallet experience extends to the wallet app itself. The app provides a simple, unified platform through which you can track your holdings, swap tokens and stocks, and stake your $SOL to a validator of your choice.

As in real life, you won’t get very far in crypto without any funds in your wallet. Transfer yourself some $SOL by sending assets to your .skr address, or use the Seeker wallet’s built-in buy feature in the top right-hand corner of the app.

Once you’ve loaded up your Seeker wallet, you’re all set to jump into the Solana dApp store and rifle through some of the best apps the Solana ecosystem has to offer.

Explore the Solana dApp Store

As the name suggests, the Solana dApp Store is blockchain’s version of Google Play, or the Apple App Store. However, there’s a key difference: Unlike the extractive policies of the mobile duopoly, the Solana dApp doesn’t charge developers any fees, enabling a far more open and progressive landscape for bringing innovative products to market.

The Solana dApp Store truly has something for everyone, and it’s only going to get better as more apps are developed. Memecoin evangelists and yield hunters will be delighted to see platforms like Vector and Lulo readily available, while gamers, streamers ,and DePIN contributors will also find all their favorite platforms already listed.

At press time, there are over 100+ Solana-native protocols already listed in the dApp Store, with many more expected to be added as the Seeker ecosystem expands. The first Solana Mobile hackathon has accepted its final submissions, with hundreds of applicants building off Seeker’s unique architecture to reinvent the crypto-mobile experience.

You’ve unboxed it, secured your Seed Vault, and claimed your Genesis Token. Believe it or not, you’re now a critical part Solana history. Seeker September is coming, and you’ll want to be as deeply involved as possible as Solana Mobile gears up to kickstart the $SKR flywheel and build out the world’s first decentralized crypto-mobile economy.

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