Hello bitcoiners!
I've always liked using watch-only wallets on my smartphone, and after trying many apps, I decided to share my experience by compiling a personal top. Maybe some of you will benefit from my choice. All apps were tested on Android.
Purpose of the article: To tell about my experience of using watch-only wallets, to suggest apps and maybe to help you find the perfect solution for yourself. The focus is on bitcoin watch-only, but the article will also include a multi-currency app that also supports this feature.
Why you need it: It may seem that choosing an app for a watch-only wallet is not that important, but for me it's the external design, high performance and having a wide range of functionality that matters. If the app is FOSS, that's great in general. This article would have helped me a lot in my time, but I couldn't find anything like it, so I had to write it myself. A cry of the soul)
1. Electrum. i don't use
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Let's start with one of the oldest wallets. It has a very outdated design from 10 years ago. Visually it is not very pleasant to use, but the speed of work and functionality of the wallet is at a high level.
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You can change the balance display in BTC or sats.
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There is an opportunity to set a pin-code to enter the application (does not support biometrics), adding several wallets, not quite convenient switching between them, but in general will do. Transaction information is not very nice looking.
2. BlueWallet. i don't use
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Another veteran.
- The application design is much nicer than Electrum.
- Very convenient switching between several wallets.
- Detailed information about transactions (the number of inputs and outputs is indicated), but there is no display of historical rate. Sometimes it is a necessary function.
- Setting biometrics to enter the application.
- From the minuses - very slow cold launch of the application on a powerful smartphone. Weak optimization.
3. Unstoppable. I use
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You can throw tomatoes at me for shitcoins, but this is one of the nicest and most optimized apps out there. No one is stopping you from using it as a bitcoin wathch-only and nailing all the other crap.
- Cool design. UI and UX. This app wants to be used over and over again. There is an option to disable unnecessary features and coins.
- Secure login to the app with pin and biometrics
- Good implementation of switching between wallets
- Clear transaction information with historical rate display. Information about capitalization, analytics and links to social networks
- Balance hiding.
4. Trezor Suit Lite. i don't use
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Trezor needs no introduction. Not long ago, the company released a mobile version of its app, which is still with some minor bugs (which is why I'm not using it yet). The important thing is that it is a purely watch-only wallet. While previous apps can be used as hot wallets, Trezor suite lite can't do that. This increases its appeal to me. Despite the name, the app can be used simply by importing your zpub key from any wallet. It doesn't necessarily have to be Trezor.
- Cool UI design, but the android version has design flaws that I think will be fixed over time. Not very smooth animations, when displaying the address for receiving increases the brightness of the screen, and then does not decrease when leaving this window.
- Detailed information about transactions, convenient display, historical rate.
- Adding multiple accounts and displaying the total amount on these accounts.
- Biometrics to enter the application
- Balance hiding
5. Blockstream Green. My daily dirver
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My choice of daily use fell on this wallet. It can be both hot and watch-only.
- Nice design, nothing superfluous. Smooth operation.
- Adding multiple accounts/accounts. Display total balance, or separately
- Clear transaction information, add labels to transactions
- Biometrics support for logging into the application
- Balance hiding
I hope you find this list useful.
There's also the famous Sentinel app by Samourai, it got an update not too long ago but I'm still looking out for it.
Have a good weekend and a great mood everyone)