Overview
Delegating ADA on your mobile device is by far the quickest and easiest way to start earning rewards and it is now available through Yoroi! The Yoroi app is available for iOS on the apple store and any android phone on the Google Play store. This guide uses screenshots from an iOS device but the instructions will work for android as well. If at anytime you are unsure of any terminology used check out the glossary at the end of this article.
It is recommended to have this article open on your phone so you can easily copy/paste and click the links below. To get started, install the app for your device:
App Installation
The Yoroi wallet is built by Emurgo and looks like this on the Apple store. Install the app to continue
Choose to allow bluetooth access. If you want to connect with a hardware Ledger Nano X you will need this.
Select your language and click the "CHOOSE LANGUAGE" button.
Check the box to agree with the terms of service and click "ACCEPT"
Yoroi is now configured and you can create a wallet. Shelley-era wallets support delegation and is what we want. Old wallets (created before July 29th, 2020) are known as the Byron-era and are no longer useful. Click "ADD WALLET (SHELLEY-ERA) to continue.
You can restore an existing Yoroi wallet if you made one with the desktop browser extension version of Yoroi (desktop version of Yoroi covered here). If you don't have a Yoroi wallet click "CREATE WALLET"
Give your wallet a name and a strong password of at least 10 characters. SAVE YOUR PASSWORD in either a password manager or write it down somewhere you won't lose it. You will need this password if you ever want to retrieve or send your ADA. This is like your typical bank account password. When done click "CONTINUE"
The next page warns you that you should write down the recovery words that will be shown on the next page or you will not be able to recover your wallet if something happens. This isn't a message to take lightly as we will describe on the next page. Click "I UNDERSTAND" to continue.
STOP! Write down the 15 words in the same order somewhere safe. Writing it on an index card and putting it in a safe is a great idea. If you also put them in a password manager for redundancy that is good too (be sure you know how to use a password manager correctly if you do this). The reason why these words matter is important to understand. Your ADA actually isn't on your computer but is historically recorded on the blockchain. So if you lose your computer, it breaks or your wallet gets deleted your ADA isn't gone - it still exists on the Cardano blockchain. As long as you have these 15 words you can recover your wallet on any computer anywhere and still access your ADA. Once you've written down the words click the button to continue.
Check both boxes confirming you understand how important it is to safely store your recovery phases and click "I UNDERSTAND"
If you didn't write the recovery words down maybe this screen will make you realize how important it is. You now have to select all 15 words in order to verify you saved them.
Once selected correctly, you can continue by clicking "CONFIRM".
Congratulations! You have successfully created your own, personal Yoroi wallet for holding ADA! You're almost there! The final step is to send ADA to your new wallet to begin delegating. Click "Receive" to continue.
Click the icon next to the Fresh addresses. This will allow you to copy the address.
Click the "COPY ADDRESS" button. This will copy the address so you can paste it somewhere else. A wallet can have many, different addresses. Each address is unique and associated with your wallet. If anyone sends ADA to any of those addresses, that ADA will be managed under the same wallet.
Go to the exchange or wallet that is holding your ADA and choose to "Send" your ADA to the copied address. Paste the copied address and confirm the transaction. Your ADA should show up in your Yoroi wallet in a few minutes (depending on the speed of the exchange)!
If you need to send the address to a desktop rather than your mobile device, a few easy ways to do this is to either email it to yourself or send it in a messenger app (slack, what's app, etc...) that you can access on your phone and desktop.
Once you have ADA in your wallet, as you can see on your home screen of the Yoroi app, click on "Delegate" in the bottom right.
The Yoroi app does not have a nice visual of all the available pools you can delegate to like the desktop version has. Instead you have to paste the "Stake pool id" which is a unique ID for each staking pool. If you have a specific pool you want to delegate to you will need to find the pool ID. Otherwise you can use the Stake pool ID for Castle Cardano:
f1e470e5967d43d257e8128b82928ab45e607fdceca826c0020f4b27
Click "CONTINUE" once you have pasted the Pool ID.
The last step is to insert the password you originally created for the wallet. Yoroi takes a small fee for delegating so don't be concerned. Once your Spending password is inserted click "DELEGATE" to complete the delegation process.
Congratulations! Your ADA will now be available to earn rewards! This process "registers" the fact that your wallet is now delegated to the pool you chose on the blockchain. This means your mobile device does not need to be on or online. As long as you have the 15 recovery words, it is ok if the app is deleted or you lose your phone.
Glossary
ADA - The abbreviation for the cryptocurrency that lives on the Cardano blockchain. This can be bought or sold on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Daedalus - An officially supported wallet software used to store ADA (like a bank that has accounts). Unlike Yoroi, it is a full-node wallet meaning installing it requires an entire copy of the blockchain (made up of GB's of transactional records).
Yoroi - An officially supported wallet software used to store ADA (like a bank that has accounts). Unlike Daedalus, it is a light-weight wallet that is supported on desktops, mobile, and hardware wallets. It also relies on trusted, external entities instead of keeping a copy of the entire blockchain like Daedalus.
Exchange - A website that allows you to buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies. This is similar to something like the New York Stock exchange in traditional finance. There are many exchanges all over the world that offer different services for different fees.
Wallet - You can think of a wallet like a bank account. It holds all of your ADA. Just like how you can have different bank accounts at different banks, you wallets can be created from different software applications such as Daedalus or Yoroi.
Hardware Wallet - Unlike a software wallet, a hardware wallet stores the private keys for your wallet on a physical device similar to USB drive. The private keys are used to restore your wallet so you can send or retrieve your ADA. It is considered the most secure way to store your wallet. Ledger Nano and Trezor are two popular hardware wallets
Stake Pool - A dedicated server that supports the decentralization and security of the blockchain. Owned and operated by individuals of the Cardano community, it earns rewards for its contributions and those rewards are then distributed amongst the pool owners and its delegates.
Delegate - A delegate is someone who has "delegated" their ADA to a staking pool. Delegating your ADA to a staking pool allows you to earn a portion of rewards that staking pools get for contributing to the operation of the Cardano blockchain.
Stake - The amount of ADA that has been delegated to a staking pool. The staking pool "stakes" this ADA on the Cardano blockchain which contributes to the operation of the blockchain and earns rewards for all of its delegates.