MetaMask and Ledger Integration Fixed! + New Partnership between MetaMask and Ledger to ensure ease-of-use and security for our shared customers

Key Takeaways:

— Due to a breaking update in Chromium-based browsers earlier this year, MetaMask + Ledger functionality has been difficult. — We have built a new Ledger + MetaMask integration on Chrome and the integration now works seamlessly again. (You must update MetaMask to version 10.5.0 and also update your Ledger firmware to experience a smoother signing flow when using Ledger with MetaMask.) — Ledger and MetaMask are proud to announce a partnership to maintain and improve ease-of-use and security for our shared customers going forward!

Metamask and Ledger now work seamlessly together again!

Earlier this year Chromium, the browsing engine behind Google Chrome, Opera, Brave, and many more, made updates which impacted the way MetaMask talked to your Ledger Nano crypto hardware wallet inside those browsers. This made securing your MetaMask account with a Ledger Nano hardware wallet difficult. The entire Web3 community was impacted by this and we have been working hard with MetaMask on a fix.  We are happy to announce that the fix has rolled out to all Metamask users this week!  Update to MetaMask version 10.5.0 and blissfully use MetaMask together with your Ledger Nano again!  

Also, MetaMask and Ledger are proud to announce a new partnership to maintain and improve the ease-of-use and security for our shared customers.  

If you don’t yet have a Ledger Nano but are a MetaMask user, now is a great time to get one from Ledger.com!

What was the issue?

Recently, the MetaMask and Ledger communities faced issues of broken connectivity when two popular browsers, Chrome and Brave, made some updates to their browser back in May 2021, which broke previous integration methods. In fact, this is not the first time that browser companies have deprecated the APIs that allow MetaMask to communicate with hardware wallets. This update added additional restrictions to the authentication methods that were required for the Ledger-MetaMask integration to work.

We fortunately had been developing a Ledger Live integration that was able to help some users, but this still left many Ledger users with a poor user experience when trying to connect Ledger with their MetaMask wallets.

The fix!

MetaMask and Ledger worked together over the last few months to fix this connectivity issue, because we want to make sure that the most common hardware / software wallet connection method is as seamless and user friendly as possible. 

As of MetaMask Extension version 10.5.0, Ledger Support is upgraded to ensure a great experience using Ledger and MetaMask together. Connect your Ledger once and, voila!, it works!  We are migrating away from the previous approach of bridging to the Ledger Live app, and are instead utilizing a smooth integration directly between your Ledger device and MetaMask, making the connection more stable and easier to reconnect, with the hardened security you need to be safe.  

Also, MetaMask and Ledger have entered into a new partnership to maintain the best experience for our community of shared customers. The integration of our products requires deep domain expertise on both sides to maintain a great user experience. With our new partnership agreement in place, you can be confident that the MetaMask and Ledger teams are working closely together to ensure a great experience for hardware wallet users.  More features and improvements to come!   

Some features of the new MetaMask / Ledger integration are:

1. Standard connect flow: Connecting Ledger with MetaMask on Chrome is easy again 
2. Ledger Live toggle: If you want to stop using Ledger Live, turn it off in settings and then go to ‘Connect Hardware’ wallet to reconnect with WebHID. 
3. Connected Ledger Device: MetaMask will remember your Ledger device, but should it somehow forget, the ability to reconnect is available in your transaction journey. No need to pause or cancel your transaction to reconnect.

How-To

The process is easy. To benefit from the above-mentioned implementation, just update your MetaMask to the latest version (10.5.0). You also need to check your “Advanced Settings” and that the “Preferred Ledger Connection Type” is set to “WebHID” (it should be the case by default).

To import your Ledger hardware wallet in MetaMask, open the ETH app and click on “Connect Hardware Wallet” (just like you did before). This time, a pop up will appear where you will have to select your device and click on “Connect”. Your list of addresses will appear, you will just have to select which address you wish to import.

Stay tuned! Both MetaMask and Ledger are working on further design and user experience improvements that will be revealed soon. 

We are sorry for the difficulties between our two products this year. We worked on these problems together as quickly as possible and put a new relationship in place to improve our ability to solve issues like this more quickly in the future!  

Your security is our priority.

Sincerely,

MetaMask & Ledger