How Can Someone Check Which Apps Have Permissions on Their Wallet?
Connecting a wallet to a decentralized app almost always involves granting some form of ongoing permission, and it’s easy to forget how many of those permissions have piled up over months or years of use.
The short answer
A wallet’s active permissions, usually called token approvals, can be checked using a blockchain explorer’s dedicated approval-checking tool. These tools scan the wallet address against the public ledger and list every contract that currently has standing permission to move specific tokens, along with the option to revoke each one.
What a token approval actually is
When a wallet interacts with a decentralized app, the app often needs permission to move a specific token on the wallet’s behalf, for example to complete a swap or enter a lending position. Rather than asking for a one-time signature every single time, what a token approval does is grant standing access up to a set amount, so future transactions don’t require repeated confirmation. That convenience is exactly why old approvals are worth tracking down, since a permission granted for one transaction months ago can still be technically valid today even if the app is never used again.
How to look up existing approvals
- Find the wallet’s public address. Every approval check starts with the wallet address itself, which is safe to share since it only reveals what’s publicly recorded on the ledger.
- Use a block explorer’s token approval checker. Major blockchain explorers offer a free tool, often under a name like “token approvals” or “approved spenders,” where pasting in an address returns a list of contracts with active permissions.
- Review each listed contract and amount. The results typically show which token is covered, which contract holds the permission, and whether the approval is limited to a specific amount or effectively unlimited.
- Revoke anything no longer needed. Most of these tools include a revoke button that submits a transaction removing the permission, which requires a small network fee since it’s an on-chain action.
Why unlimited approvals are worth extra attention
Many apps request an unlimited approval by default because it avoids asking for a new signature every time the wallet interacts with that token again. That default trades a small amount of convenience for a meaningfully larger exposure if the app’s contract is ever compromised, since why apps request spending permissions in the first place is tied to making repeat transactions smoother, not to any judgment about the app’s long-term trustworthiness.
Why this checkup matters
An approval doesn’t expire just because the app fell out of use or the wallet owner forgot about it. If the underlying contract is later exploited, any wallet with an outstanding approval to that contract can be affected, regardless of how long ago the permission was granted. This is part of the broader picture of how malware targets cryptocurrency wallets and other wallet-security risks, where existing permissions are often a bigger practical exposure than most people realize. Periodically reviewing and pruning approvals is a routine maintenance step, not a sign that something has already gone wrong.
The takeaway
Checking which apps hold spending permission on a wallet is a matter of pasting a public address into a block explorer’s approval-checking tool and reading the results. Because approvals don’t expire automatically, they accumulate quietly, and revoking the ones no longer in active use is a low-cost way to reduce standing exposure without affecting how the wallet is used going forward.