Still just a mobile wallet? [BlueWallet]

[Decimation]

Used BlueWallet a few years ago as an alternative to the well-known Mycelium wallet. That experience sparked an interesting discussion on Bitcointalk about BlueWallet. The user-friendliness, Lightning support, self-custody and usability were discussed. At the same time, custodial Lightning wallets, hardware wallets and some technical concerns

When I started using BlueWallet, I particularly liked its features. Among them were the benefits of the Lightning Network and the GS custodial Lightning service. Later BlueWallet will sunset their hosted LndHub service and focus more on self-custody solutions.
Recently, BlueWallet's feature set only includes many advanced options such as watch-wallet, multisig vault, hardware-wallet/PSBT support, currency control and connection to your own Bitcoin node.

Is BlueWallet still just a mobile wallet, or has it evolved into a comprehensive Bitcoin self-custody tool?

For those of you who have used BlueWallet, what would you say about the current BlueWallet? What changes or features have you found most meaningful compared to the older version, in particular?

I think the best answer to this question is the actual experience of experienced users. Actually I used BlueWallet personally, but am only a casual user. Thank you.

[Charles-Tim]

Is BlueWallet still just a mobile wallet, or has it evolved into a comprehensive Bitcoin self-custody tool?

Bluewallet has been the best bitcoin mobile wallet, then followed by Electrum. It has almost all the features that a good bitcoin mobile wallet should have.

On Bluewallet, you can now pay with less than 1 sat/vbyye if the mempool is not congested. The wallet open faster than before. These are the two that come to my mind, but there has always been improvements.

You can be reading what is posted on this thread which answers your question: [Tutorial] BlueWallet - Bitcoin Wallet Discussion

You can also read about the past updates on the thread.

[Zaguru12]

Is BlueWallet still just a mobile wallet, or has it evolved into a comprehensive Bitcoin self-custody tool?

No BlueWallet has actually evolved passed just been a mobile wallet only, while it started off as a mobile wallet BlueWallet also has its desktop version long term ago, but the only reason why it’s still very much associated with been a mobile wallet is simply because electrum wallet already has that functionality of a very good desktop wallet and many are sticking to it.

As a mobile wallet, BlueWallet is simply one of the best bitcoin only wallet with features that were only available to desktop wallets, from having multisig, to PSBT support which makes it easily compatible to some hardware wallets and all other bitcoin network features.

While it’s actually a hot wallet it is compatible as cold wallet too as it can be used on airgapped device too

[Charles-Tim]

No BlueWallet has actually evolved passed just been a mobile wallet only, while it started off as a mobile wallet BlueWallet also has its desktop version long term ago, but the only reason why it’s still very much associated with been a mobile wallet is simply because electrum wallet already has that functionality of a very good desktop wallet and many are sticking to it.

To make this clearer, Bluewallet is available on Android, iOS and macOS.

The reason people are saying it is not available on desktop despite that it is available on macOS is because is not available on Windows and other desktop operating systems like Linux.

[Decimation]

Bluewallet has been the best bitcoin mobile wallet, then followed by Electrum. It has almost all the features that a good bitcoin mobile wallet should have.

Agree with you that BlueWallet's simplicity is one of its biggest strengths. That's why I think BlueWallet's specialty is not only being beginner-friendly, but also providing a great service to experienced users, in addition to being easy for all users.

On Bluewallet, you can now pay with less than 1 sat/vbyye if the mempool is not congested. The wallet open faster than before. These are the two that come to my mind, but there has always been improvements.

Transactions are completed within a shorter time than before and have become friendly for users.

As a mobile wallet, BlueWallet is simply one of the best bitcoin only wallet with features that were only available to desktop wallets, from having multisig, to PSBT support which makes it easily compatible to some hardware wallets and all other bitcoin network features.

The matter of multisig is also important here because instead of depending on a single key or single device, multiple keys can be kept in separate devices or locations. As a result, the security model changes a lot in the case of large amounts of Bitcoin. From this point of view, seeing BlueWallet only as a mobile wallet may not fully represent its current capability.

[nc50lc]

I think the best answer to this question is the actual experience of experienced users. Actually I used BlueWallet personally, but am only a casual user. Thank you.

There's also the option of extensive research.

For starters, here are BlueWallet's official ANN thread in Wallet Software board and alpha version in GitHub:

• [ANN] BlueWallet - opensource iOS wallet app (started as iOS-only mobile wallet)
• github.com/BlueWallet/BlueWallet/tree/66def3dc5cfd08c134b5880c5a80f34df4762140#v100-alpha

Second link shows that most of those features are already in the roadmap, years in advance before those are implemented.
That indicates that it's not planned to stay as just a "Mobile Wallet" if your definition of it is: "basic features".