Questions about SignLens

What is SignLens?

A free browser extension for Chrome, Brave, Edge and Firefox that explains, in plain words, each Solana transaction a dapp asks you to sign, before your wallet signs it, and warns about what a balance preview cannot show.

Is SignLens a wallet? Do I have to move my funds?

No. SignLens holds no keys and signs nothing. It sits in front of the wallet you already use, and passes each request on to it unchanged once you say so. Your funds stay where they are.

Which wallets does it work with?

Phantom, Backpack, Solflare and the other Solana wallets dapps can connect to in the browser.

Does it read v1 transactions?

Yes, as well as legacy and v0 ones. SignLens tells a dapp it takes the transaction versions your wallet signs: v1 with a wallet that signs them, such as Backpack or Jupiter Wallet, and legacy and v0 otherwise, so a request you approve is never one your wallet refuses. Some dapps, such as jup.ag, build v1 transactions only for a wallet that says it takes them. In watch-only mode, where nothing is signed, it takes all three.

Does SignLens work with a Ledger or another hardware wallet?

Yes, through the browser wallet your Ledger is connected to, such as Phantom, Backpack or Solflare. SignLens explains the transaction in its own window, then passes it to that wallet, which sends it to the Ledger to sign. For most Solana DeFi transactions the Ledger shows only a hash, with blind signing on (what signing looks like today), so SignLens's window is where you read what you approve. It does not replace the Ledger: a compromised computer could show anything in that window, while your keys stay on the device.

What is clear signing? What is blind signing?

Clear signing is seeing the transaction itself, decoded into words, before you sign. Blind signing is approving a transaction you cannot read: a hash, or an interface's description of what the bytes do. SignLens brings clear signing to Solana transactions in the browser. Read Clear signing on Solana for what each looks like today and why it matters.

How is it different from my wallet's transaction preview?

A preview shows the balance changes a simulation estimates: how much leaves your wallet, not why. SignLens reads the instructions and says what they do: deposit as collateral, open a liquidity position, stake SOL, or hand an account over to someone else. It also catches what moves nothing when you sign, such as an owner change or an unlimited approval.

What does the verified badge mean?

The check in a ring after a name or an amount means that SignLens knows the token or account by its on-chain address, either from a verified token list or by deriving its address (a program-derived address, or an associated token account), not by the name it gives itself. A token SignLens cannot verify is named by its mint address, as an unverified token.

What is a wallet drainer?

A site, or a transaction, made to empty your wallet. On Solana a drainer often gets you to sign something that moves nothing at once but hands over control: an owner change of a token account or of the wallet itself, an unlimited approval, or transfers hidden inside a program of its own. A balance preview can show nothing for those.

Can SignLens stop a wallet drainer?

It reads each transaction before your wallet signs it. Changing the owner of your account is flagged as critical and blocks the request; an unlimited approval is a High finding; and a custom drainer program is blocked as unknown because SignLens has no reviewed description of it (as in the November 2025 case). It cannot help when a seed phrase or a key is stolen, which needs no signature, or when the computer itself is compromised.

What happens with a program SignLens does not know?

It is shown as unknown, and the request is blocked by default. You can still choose "Continue anyway". A block means SignLens cannot vouch for the program, not that the dapp is malicious.

Can SignLens be wrong?

Yes. OK means it read every instruction and found nothing to warn about, not that a trade is a good one. It can misread a program or miss something; the feedback strip under every explanation is there to say so.

What does SignLens send to its server?

In this beta, the unsigned transaction, the addresses its lookup tables load, the simulation result, the accounts the explanation asks for as your RPC returned them, your addresses from the settings, your languages (the one you chose in the settings, if any, then your browser's), and your address book's addresses, each with a random stand-in for its name: the names stay in your browser. The server logs the verdict, the finding codes and a hash of the transaction, not the transaction itself. The privacy page has the details.

Does it cost anything?

No. SignLens is free, and the extension is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It is an extension for desktop Chrome, Brave, Edge and Firefox.

Is SignLens in my language?

The extension and its explanations are in English and in Simplified Chinese, reviewed in full by a native speaker. SignLens uses Chinese when your browser asks for it, and English otherwise, unless you choose one under "Language" on the setup page or at the top of the settings in the popup. An explanation in Chinese has a "Show in English" button, to read it against the English.

Which chains?

Solana mainnet today. SignLens is built so that other chains can be added, and Ethereum is next.

Why does SignLens warn that a signature never expires?

The transaction is built on a durable nonce: it stays valid until the nonce is used, so whoever holds it can send it at any later time. That is how the Drift takeover of April 2026 worked.

What if the SignLens server is down?

The window says it has no explanation, and the request is treated as blocked, never passed as safe. You can still choose to continue.

Can it check a Squads multisig proposal?

When the proposal is created in the transaction you sign, yes: SignLens decodes its transaction step by step. When you only approve a proposal created earlier, the bytes you sign do not contain it: SignLens fetches the proposal and the transaction it stores from your RPC and decodes the steps, noting that those details come from your RPC, not the bytes you are signing. If the RPC cannot return the proposal, SignLens warns that it cannot see what you are approving.

How do I report a wrong explanation or a security problem?

A wrong or unclear explanation: the feedback strip under it. A security problem: write to security@signlens.dev, as the security page says.

Try it: install SignLens for Chrome or Firefox.