Skip to content

Mobile Wallet

What Is A Mobile Wallet?

What Is A Mobile Wallet?

A mobile wallet is a bitcoin wallet that runs on a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android, or tablet. Mobile wallets are free app downloads that are capable of creating a seed phrase, generating bitcoin addresses, as well as sending and receiving bitcoin. Due to their low cost of entry and simple user interfaces, mobile wallets are usually the first type of bitcoin wallet that you will learn how to receive and send bitcoin. Since mobile wallets are on devices that are able to connect directly to the internet via WiFi and cell towers, it’s best practice to not keep more bitcoin in a mobile wallet than you would keep in your physical wallet or purse.

Why Use A Mobile Wallet?

Mobile wallets offer a nice balance between functionality, security, and convenience for both new and experienced users. Mobile devices easily fit in your pocket, have wireless connectivity via WiFi/cell towers, are equipped with cameras, and often have a simplified user interface. These features enable mobile wallets to go with you anywhere, access the internet anywhere that you have Wifi/cell service, scan bitcoin address QR codes, and send bitcoin transactions. They are free and easy to use which makes them the best way to learn about creating a seed phrase, generating your first bitcoin address, receiving your first fraction of a bitcoin, scanning an address QR code, and sending your first bitcoin transaction.

As soon as you’ve figured out how bitcoin works and need more features, you’ll want to learn how to use a desktop wallet. For storing larger amounts of bitcoin, it’s best practice to use a hardware wallet.

The Best Bitcoin Mobile Wallets

When selecting which mobile wallet you would like to use or experiment with, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all of the choices. Some wallets may offer functionality that others do not so it’s important to understand what you are going to use your wallet for and decide which one is best for you.

Here are the best mobile bitcoin wallets that are most used and trusted by the bitcoin community.

Blue Wallet

Blue Wallet is quickly becoming one of the most popular choices amongst bitcoiners for a number of reasons. It is packed with powerful features like the ability to easily generate multiple wallets that can transact both on-chain and on the lightning network.

Blue Wallet is available on iOS, Android, and also has a desktop wallet.

Samourai

Samourai Wallet is an open source, non-custodial mobile bitcoin wallet on Android that offers a number of features designed to give users greater control over their privacy. One of these features is CoinJoin, which allows users to group their transactions together with other users in order to make it more difficult for third parties to perform chain analysis and break down user privacy by tracking who owns what addresses.

Samourai Wallet also supports BIP 47, which allows users to create a unique “PayNym” for each of their contacts. This makes it possible to send and receive payments without knowing your real identity or publicly sharing any personal identifying information.

If you are looking for a privacy focused mobile bitcoin wallet for Android, Samourai is the best in the industry.

Nunchuk

Nunchuk is a unique mobile wallet because it supports single signature transactions but it also offers multisig support. This provides an extra layer of security, since bitcoin can only be spent if multiple keys/people sign a transaction. This means that you and other signers (such as a co-owner of the wallet) would need to sign any transaction before it could be completed.

Nunchuk’s mobile bitcoin wallet is available on both iOS and Android devices. It also has a desktop wallet available on Mac, Linux, and Windows for more signing options.

Muun

Muun is a simple and powerful mobile wallet. With Muun, you can send and receive bitcoin both on-chain and on the lightning network. Part of what makes Muun so powerful is its simplicity. Muun doesn’t bog the user down with all sorts of buttons, settings, and clutter.

Muun is available on iOS and Android.

Green

Green is an incredibly powerful tool for a mobile wallet. It enables the user to harness the power of multiple signatures (multisig) to send bitcoin. This is a unique security feature that is not found on many mobile wallets yet.

Green is available on iOS and Android as well as a desktop wallet.