Since wallets are a familiar term for storing money, the digital version has the same name. There are many (many!) different wallets you can use, but we’ll start with the two basic categories: cold storage and hot wallets.
Cold storage refers to a wallet that is not connected to the internet and refers to any offline device, including a piece of paper. No one can steal your money unless they obtain the physical device first. Your public and private keys are not at risk to hackers, but still need to be kept safe from loss or damage.
The other category is “hot wallets.” These wallets are connected to the internet in order to make transactions – send or receive bitcoin. While hot wallets do have security features, there remains some risk of hacking.
Best practice is to keep most of your money in a cold storage device, and only transfer what is needed for a transaction to the hot wallet kept on a different device.
All bitcoin wallets use some combination of hardware and software. The combinations are infinite and ever-changing as new devices and programs are created. Currently though, there are three classes of devices: mobile, desktop, and stand-alone hardware.
Best Mobile Bitcoin Wallets for Smartphones & Tablets
The short answer:
| For Apple iOS | For Android |
| BRD | Bitcoin Wallet |
| Edge | BRD |
| BLW/Eclair Mobile |
The long answer:
If you do some checking on the respective app stores, you’re going to learn that these choices do not necessarily correspond to user ratings. The Blockchain Wallet Bitcoin on the Apple App Store, for example, has an average rating of 4.7 out of 4,500 user ratings. People who use it, like it. Fair enough, but… This app does not actually store your keys on the device, but rather in a cloud location maintained by the app developer. While this “hosted wallet” platform may offer a small measure of comfort in the case of a lost device, it also means that there are associated risks. These include the necessity of online access to the site (so if the site is down or you don’t have an internet connection, you can’t make a transaction or even check your account); the risk of the developer abandoning the app for any of a variety of reasons; and, the risk of hacking, among others.
For that reason, our top picks are based on a review posted at bitcoin.org that examined five factors:
- Control
- Validation
- Transparency
- Environment
- Privacy
- Fees
The apps reviewed were given a status on each of the factors:
- Good
- Acceptable
- Caution
- Neutral
We selected the apps that had the most “good” factors and no “cautions.”
Best Desktop Bitcoin Wallets for PCs & Laptops
The short answer:
Electrum is the best choice for Windows, Apple, and Linux operating systems, which are all subject to malware because your device is usually connected to the internet. However, you can also consider Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots as options if you take a few security precautions, including keeping most of your bitcoin in cold storage.
The long answer:
As with the mobile bitcoin wallets, our choices for desktop do not necessarily correspond to user ratings, but rather are based on the five factors:
- Control
- Validation
- Transparency
- Environment
- Privacy
- Fees
Bitcoin.org reviewed apps and gave an appraisal on each factor using a rank of:
- Good
- Acceptable
- Caution
- Neutral
We selected the apps that had the most “good” factors and no “cautions.”
Best Hardware Wallets for Bitcoin
The short answer:
- BitBox02
- KeepKey
- Trezor ModelT
- Trezor One
The long answer:
A hardware wallet is less like a traditional wallet that you keep your spending money in, and more like a safety deposit box that holds your valuables for long term storage. As such, while bitcoin.org reviewed hardware wallets in the same manner that they reviewed mobile and desktop apps, since these are hardware, the only factors really applicable are:
- Control
- Transparency
- Environment
Validation, Privacy, and Fees are factors that relate to the mobile or desktop wallet that you use to transfer funds to and from the cold storage hardware.
So, based on the three relevant factors, our list includes only those four hardware wallet devices that got the highest status of Good.