A Better Way for Wallets to Connect to Your Ledger

Before You Dive In: 

• A modern piece of technology called the Device Management Kit (DMK) is rolling out across the software wallets that connect to Ledger signers.
• If you use a software wallet like MetaMask, Rabby, Phantom, or Xverse alongside your Ledger, this affects you – in a good way.
• Most major wallets have already upgraded or are in the process of doing so, and you likely won’t notice anything except a smoother experience, but the article walks through the steps to check and how to stay connected.
• Important to know: if a wallet you use hasn’t upgraded by mid-September 2026, signing transactions through it may stop working. This is a wallet-side upgrade – not a Ledger issue.

Every time you use your Ledger signer with a software wallet, there is a technology layer connecting the two. It enables the wallet to communicate with your Ledger, send transaction details to its secure screen, and receive your approval.

Ledger is upgrading that layer.

The Device Management Kit (DMK) is Ledger’s new standard for connecting software wallets and dApps to Ledger signers. It replaces LedgerJS, the technology that has powered Ledger integrations across the ecosystem for nearly a decade.

The DMK is built for how people use crypto today: across multiple chains, multiple wallets, and increasingly complex transactions. It gives wallet developers a more reliable connection to Ledger signers while creating a better, clearer signing experience for you.

Many leading wallets have already made the move. If yours is one of them, you are already benefiting from the upgrade.

What Gets Better

The DMK improves the experience from the moment you connect your Ledger to the moment you approve a transaction.

More reliable connections. The DMK dramatically reduces connectivity failures compared with LedgerJS, meaning fewer moments where a wallet fails to detect your signer or unexpectedly loses its connection.

The right app, automatically. When a wallet needs a particular blockchain app on your Ledger signer, the DMK can open it automatically. That means fewer interruptions and fewer “wrong app open” errors.

Support for multiple Ledger signers. Wallets can connect to and interact with multiple Ledger signers at the same time, whether you use Ledger Flex™, Ledger Stax™, Ledger Nano™ Gen5, or a combination of devices.

More awareness of what your signer is doing. The DMK gives wallets real-time information about whether your Ledger is connected, locked, busy, or disconnected, so they can guide you through a transaction instead of simply failing when something changes.

Clearer signing. The DMK includes native support for Clear Signing, Ledger’s approach to making transaction details understandable before you approve them.

Instead of asking you to trust unreadable data, Clear Signing is designed to show you what an action actually does on your Ledger screen – what asset is moving, where it is going, and what you are approving.

That matters because the secure screen on your Ledger signer is where trust should end and verification should begin.

The Transition From LedgerJS

LedgerJS has served Ledger users and wallet developers for nearly a decade. But the ecosystem it was designed for has changed significantly.

Wallets are now multi-chain by default. Transactions have become more complex. New signing standards require richer information to move securely between wallets and Ledger devices. And users rightly expect hardware wallet connections to be as reliable as the rest of the experience.

The DMK, launched in February 2024, was built for that environment.

As part of this transition, support for the legacy LedgerJS integration is coming to an end. From mid-September 2026, an update to how Ledger signers process certain transaction types means wallets that remain on the legacy integration will no longer be able to sign through Ledger as they do today.

This does not mean anything is changing about your Ledger signer, your recovery phrase, your accounts, or your assets.

The change is in the software wallet’s Ledger integration.

If the wallet you use has already upgraded to the DMK, there is nothing you need to do.

If it has not, you may encounter signing failures with that wallet after the transition until its developers complete the upgrade.

The Ecosystem Is Already Moving

This transition is well underway.

Zerion, Ambire, Jupiter, MoonPay Agents and Rabby have already upgraded to the DMK. Others including Metamask and Xverse are actively working on their migrations.

For wallet developers, the DMK is free, open-source, permissionless, and designed to make upgrading straightforward. There is no approval process required to adopt it.

That matters for users too: Ledger is not creating a closed integration layer. We are giving the ecosystem a modern foundation that any wallet can build on.

What You Can Do

For most Ledger users, there is no action required.

If the software wallet you use has already announced support for the DMK, you are set.

If you are unsure, check the wallet’s release notes, support documentation, or official channels for references to the Ledger Device Management Kit or DMK.

And if your wallet has not yet shared its plans, ask its support team whether it intends to migrate before the September transition. There is still time for wallet teams to upgrade, and wallets that migrate after September can restore Ledger compatibility once they do.

A note on Ledger Wallet™. If you’re weighing your options, Ledger’s own companion app is worth a look. Ledger Wallet™ pairs natively with your signer and now delivers the kind of features you’d expect from a modern trading platform – real-time P&L, 50+ providers competing across 100+ chains, gas-free swaps, cross-chain execution, and an Earn Simulator — all secured by the same hardware you already trust. Since it’s built and maintained by Ledger, DMK compatibility isn’t something you need to check for. It’s already there.

What This Change Does – and Doesn’t – Mean

A few things are worth making explicit.

• Your Ledger signer is not becoming obsolete. This is an upgrade to the technology software wallets use to communicate with it.
• Your keys and recovery phrase are not affected. The transition does not change where your private keys are stored or how your Ledger protects them.
• There is nothing for you to download because of the DMK. The integration work happens on the wallet side.
• Ledger users are not being charged for the DMK. It is an open-source SDK for developers.
• A wallet missing the September transition is not permanently incompatible with Ledger. Its developers can still upgrade to the DMK afterward.

Building the Next Standard for Ledger Integrations

Ledger has spent years pushing the industry toward one principle: don’t trust, verify.

That principle applies not only to where your keys are stored, but to the entire experience around signing a transaction.

The DMK is the next step. It gives wallets a modern, open foundation for connecting to Ledger signers. It makes those connections more dependable. It supports the increasingly multi-chain world Ledger users operate in. And it expands what wallets can show you clearly and securely before you sign.

The hardware in your hands remains the root of trust.

What is changing is the infrastructure around it – so that every wallet building with Ledger can deliver an experience worthy of that trust.

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Getting Started

The DMK is how software wallets connect to Ledger today, tomorrow, and across every chain Ledger supports. Faster, cleaner, and multi-chain by design.

The DMK is open-source and self-service. You can find full documentation on the Ledger Developers landing page and the repository on GitHub.

For teams that want direct migration support, reach out to the Devrel team.