Sparrow Wallet v1.8.5: Whirlpool Over Decentralized Soroban

• "This release updates the Whirlpool client, which now uses the decentralized Soroban network to communicate with the coordinator. This represents a significant first step in decentralizing the Whirlpool coinjoin service."
• "Initial server connections should now be faster with optimizations to fee rate fetching. Sparrow also now indicates more clearly when it is disconnected, with an instruction on how to connect again."

"Running Sparrow using a different home folder to store wallets and settings was always possible from the command line, but now you can restart Sparrow in a different home folder more easily using the Tools menu."

• "Further improvements include hyperlinks to common functions when no wallet is open, display of SeedQRs, retention of seeds when changing a wallet's output descriptor, and several other features."

What's changed

• Implement the Samourai Whirlpool 1.0.6 client using the decentralized Soroban network (@zeroleak)
• Add Restart in (different) Home Folder to the Tools menu
• Connect faster by using cached fee rate estimates on initial server connections if available, then retrieving from the fee rate source immediately afterwards
• Indicate if disconnected on startup, and display this status with an instruction on how to connect for several minutes
• Add New Wallet, Open Wallet and Import Wallet hyperlinks to the background text shown when no tabs are open
• Add a button to display the SeedQR for a seed on the seed display dialog (after showing a warning)
• Support cookie authentication for Tor control port (add user to debian-tor or similar group for permission to read cookie file)
• Change unselected tabs to be lighter colored than selected tabs in Dark Theme
• Use UNIX sockets in Sparrow Home for instance checks and message passing, with system symlink to find existing instances for files and URIs
• Always bring the first Sparrow instance to the foreground when a second conflicting instance is automatically closed
• Set the default derivation for BIP39 and xprv imports to the current keystore derivation
• Keep any existing seeds with matching fingerprints when changing a wallet's output descriptor, rederiving the xpub if necessary
• Disable the manifest field in the Download Verify dialog if the signature signs the release file directly
• Upgrade to HWI 3.0.0 (reduces problems caused by anti-virus and scanning for emulator ports)
• Upgrade to PGPainless 1.6.7 with basic modules support
• Supporting importing labels from an Electrum history CSV using the Import Wallet > Wallet Labels function
• Close the QR display dialog for the current fresh address on the Receive tab when the current address updates
• Bug fix: Fix message signing by QR with no action on the Scan QR button
• Bug fix: Avoid adding a block explorer to the transaction context menu when configured to None
• Bug fix: Fix script display of uncompressed pubkeys
• Bug fix: Handle import of ur:crypto-hdkey without a source fingerprint
• Bug fix: Handle Coldcard singlesig file imports containing P2SH-P2WSH types

Announcement
GitHub Repo