KEY TAKEAWAYS:

A recent Google Chrome update may cause some serious data loss problems for Android users

This data loss may reset your Jaxx Liberty wallet

To be safe, always have a copy of your 12 words Backup Phrase written down

We are investigating ways to mitigate the impact of these updates to the Jaxx Liberty wallet data

CONTEXT:

During the past week, some Jaxx Android users reported issues to us with their Liberty & Classic wallets after updating their Google Chrome app. Recently a new version of Google Chrome, released by Google, made some changes that caused millions of users around the world to lose data. Forbes has put out specific warnings regarding this data loss. It’s unexpected changes like these or a number of other possible scenarios that may happen, that make it pertinent for Jaxx users to always have a copy of their 12 word backup phrase.

We’ve seen a similar problem with the latest iOS 13 update. As we noted in an earlier blog post, due to problems surrounding iOS 13, some users were having issues with their Jaxx Liberty application after updating their devices to iOS 13. At that time, several online publications (Forbes, MacWorld, Wired) have put out specific warning articles surrounding iOS 13 as well.

Like other mobile applications, Jaxx Liberty and Jaxx Classic store information on the device in a database. This database is managed by your device’s operating system (iOS or Android). Certain actions on your device may corrupt this app database and “reset” your Jaxx wallets. These actions include:

updating your device’s operating system (to iOS 13 or Android 10),

updating or reinstalling the Google Chrome browser on your Android devices or

updating another specific service that is used by our application or database system

If you have a copy of your 12 words backup phrase, you are shielded from the effects of the above actions as you can always restore access to your wallet by using your phrase.

HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU:

To help with your user experience, we’ve put in certain safeguards on the Jaxx Liberty application. If the database gets corrupted, it will try to restore itself. As a result of this safeguard, you may see this Recovery screen:

Click “Pair Again”. You will then be taken to a screen where your 12 words backup phrase is auto-populated in the pair process, and clicking the orange “Restore Wallet” at the bottom of the page will reload all your wallet information and bring you to your wallet’s Dashboard screen.

To be safe, it’s crucial for you to write down your 12 words Backup Phrase and store it safely. If you have your correct 12 words, you will always be able to gain access to your wallet in the event that you lose or break your device or even in situations where software, independent to Jaxx Liberty, affects your wallet database.

Remember that you are in full control of your wallet and we never have your wallet information as it’s only stored on your device. Backup your 12 words in a safe place as we’re not able to recover them for you; we never have them, only you do, on your device and nowhere else. Need help to get your Backup Phrase from the Jaxx Liberty application? Here is how!

Our Community Success team is available to help if you’re encountering any type of issues. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us via the Help Center portal on support.decentral.ca or join our Telegram channel for live discussions over Jaxx Liberty (t.me/JaxxLiberty).

EDIT1 19/12/2019: Google has reverted their change in a more recent Google Chrome update. We have seen positive reports from users that were experiencing this issue after updating to the latest Google Chrome version available via the GPlay store.