HOW TO CREATE A WATCH-ONLY WALLET IN PHANTOM TO TRACK BALANCES SAFELY

Keeping track of your Solana wallets, or even monitoring another wallet's activity, doesn't have to be risky. Phantom allows users to create watch-only wallets, letting you view balances, tokens, and NFTs without giving access to your private keys or seed phrase.

In this guide, you'll learn how to add and use a watch-only wallet in Phantom, so you can track your holdings safely and conveniently.

Step 1: Open the Phantom Wallet

1. Launch the Phantom browser extension or mobile app *If you're not signed in, enter your password to unlock your main wallet dashboard

Step 2: Access the Wallet Menu

1. Click your wallet name or profile icon at the top of the Phantom window

   

2. A list of your current wallets will appear, then press the "+" sign

   

Step 3: Choose "Add Wallet Address"

1. From the menu, select "Add Wallet Address" *This tells Phantom that you only want to view an existing wallet rather than create or import one

   

Step 4: Enter the Public Address

1. Paste any Solana wallet address (public key) that you want to track

2. You can monitor:

   • Your own cold-storage wallet

   • A secondary wallet you use for staking

   • Even a public whale address to watch activity

Tip: A valid Solana address is a long Base58 string, it does not start with "0x."

Step 5: Name and Add the Wallet

1. Give your watch-only wallet a label such as "Tracker" or "Cold Vault"

2. Then click "Add Wallet" *Phantom will immediately display that wallet's SOL balance, tokens, and NFTs in real time

Step 6: Review Balances and Activity

1. Your new watch-only wallet will now appear in your wallet list

2. You can switch between your active wallet and any watch-only wallet anytime *Transactions and balances update automatically, and you can view token details the same way as your main account, but you won't be able to send or sign anything

Tips

• You can add multiple watch-only wallets to monitor different addresses

• It's completely safe, Phantom never requests a private key for these wallets

• Great for tracking cold storage, multisig accounts, or even following on-chain portfolios

• If you no longer need one, simply remove it from your wallet list at any time

Conclusion

Creating a watch-only wallet in Phantom is one of the easiest ways to stay informed about balances and activity on the Solana network, with zero security risk. Whether you're managing your own holdings or analyzing public wallets, Phantom makes tracking effortless, private, and completely free.