Performance and network calls
When you connect your KeepKey, KeepKey Desktop builds your dashboard from scratch. Most of the wait is your KeepKey doing work, not the network. This page explains each step, shows measured timings, and explains how to make the dashboard lighter.
Why it starts with your KeepKey
Your recovery phrase never leaves the device, so KeepKey Desktop can’t work out your addresses by itself. It asks the KeepKey for the public key or address of every network, one request at a time over USB. The device derives each one on its own chip, which takes a moment.
Each network needs at least one request:
- Bitcoin: one public key (xpub) per address type: Legacy, SegWit, Native SegWit and Taproot. Funds on any address type then show up.
- Other Bitcoin-style coins (Litecoin, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, DigiByte, Zcash): one xpub per address type. Litecoin reads three.
- EVM networks (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Base and the rest): one address, shared by all of them.
- Every other network (Cosmos, THORChain, Maya, Osmosis, XRP, Solana, TRON, TON, Hive): one address each.
Only public keys and addresses are requested. Private keys and your recovery phrase stay on the KeepKey.
Then one request for balances
KeepKey Desktop sends all of those public keys to KeepKey’s servers in one batched request and gets back balances, tokens and prices for every network together. After that it:
- Scans transaction history for each network, so Activity is filled in.
- Watches your addresses for new transactions while the app is open, so incoming payments show up without a refresh.
The servers you use can see which addresses you check. They never receive your keys.
Measured timings
One first load after launching KeepKey Desktop, firmware 7.16.0, every network on (October 2026):
| Step | Time |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin accounts | 6.3 s |
| Bitcoin-style coins (9 public keys, ~1.3 s each) | 11.7 s |
| Other networks (9 addresses, 1.1–1.7 s each) | 13.5 s |
| Balance request to KeepKey’s servers | 1.2 s |
| Total | 35.7 s |
Later loads in the same session were faster: 0.03–1.1 s per network. Timings vary with the device, the firmware and the number of networks.
Making the dashboard lighter
The network picker is new and arrives in an upcoming KeepKey Desktop release. It lets you turn off networks you don’t use:
- A network you turn off isn’t requested from the device or the servers, its history isn’t scanned and its addresses aren’t watched.
- Its balance won’t show until you turn it back on. Your funds aren’t affected; they stay on the blockchain.
- Bitcoin is always on.
- EVM networks save no time when turned off, because their shared address is always read when KeepKey Desktop checks which wallet is connected. Turning them off only tidies the dashboard.
- The bar under the networks estimates the first load from the timings above.
You’ll be asked once on a multi-chain KeepKey. To change it later, open Settings → Networks → Choose networks.
Related
- Portfolio: what the dashboard shows.
- My coins are missing or show 0
- Settings