Sparrow multisig on a Mac: what’s different

TL;DR

A Mac works fine as the signing computer. Only steps 2 and 3 change: you download the .dmg for your chip, verify it with gpg from Homebrew and shasum, and allow each hardware wallet when macOS asks. From step 4 on, everything is the same.

The setup guide uses a Windows laptop. Plenty of people have a spare Mac instead. I haven’t run this setup on a Mac myself, so the steps below follow Sparrow’s own download page and Apple’s support pages, checked October 2026. Where something differs from what you’d see on Windows, it’s listed here.

Not sure which system to pick in the first place? See Windows or Linux. The same reasoning applies to a Mac: a clean computer that does nothing else matters more than the brand.

What changes, at a glance

	Windows (the guide)	Mac
Sparrow download	`Sparrow-2.5.5.msi`	`Sparrow-2.5.5-aarch64.dmg` (Apple silicon) or `-x86_64.dmg` (Intel)
Signature check	Gpg4win	gnupg from Homebrew
Hash check	`CertUtil`	`shasum` (built in)
First launch	SmartScreen warning	Gatekeeper asks if you want to open it
Hardware wallets over USB	Work straight away	Apple silicon laptops ask to allow each new accessory
Makers’ apps	Trezor Suite, BitBoxApp, Ledger Wallet	Same three, macOS versions

What you need

A Mac you’ll use for nothing else. The house rules from step 2 apply unchanged.
macOS updated fully. Ledger Wallet asks for macOS 12 or later, so a very old Mac may not do.
A USB-C adapter or cable if a device came with a USB-A cable and your Mac only has USB-C.
About an hour for the setup below.

Prepare the Mac

Back up anything you want to keep, then reset the Mac: System Settings → General → Transfer or Reset → Erase All Content and Settings. Apple offers this on Macs with Apple silicon or a T2 chip running macOS Monterey or later. On older Macs, reinstall macOS from Recovery.
During setup, skip signing in with your everyday Apple Account. Without it there’s no iCloud Drive syncing your files and no Universal Clipboard, which copies whatever you copy to your other Apple devices nearby. Clipboard sync is exactly what the guide tells you to switch off on Windows.
Run Software Update until nothing is left.
Leave FileVault (disk encryption) on and set a strong login password.
Install the makers’ apps from their own sites: Trezor Suite, BitBoxApp and Ledger Wallet all have macOS versions. Type each address yourself.

Download and verify Sparrow

Apple silicon Macs (M1 and later) need the aarch64 file, Intel Macs the x86_64 one. You’ll find your chip under Apple menu → About This Mac. Version 2.5.5 is current at the time of writing; use whatever the download page shows.

You need gpg. On Windows that’s Gpg4win. On a Mac I’d use the gnupg package from Homebrew, the widely used package manager from brew.sh. GPG Suite is the other known option, but its website currently only offers a beta build for the newest macOS, so I’d skip it for now.

Open Terminal and install Homebrew with the command shown on brew.sh. Type the address yourself.
Run brew install gnupg.
Type sparrowwallet.com/download into the address bar yourself. Download three files into your Downloads folder: the .dmg for your chip, sparrow-2.5.5-manifest.txt and sparrow-2.5.5-manifest.txt.asc.
Download the developer’s key from keybase.io/craigraw/pgp_keys.asc into the same folder.
Run the commands below. The fingerprint must match exactly, as in step 3: compare it with the download page and one other source.
gpg --verify should say Good signature from “Craig Raw”. The warning that the key isn’t certified with a trusted signature is normal.
shasum --check should print the name of your .dmg followed by OK.

cd ~/Downloads
gpg --import pgp_keys.asc
gpg --fingerprint [email protected]
expected: D4D0 D320 2FC0 6849 A257 B38D E946 1833 4C67 4B40
gpg --verify sparrow-2.5.5-manifest.txt.asc sparrow-2.5.5-manifest.txt
shasum --check sparrow-2.5.5-manifest.txt --ignore-missing

The signature proves the manifest comes from the developer. The shasum line proves your .dmg is the file listed in it. You need both, same as on Windows. Anything doesn’t match? Don’t install. Delete the files and start again.

Install and the Gatekeeper prompt

Open the .dmg, drag Sparrow into Applications, eject the disk image and start Sparrow from Applications. The Mac app is signed with the developer’s Apple certificate, so macOS should only ask whether you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Check that it says Sparrow and click Open.

Don’t override a harder warning

If macOS says the app is damaged, or that it can’t check it for malware, don’t go to Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Something is wrong with the file. Delete it, download it again and verify it again.

Get Sparrow only from sparrowwallet.com. Fake “Sparrow” apps have turned up in app stores before.

Then connect Sparrow to its server exactly as in step 3: Public Server, electrum.blockstream.info, Test Connection. Later updates can be checked inside Sparrow with Tools → Verify Download.

Hardware wallets and USB

On a Mac laptop with Apple silicon, the first time you plug in each hardware wallet macOS asks Do you want to connect the USB accessory to this Mac? Click Allow. If you click Don’t Allow by mistake, unplug it and plug it in again, or look under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessories. Leave that setting on its default, Ask for new accessories.

Unlike on Linux, there are no udev rules to add on a Mac, and there’s no extra driver to install.

Everything else

From step 4 (initialize the devices) through step 10 (rehearse a recovery), follow the guide as written. The derivation path, the descriptor backup, registering the wallet on the BitBox02 and the Ledger and the test transaction don’t depend on the operating system. For the recovery rehearsal, a second user account on the Mac gives you a fresh Sparrow, just like the second Windows account in the guide.

Common mistakes

Downloading the Intel .dmg on an Apple silicon Mac, or the other way round.
Installing a “Sparrow” app from an App Store.
Signing in with your everyday Apple Account, so the clipboard and files sync to your phone.
Clicking Open Anyway after macOS warns about the file.
Skipping the shasum line because the signature was good.