A great lesser known wallet! [BlueWallet]

[Decimation]

Recently after getting tired of switching from wallet to wallet (couldn't find one I really liked), I did some research and found "Bluewallet" as a listed alternative to the well-known Mycelium wallet. I had never heard of it before, but decided to give it a try since I was desperate to find a wallet I liked.

After trying the app, I'm so surprised it's as obscure as it is, considering how quality the app is. It mimics Myceliums simplicity and adds a lot of flexibility.

It's super simple, but gives you the power to do whatever you want. Here are some of my favorite features that Bluewallet offers, which will hopefully convince you to try it out:


Importing wallets
Probably my favorite feature that a lot of apps don't offer, is the extensive support for importing wallets.

Currently supported: BIP44 (HD), BIP49 (HD SegWit), BIP84 (HD bech32, native SegWit), BIP39 Breadwallet-compatible (m/0'/0/0), Legacy single-address, SegWit single-address (P2SH).


Full access to private keys
Another super important feature for me is the ability to easily access keys, so that I can have them whenever needed. A lot of other wallets make it really annoying to try and find keys, but bluewallet makes it really simple.

On your Bitcoin wallet your Private keys never leave your device. 
You are in full control of your private keys. You can at any moment generate backups and export/import your wallets, with full control of what to do with your private keys.


Flexibility
Bluewallet's description:

"Starting from 1 Satoshi.
 Defined by you, with full flexibility on the amount you want to add to your transaction. blue wallet also provides you a fee estimation to give you an idea how much to add to your transaction to be included on the next block."

I always find the ability to customize fees, extremely useful and as almost a necessity at this point.

You can see countless other features they offer here, including upcoming features which are currently in development. Bluewallet has full transparency since it's open-source, and has an active development team.


Security
Never worry about losing your crypto with 3fa technology:

"On top of the phone multi-layer encryption, blue wallet can encrypt everyting with an added password. Biometric security (touch ID, Face ID) is not safe, so you will have an aditional password to encrypt your wallet instead."


Visit their website

Disclaimer: I use Bluewallet personally, but am only a casual user. Feel free to ask me any questions!

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[pooya87]

i think the lack of popularity of this wallet stems from the fact that it is a phone wallet not a desktop one. other than that it seems like one of the most active projects out there not to mention old, and the number of features and the quality of them are pretty good.
it also supports lightning network, although it seems to be a custodial wallet which is a bit strange. i have to look into it more.

a suggestion: include the name in the title.
i'm out of merit to give you

[Rath_]

it also supports lightning network, although it seems to be a custodial wallet which is a bit strange. i have to look into it more.

You can connect to an LND node if you run one, but LndHub needs to be installed. It allows users to create separate Lightning accounts. Not a big deal, I had to download lndconnect in order to use Zap mobile.

[HCP]

After a brief play with Bluewallet, about the only thing that bothers me is that there is no "dark" theme.

Other than that... it doesn't look too bad. I'll have to experiment some more and see how it goes.

[Lucius]

HCP, after you experiment with this wallet, can you compare it with Electrum Android?

I have to admit that this is first time to hear about this wallet, and it seems that this is a very serious project. For me (and probably anyone else) is important that users is in full control of private keys. It is also nice to have LN support, some people tested this some 6 months ago on this wallet and everything worked perfectly - means that today it can only be even better.

I've been testing Blue Wallet on main net for almost a week now. I tried every possible service with incoming and outgoing payments. I converted BTC with zigzag back and force, I tipped here, I used yalls, I played multiple games, and used maybe a dozen other things multiple times. I tested with anything and anybody I could find. The LN payments worked every single time, never failed once. On average payments took 1-2 seconds, feels much faster than a credit card. Scanning QR codes was painless and fast. I didn't have to fill out anything, like with credit cards, I didn't have to worry about my information stolen, or the amount to be incorrect. I could pay as small amounts as fractions of a cent. It was a really pleasant experience overall every time.

I know Blue Wallet is custodial, but the objective of the testing was to see if LN can be a reliable method for everyday spending. And I can categorically say that it is. It's better than any other payment method in many ways. I highly recommend you trying it out as well with a small amount of funds.

[Decimation]

i think the lack of popularity of this wallet stems from the fact that it is a phone wallet not a desktop one. other than that it seems like one of the most active projects out there not to mention old, and the number of features and the quality of them are pretty good.
it also supports lightning network, although it seems to be a custodial wallet which is a bit strange. i have to look into it more.

a suggestion: include the name in the title.
i'm out of merit to give you

Yea that's probably true, although it's the same thing with most good mobile wallets (Mycelium). The whole reason I tried this wallet in the first place was because there was no Electrum app for iPhone. With Bluewallet though I was able to import my keys which no other app was really able to do from another wallet. While I'm not really well versed in how this stuff works, Bluewallet seems to be at the forefront of cross compatibility and security which looks pretty promising.

After a brief play with Bluewallet, about the only thing that bothers me is that there is no "dark" theme.

Other than that... it doesn't look too bad. I'll have to experiment some more and see how it goes.

I think most people (including myself) would be okay with giving up some features such as dark theme for more functional ones. I mean... who doesn't want to burn their eyes out at 2 AM while looking at their phone anyways? I still think its a pretty sexy wallet compared to most other mobile ones though

HCP, after you experiment with this wallet, can you compare it with Electrum Android?

I have to admit that this is first time to hear about this wallet, and it seems that this is a very serious project. For me (and probably anyone else) is important that users is in full control of private keys. It is also nice to have LN support, some people tested this some 6 months ago on this wallet and everything worked perfectly - means that today it can only be even better.

I've been testing Blue Wallet on main net for almost a week now. I tried every possible service with incoming and outgoing payments. I converted BTC with zigzag back and force, I tipped here, I used yalls, I played multiple games, and used maybe a dozen other things multiple times. I tested with anything and anybody I could find. The LN payments worked every single time, never failed once. On average payments took 1-2 seconds, feels much faster than a credit card. Scanning QR codes was painless and fast. I didn't have to fill out anything, like with credit cards, I didn't have to worry about my information stolen, or the amount to be incorrect. I could pay as small amounts as fractions of a cent. It was a really pleasant experience overall every time.

I know Blue Wallet is custodial, but the objective of the testing was to see if LN can be a reliable method for everyday spending. And I can categorically say that it is. It's better than any other payment method in many ways. I highly recommend you trying it out as well with a small amount of funds.

Wow I'm 99% sure that's the exact Reddit post I found when I was researching wallet alternatives. I really hope this wallet gains some popularity, as I'm sure many others would love to use it and enjoy it's unique features. I agree that it's super important to allow user's 100% to their private keys which most other mobile wallets don't support. I have high hopes for this wallet!

[GreatArkansas]

Does BlueWallet also support some hardware wallets? Just like Trezor Wallet where you can operate your hardware wallet with another bitcoin wallet without entering your private keys anymore to another bitcoin wallet.
Since I already tried Trezor wallet with Mycelium only, the user-interface of Blue Wallet seems much better to compare to Mycelium.

[pooya87]

Does BlueWallet also support some hardware wallets? Just like Trezor Wallet where you can operate your hardware wallet with another bitcoin wallet without entering your private keys anymore to another bitcoin wallet.
Since I already tried Trezor wallet with Mycelium only, the user-interface of Blue Wallet seems much better to compare to Mycelium.

since this is a "phone wallet" and i don't know of any hardware wallet that you could connect to your phone most of all Trezor, i am going to say no it does not support it.
and it should not do that, you should use phone wallets for carry around money not to connect your major funds in cold storage to it.

[bob123]

since this is a "phone wallet" and i don't know of any hardware wallet that you could connect to your phone most of all Trezor, i am going to say no it does not support it.

Mycelium, for example, supports the Trezor, KeepKey and Ledger to be used.

IMO a (really) good wallet should support hardware wallets, even though it might not be necessary because most people probably store the majority of their coins on the hardware wallet at home, while only carrying a small (pocket money) amount with them (on a mobile wallet).

[GreatArkansas]

~snip
and it should not do that, you should use phone wallets for carry around money not to connect your major funds in cold storage to it.

Thanks for the answer. I'm a little bit confused. You mean, I should not use my phone to connect my hardware wallet?
Like for example, I want to generate a new address on my hardware wallet, I should not use my phone to do it?

[bob123]

Thanks for the answer. I'm a little bit confused. You mean, I should not use my phone to connect my hardware wallet?
Like for example, I want to generate a new address on my hardware wallet, I should not use my phone to do it?

No, that's not a problem.

What pooya87 (most probably) meant is that you shouldn't carry your hardware wallet with you all the time (to use it with your mobile).

A hardware wallet is used for long term and secure storage. Your mobile wallet should be used for every-day spendings.

However, if you have 2 hw's you can of course use one for your long term storage (securely stored at home) and the second one for your every-day spendings. That's definitely more secure than just using a mobile wallet.


Creating new receiving addresses on your mobile is not a problem at all. You don't even need to connect your HW to do that.
Connecting your mobile with your HW itself is not a problem either.

You just shouldn't carry all of your funds (a.k.a. the private keys) with you all the time.

[Darker45]

[/i]
Bluewallet has full transparency since it's open-source...

Aside from the amazing support for importing wallets, this is perhaps the best feature of this mobile wallet.

Since you said you made a research as to the best available iOS wallet, have you encountered other wallets that are also open-sourced? When I did my little research, every wallet that is available to iPhone that I encountered was closed-sourced.

Thanks, OP!

[pooya87]

since this is a "phone wallet" and i don't know of any hardware wallet that you could connect to your phone most of all Trezor, i am going to say no it does not support it.

Mycelium, for example, supports the Trezor, KeepKey and Ledger to be used.

IMO a (really) good wallet should support hardware wallets, even though it might not be necessary because most people probably store the majority of their coins on the hardware wallet at home, while only carrying a small (pocket money) amount with them (on a mobile wallet).

my thought were since phones don't have a USB port you can't use hardware wallets with them unless a special one is created to connect to the Micro-USB port of smart phones.
... i wasn't thinking of OTG cables

you were correct about the following, i still find it weird that this feature exists in Mycelium, i wonder if it was added by popular demand.

What pooya87 (most probably) meant is that you shouldn't carry your hardware wallet with you all the time (to use it with your mobile).

[ncoelho]

Hi there,

I'm Nuno from bluewallet, this feedback is really great and unexpected, glad to see the wallet is useful. Happy to answer any questions or doubts.

v4.2.0 just hit the app stores, now with the ability to connect yo your own full node, I think it is the first iOS wallet that allows that?! At least one of the few.
https://medium.com/bluewallet/bluewallet-4-2-0-d31c7c4487fa

[PrimeNumber7]

Full access to private keys

This is only true for their "on chain" wallet and not their LN wallet, both of which are available within the app. The Blue Wallet LN wallet is custodial, meaning the operator of Blue Wallet has control and custody of the coin within an open LN channel. Blue Wallet advertises their LN wallet to be intended for only small amounts of coin.

[LoyceV]

it also supports lightning network, although it seems to be a custodial wallet which is a bit strange. i have to look into it more.

I actually use it because it's custodial. That makes using the Lightning Network much easier than opening your own channel, and protects me from (high) on-chain channel closing fees. For large amounts I wouldn't recommend it, but for small amounts I don't mind trusting Bluewallet with my Lightning Satoshis.

Things I've noticed while using this wallet:
I like that I can easily create a new wallet inside Bluewallet. I haven't used that for serious things, but I can think of a few uses to separate funds.

I'm Nuno from bluewallet, this feedback is really great and unexpected, glad to see the wallet is useful. Happy to answer any questions or doubts.

Welcome Would you mind updating your own thread with the latest information? I think this wallet deserves a stronger presence on Bitcointalk

The Blue Wallet LN wallet is custodial, meaning the operator of Blue Wallet has control and custody of the coin within an open LN channel. Blue Wallet advertises their LN wallet to be intended for only small amounts of coin.

It has pros and cons. Pros: easier and less fees. Cons: they can run away with your money. For large amounts, funding your own channel might give lower overall fees (although I'm not sure about this).

I've funded BlueWallet, it's now waiting for confirmation. It has an annoying bug on Android: when entering the BTC amount, the keyboard doesn't show a decimal dot. I had to copy/paste the amount to be able to send less than 1 Bitcoin.

This is fixed in the latest version.

I also noticed it doesn't instantly update it's balance. That's not really a big problem, but one of the great features of LN is the ability to quickly make many small transactions. It would be nice if the balance can keep up with this.

[lightningmelo]

Full access to private keys

This is only true for their "on chain" wallet and not their LN wallet, both of which are available within the app. The Blue Wallet LN wallet is custodial, meaning the operator of Blue Wallet has control and custody of the coin within an open LN channel. Blue Wallet advertises their LN wallet to be intended for only small amounts of coin.

While this is indeed true, BlueWallet Lightning wallet is custodial by default, you can connect it to your own node using LndHub: https://github.com/BlueWallet/LndHub

This would make it completely non-custodial and an overall really great wallet for both on-chain and Lightning daily use.

[LoyceV]

I'm bumping this for a question: 2 days ago, Google Play informed me about an update.
Since then, Bluewallet doesn't work anymore. I see the logo, followed by a white screen. I have my backup seed, but that's for the Bitcoin addresses. I have only a smalla mount of Bitcoin Lightning in the (custodial) wallet, but I can't find if that's somehow linked to my wallet seed.

That leaves me 2 questions:
1. Am I the only one with this problem?
2. Do I dare to uninstall and reinstall the app?

[joniboini]

I'm bumping this for a question: 2 days ago, Google Play informed me about an update.
Since then, Bluewallet doesn't work anymore. I see the logo, followed by a white screen. I have my backup seed, but that's for the Bitcoin addresses. I have only a smalla mount of Bitcoin Lightning in the (custodial) wallet, but I can't find if that's somehow linked to my wallet seed.

Have you tried clearing the app cache? It sounds like the usual play update that somehow messed up the app data. You might want to back-up the app data with Swift Backup or something similar, uninstall it and then reinstall an older version that works fine for your device if you still want to use it. But well, I can't guarantee anything.

What Android version btw?

[LoyceV]

Have you tried clearing the app cache?

I can't find it from just this app, but I think I've cleared all cache on the tablet.

It sounds like the usual play update that somehow messed up the app data. You might want to back-up the app data with Swift Backup or something similar, uninstall it and then reinstall an older version that works fine for your device if you still want to use it. But well, I can't guarantee anything.

I'll just wait and see if the next update works again, I've never installed older versions of any app.
I tried to start it as a different user on the same device, and without any settings or data it gives the same white screen when it starts.

What Android version btw?

8.1.0