You’ve heard about token approvals. You know they’re a risk. You’ve been meaning to do something about it. Here’s the five-minute version.
Minute 1: Scan
Go to AllowanceGuard. Paste your wallet address. You don’t need to connect your wallet or create an account. The scan runs across all supported chains automatically.
Minute 2: Read the Results
You’ll see a list of every active token approval your wallet has. Each one shows: the token, the spender (the contract you gave permission to), the amount approved, and a risk score. Focus on the ones marked Critical or High. These are the approvals most likely to cause you harm if exploited.
Minute 3: Understand What You’re Looking At
An “unlimited” approval means the spender can move your entire balance of that token at any time. A “stale” approval means you haven’t interacted with the spender recently — it’s a forgotten permission. An “unverified” spender means the contract’s source code hasn’t been published. Any of these is a reason to revoke.
Minute 4: Revoke the Worst Ones
Connect your wallet (you’ll need to sign the revocation transactions). Start with any approval marked Critical. Click “Revoke.” Your wallet will ask you to confirm a transaction — this sets the approval to zero. Cost: a few cents on L2 chains, a few dollars on Ethereum mainnet. You can batch multiple revocations to save gas.
Minute 5: Set a Reminder
Open your calendar. Set a monthly reminder: “Audit wallet approvals.” The scan takes under a minute once you know what you’re looking at. Security isn’t a one-time event — it’s a habit. Five minutes a month is all it takes.
What’s Next
If you want to go deeper:
- Read What Are Token Allowances for the full explanation
- Read A Non-Technical Guide to Reading Token Approvals to understand every column on the dashboard
- Set up continuous monitoring (Pro tier) so you get alerted automatically when a new risky approval appears
Five minutes. That’s all it takes to go from “I should probably do something about this” to “I’ve done it.”