Help me getting the right wallet

[BTC_Bae]

I have been reading this thread for quite a while [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?.

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets; if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets. A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

[LuckyCrypto777]

I have been reading this thread for quite a while [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?.

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets, if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets.
A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

You've correctly identified Electrum as the best cold wallet for you. It's open-source and time-tested. Its interface is a bit complex, but that's the price you pay for its reliability. Don't trust the beautiful and user-friendly Trust Wallet, which is often installed by beginners. Download Electrum from Google Play, never from third-party sites.
Discussion:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0

Wallet types: I've distinguished between hot and cold wallets. Hot wallets are the ones on exchanges, they're not secure, and you don't have the keys to them. Use them only for exchanging small amounts and never for storing your bitcoins.

Cold wallets are divided into hardware wallets and those stored on your own devices, like Electrum, which I mentioned above.
Unfortunately, hardware wallets are currently in crisis; they were previously considered extremely reliable, so approach this issue carefully, reading the latest information from trusted sources.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=261.0

[The Cryptovator]

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

Are you aware of the recent hack of the Ledger hardware wallet? If yes, then you should get a lot of answers from there on how hard it is to choose a hardware wallet. If not yet noticed, then read the news on top of the forum; it’s been reflecting on the left side of the search button.

However, I have also been using the Trezor wallet besides the Ledger Nano. I am not going to trust any more Ledger wallets. So if you want to buy a multi-currency hardware wallet, then you may keep Trezor at your choice. Wait for other users advise as well, but you have to take the right decision. Just make sure you are choosing an open-source hardware wallet and secure your seed phrase safely.

[hd49728]

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets; if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets. A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

Hot and cold wallets.
Non custodial and custodial wallets.
Open source and close source wallets.

To have good wallets, you need to filter and choose from wallets that are non custodial and open source. Hot or cold wallets will be another factor but two first factors are very important, especially non custodial because only non custodial wallets give you private keys.

Open source means the code is available and reproducible so that community can review the wallet scrutiny.
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
https://walletscrutiny.com/
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/wallets/#best-wallets

[Nathrixxx]

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?.

If you see electrum not being a complicated wallet for you to easily grab on the usage, then I will recommend it for any newbie to use, they have both their mobile and desktop version and you have to download it from the official electrum website.

Alternatively, some newbie may find exodus wallet as more easy to understand and if this applies to your own case as well, I may suggest you also consider it and later advance to electrum wallet.

[internetional]

I agree about Electrum. But I don't see the need for a dedicated cold storage device. Just take Ian Coleman's BIP39 tool; generate a seed with it on a device disconnected from the internet; write down both the seed and its corresponding address on paper; transfer whatever you plan to hold long-term to that address - and just like that, you have a cold wallet whose keys have never been exposed on any network-connected device. When you need to withdraw your bitcoins from cold storage - just import that seed into Electrum to access your coins. As for the change, you can generate a new seed phrase in Ian Coleman, grab an address there, and send the remainder to it - right back into cold storage.

[hosemary]

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets.

This isn't a proper classification of wallets.
For example, a software wallet can be used for cold storage, if it's run on an airgapped device. A paper wallet is also a type of cold wallet.

Alternatively, some newbie may find exodus wallet as more easy to understand and if this applies to your own case as well, I may suggest you also consider it and later advance to electrum wallet.

Exodus is close-source, and I would never recommend it.

I agree about Electrum. But I don't see the need for a dedicated cold storage device. Just take Ian Coleman's BIP39 tool; generate a seed with it on a device disconnected from the internet; write down both the seed and its corresponding address on paper; transfer whatever you plan to hold long-term to that address - and just like that, you have a cold wallet whose keys have never been exposed on any network-connected device.

This doesn't make your wallet a cold wallet.
To have a cold wallet, you should generate your keys on an airgapped device. You don't really make your wallet more secure just by disconnecting your device from the internet before generating the keys.

[internetional]

You don't really make your wallet more secure just by disconnecting your device from the internet before generating the keys.

Yeah, I didn't elaborate on what I meant by a device not connected to the network.

Ideally, I think you should take a desktop computer, disconnect all network adapters and hard drives from it, and boot it from a clean portable OS distribution. If you don't have a desktop, you can take a laptop or tablet without cellular connectivity, do a factory reset, and head out somewhere outside the city where there's no Wi-Fi. And only if even that isn't an option could you try a laptop, tablet, or smartphone in airplane mode (also factory reset). Plus, it's better to generate the seed phrase yourself: flip a coin 128 times and feed the results into Ian Coleman's tool.

I didn't write all of that in my last post, though yeah, these details are probably important.

[Lucius]

~snip~
So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

I don't know which manufacturer of hardware devices delivers to India, and even if there are official resellers, I would be very careful due to current events with modified Ledger hardware wallets. The only thing I can recommend is Trezor, but again, it all depends on whether you really need something like that at this moment.

Electrum is a good choice for an Android smartphone, maybe you should also look at BlueWallet, which is also a good mobile wallet for Bitcoin.

Be careful when searching the internet for crypto wallets, especially if you use Chrome or another browser without an adblocker. Scammers often use paid ads to position themselves at the top of the search, so the chances that you will download a fake wallet if you are not careful are very high.