Decentralized applications or dapps are applications that are built on top of smart contract-enabled blockchain networks like Flare, Ethereum or similar. To use a dApp, you will need to use a wallet with a Web3 browser. Bifrost Wallet has a Web3 browser built in that allows you to interact with dapps.
Once you have set up Bifrost Wallet, you can access dApps simply by visiting their website in the in-app Web3 browser. Below is a step by step tutorial showcasing how to connect to two different dApps, Compound Finance and Pangolin Exchange.
First, navigate to the browser tab in Bifrost Wallet. You'll find a search bar where you can search for a dapp or type a URL directly. Below it you'll find a bookmarks section where bookmarked dapps will appear.
Once you're in the browser view, either enter the URL to your desired dApp or search for it with its name.
When we've entered the dApp, it is time to connect the wallet to the dApp. There is usually a button on the front page asking you to connect. Here we can see that the connect button is in the top right corner.
After pressing the connect button, we are being presented with a couple of connection options. There are two options for Bifrost Wallet users, the most common one is called Metamask, this option is using a technique called web3 injection and is the standard connection method used by Bifrost Wallet and web3 wallets. The other connection method that can be used is Wallet Connect.
Once you have selected a connection option, you are being presented with a dialog that requests you to confirm the connection to the dApp. Here, you are also able to change the network you are connecting to. Often, the network that is requested is the one that the dApp has support for.
In the dApp you can make actions that trigger transactions on the blockchain, these transactions needs to be confirmed by you before they are being submitted to the network. In the Compound dApp we can trigger a transaction by adding some COMP as collateral. The transaction that triggers is decoded and provides you with insights to what transaction you are about to sign. Here you can see that the smart contract that you are about to interact with has the address 0x3d9819210...9b9c9cd3b. The method call that is going to be executed on the smart contract is called "Enter Markets" and the argument to this method call is the address of the ERC20 token COMP.
It's important to note that in order to execute transactions on the network you will need to pay transaction fees. These fees are paid in the native cryptocurrency of the network and in this example it is Ether (ETH). Make sure you have enough Ether in your wallet to cover any fees you may incur while using dApps.
If you are frequently visiting a dApp it is useful to add a bookmark to the dApp so that you don't have to enter the address everytime. This can be done by pressing the three dots in the web3 browser and select "Add Bookmark" in the dropdown menu that is presented.
The bookmark will then show up in your Web3 browser overview.
