If you want to start interacting with the Lighting Network and are looking for some of the best wallets for your needs, check out a few below—these range from zero configuration to fully creating your noncustodial own wallet. One user’s best is different than another’s. Some people like complete control and privacy, while others want ease of use. Hopefully, this gives you some perspective across the spectrum of easy-to-complete control. That said, let’s dive in:
An Easy Introductory Wallet
If you are brand new and want as little work as possible with no configuration you can check out Wallet of Satoshi. This mobile Lightning wallet is for iOS and Android. You can send and receive payments, and it has no setup. Your device is a username, and you can back up your wallet with your email. This is probably the easiest way to interact and use Lightning! This wallet is fully custodial and takes a small % of your payments for that convenience. I have used this wallet to play around on Twitter to send and receive small Lightning invoices while scanning QR codes when they pop up from other Bitcoiners—a great introduction to Lightning. I would not keep substantial funds in this wallet.
A Step Up
Another easy-to-use wallet that is gaining popularity is muun. With muun you can also make payments easily while getting some additional features. muun is a self-custodial Bitcoin and Lightning wallet in one. Their wallet has a mempool-based estimator which helps get you fast transactions without overpaying. They also have a multi-factor authentication recovery process with a 2-of-2 multi-signature wallet. This keeps your Bitcoin safe because you will need two keys to spend vs. one. One of the keys is your phone. This wallet is great if you want a Bitcoin and Lighting Wallet all in one. Read more about muun here.
Another popular wallet is Breez, which also has its wallet available on iOS and Android. Breez is doing some amazing work beyond the simple wallet by creating a point of sale for businesses. Their full suite of products serves the individual and business alike which, in the long term will help adoption. The Breez wallet makes it easy and instantaneous to send payments. Our friend BTC Sessions made a great video going over Breeze, check it out.
Others:
Phoenix wallet is a Native Lightning Wallet that is developed by ACINQ. Phoenix is self-custodial, meaning you are holding your keys. Phoenix calls itself a 2nd-generation wallet. They make it easy with no channel management, liquidity issues, or backup headaches to manage. The UX is great and is very intuitive to use. They have a cool list of features and trade-offs you can check out here.
Zeus Wallet is another wallet that comes with great power and requires great responsibility. Zeus is a mobile Bitcoin and Lightning node manager and wallet for lnd, c-lightning, and Eclair. (3 current Lightning implementations). What is cool about Zeus is that you can run a node at home or remotely and then access it from your mobile phone.
One last wallet I have to mention that I have been playing with lately is Zebedee. If you enjoy gaming or want to send smaller transactions Zebedee is great. They have created a Bitcoin Gaming Wallet. Their wallet pairs with their different games and products, allowing you to send Bitcoin by texting in Discord and Telegram. You can claim your own Gamertag to use within their gaming ecosystem, and you will enjoy tons of other features.
There are many wallets out there you can play around with. If you have any favorites you think I should add to this list, give me a shout on Twitter. I put together this list based on my experience. Now go have some fun with Lightning!
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