How to Install the Backpack Wallet Extension on Chrome, Brave and Edge

The Backpack Wallet extension is a self-custodial crypto wallet that runs in your desktop browser, and installing it takes about four minutes. You download it from backpack.app/download or the Chrome Web Store, pin it to your toolbar, create or import a wallet, claim a username, and write your recovery phrase down on paper. Chrome, Brave and Edge are all supported. Firefox and Safari are not.

The install itself is the easy part. What actually matters is confirming you've got the genuine extension rather than one of the clones that circulate in search ads and Discord links, because a fake wallet extension is one of the most effective ways people lose crypto and it looks identical to the real one.

This guide covers the install on all three browsers, the two checks that prove the listing is authentic, full wallet setup including the recovery phrase step, how to connect a Ledger, Trezor or Keystone through the extension, and fixes for the problems that actually come up.

Before you start

You need two things: a supported browser, and somewhere physical to write twelve words. Pen and paper. Not Notes, not a screenshot, not a password manager that syncs to the cloud.

If you skip that second one you can still finish the setup. You just won't have a wallet you can recover, which rather defeats the point.

Installing the Backpack Extension

1. Go to the official Backpack Extension download page.

That's backpack.app/download. Chrome, Brave and Edge are all listed there. You can also go directly to the Chrome Web Store listing, which works for Brave and Edge too since both run Chromium.

Don't install a wallet from a search ad. Don't install one from a link in Discord or Telegram, no matter who sent it. Fake wallet extensions are a functioning business model and they look exactly like the real thing.

2. Check the listing before you click Add.

Three things confirm you're on the genuine one:

• Publisher shows as backpack.app, with Chrome's "created by the owner of the listed website" badge

• Extension ID is aflkmfhebedbjioipglgcbcmnbpgliof (visible in the store URL)

• Rating sits around 4.5 with a review count in the thousands, not the dozens

A clone can copy the name, the red backpack logo and the screenshots. It can't copy the extension ID.

3. Add to browser and confirm.

Chrome will show you the permissions it's requesting. Read them. Then confirm.

4. Pin it.

Click the puzzle piece icon to the right of the address bar, find Backpack in the list, and click the pin. The icon turns blue once it's pinned, which is a nice small touch and means you don't have to wonder whether it worked.

Skip this step and you'll be hunting through the extensions menu every single time. It takes three seconds.

Setting up your Backpack wallet

Click the red Backpack icon. First launch drops you straight into setup.

Create a new wallet, or import an existing one if you're migrating (covered below).

Pick a starting network. Solana, Ethereum, Sui, whichever you actually use first. This isn't a permanent decision. You add the rest later from wallet settings, and Backpack runs 15+ networks off the same recovery phrase.

Claim a username. This is a Backpack thing that most wallets don't do, and it's genuinely useful: people can send to your username instead of a 44-character address. Worth picking something you'd be happy sharing.

Set a password. This unlocks the wallet on this specific browser on this specific machine. It is not your recovery phrase and it won't recover anything. Make it unique anyway.

Back up your Secret Recovery Phrase. Here's the one that matters.

Write it down. Store it offline, somewhere that isn't the same building as your laptop if you're holding anything serious. What not to do:

• Screenshot it

• Email it to yourself

• Put it in Drive, iCloud or Dropbox

• Paste it into a chat app

• Leave it in a .txt file on the desktop

Anyone who has those words has your wallet. Backpack can't reverse that, can't freeze it, and can't restore your wallet if you lose the phrase. That's self-custody working as designed, not a support failure.

Importing Backpack wallet you already have

Moving over from another wallet? Backpack Wallet Extension will import via recovery phrase or private key, connect a hardware wallet, or add a public address as view-only if you just want to watch a balance.

There’s one rule you should always follow: only enter your recovery phrase into the Backpack extension that you personally installed from the official listing. No one from Backpack Support will ever ask for it, and the same goes for support teams from any legitimate wallet provider. If someone asks you to share your recovery phrase in any form, that’s a major warning sign and something you should never ignore.

How to spot a fake Backpack extension

This deserves its own section because it's where people actually lose money, and most install guides wave at it in one sentence.

Signs you're looking at a clone:

• Extension ID doesn't match the one above

• Publisher isn't backpack.app, or the "owner of the listed website" badge is missing

• Review count is low, or the reviews are all five stars posted within a few days of each other

• It asks for your recovery phrase during install rather than after you choose to import

• The download came from a site that isn't backpack.app or the Chrome Web Store

Already typed a recovery phrase into something you now suspect? Treat that wallet as compromised immediately. Move the assets to a freshly created wallet on a different machine if you can, then remove the extension. Speed matters more than certainty here.

Troubleshooting

The icon isn't in my toolbar. It installed, it just isn't pinned. Puzzle piece icon, find Backpack, click the pin.

It keeps locking me out. Backpack auto-locks after a period of inactivity and reviewers have complained that this isn't adjustable. Annoying if you're mid-session on a dApp, but it's the behaviour working correctly. You'll need your password, not your recovery phrase.

A dApp won't detect Backpack. Check the site actually supports it first, since some Solana apps still only look for one or two wallets. Then make sure the extension is unlocked, refresh the page, and try connecting again. If the site is showing a wallet picker and Backpack isn't in it, that's on the site, not you.

The extension crashed or won't load after an update. Reported often enough in Chrome Web Store reviews to be worth mentioning. Restart the browser first. If that fails, remove and reinstall from the official listing. Your wallet lives on the blockchain, not in the extension, so a reinstall plus your recovery phrase gets everything back.

Brave and Edge

Both are Chromium browsers, so the Chrome Web Store install works on either. Brave users will see "Add to Brave" instead of "Add to Chrome" and everything after that is identical. Edge is the same story.

Firefox and Safari aren't supported at the time of writing. If you're on either, the mobile app is your route in.

Frequently Asked Question