The app says my account needs activating
A brand new XRP Ledger account does not exist on the network until it receives its first 1 XRP. Until then the app shows an activation card and you cannot send or swap XRP. Tokens on other networks are separate: you can receive and hold them before activating. Once the first XRP arrives the account is active, and 1 XRP of it stays locked as the reserve.
How it shows up
- There is an 'Activate your XRP account' card on my wallet
- I created a wallet and can't send or swap XRP
- It says I need to deposit 1 XRP first
- My address shows as not found on the explorer
- Someone sent me 0.5 XRP and it never arrived
You can fix this yourself
No need to contact support: the steps below are the whole fix.
How support confirms it
- Look the address up on xrpscan.com. 'Account not found' means it was never funded: the card is correct.
- If the explorer shows a balance of 1 XRP or more, the account is active and the app is stale: ask the user to pull to refresh and, failing that, escalate as a display bug with the address.
- If a deposit was sent, ask for the sender's transaction hash and check where it actually went (address, network, amount after fees).
What is going on
Creating a wallet in the app generates your keys and your address, but the XRP Ledger only creates the account when the address receives its first deposit of at least 1 XRP, the base reserve. Until that happens the ledger has never heard of your address, so it cannot send or swap XRP, and Activity stays empty. Tokens on other networks are held separately: you can receive and hold them before activating.
Nothing is broken. This is how every XRP Ledger wallet works, including exchanges and hardware wallets.
If someone sent you less than 1 XRP before the account existed, the ledger refused that payment and the XRP stayed with the sender. Nothing was lost: ask them to send at least 1 XRP.
The fix
- Tap Deposit on the activation card, or Receive on the wallet home.
- Pick XRP on the XRP Ledger network. Only that can activate the account.
- Copy your address or show the QR, and send at least 1 XRP to it from an exchange, another wallet, or a friend. You can also tap Buy and pay by card.
- The card disappears the moment the funds land, usually within a few seconds of the sending side confirming.
Still showing after the deposit?
- Check the address you sent to matches the one in the app, first and last characters.
- Check the amount was at least 1 XRP after the sender's own fees. Exchanges sometimes deduct a withdrawal fee from the amount. A first deposit under 1 XRP is refused by the ledger and stays with the sender: it does not queue up, it simply never happens.
- Look the address up on an XRP Ledger explorer such as xrpscan.com. If the explorer shows a balance, pull down on the wallet home to refresh. If the explorer says the account does not exist, the deposit has not arrived on the ledger and the sender needs to check their side.
Support playbook: how to investigate
How the support agent confirms what happened before answering. Every issue page points here. The ledger and the bridge are public, so almost every question can be settled by looking rather than guessing.
The Activity list does not match what the explorer shows
Activity is a convenience view, the ledger is the truth. Payments made from another device, a duplicated row, or a swap whose visible hash is only its first leg all make the two disagree without anything being wrong with your funds.