The 11 best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android provide users with all the necessary features that allow them to store safely their cryptocurrency and send or receive Bitcoin payments and fund their accounts if they dab in cryptocurrency trading or want to convert it into USD, EUR, or other fiat currency. Therefore, for people who are only starting to use Bitcoin, it’s essential to pick the right Bitcoin wallet and the list on the following pages should give some decent choices.
Bitcoin has been around since 2009, but it only captured more attention in the last couple of years, when its value surged and more people started using it to make transactions (see 25 big companies that accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies) and to trade it in order to make money on price difference. As more people have been using Bitcoins, the need to store them became more widespread and since not all people who use bitcoins are tech professionals, app developers launched apps that are simple and intuitive to use and provide a secure environment to store Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies.
Given that Bitcoins are a digital currency, storing it is not the same as with physical currency. A Bitcoin wallet represents a software that manages private keys. Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology, so technically, all Bitcoins are part of a single blockchain transaction ledger. The Bitcoin wallet stores the credentials that give a user access to his Bitcoins and allows access to them for transactions.
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There are several types of Bitcoin wallets. The most commonly used are software wallets, which are apps on a smartphone or desktop, which connect to the Bitcoin network and allow the user to access his holdings through the credentials or keys. Then there are online wallets, which are similar to apps, but instead of storing the keys in the device, the credentials are stored with the company that manages the website. This is very insecure as the server can be breached and the bitcoins can be stolen. Then there are hardware wallets, which are small devices, similar to USB sticks, that can generate Bitcoin keys offline. Recently, there have been physical wallets introduced, which represent paper print-outs or coins with credentials printed on them, which can be used for offline transactions.
Mobile Bitcoin wallets, including the best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android, are far from being the safest way to store Bitcoins. Most people keep their phones at them at all times and they can either lose them or have them stolen. Given that a Bitcoin wallet contains the access keys, when a mobile device is gone, so are the keys and there’s no way to recover them, unless the wallet has a backup on a computer. The safest way to store Bitcoins is considered the so-called cold storage, which involves offline storage on a hardware wallet, or on a paper wallet (keys can also be stored on a USB drive). However, even in this way, the keys can be stolen or lost.
Having said that, let’s take a look at 11 best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android.
11. Coinbase
Coinbase is one of the largest US Bitcoin exchanges that has a built-in wallet for Bitcoin and altcoins. The wallets are secured through a three-step verification process. Coinbase wallet is very popular due to the popularity of the exchange, but it’s not really a wallet in the full sense, because the Bitcoins are not stored on the phone, but are kept on the platform, so it’s not entirely secure, even though the company provides some additional security through its multi-sig Vault. Having said that, while Coinbase is a great exchange and the company put a lot of effort in making the app very easy to use and secure, it’s often advised not to use it as a wallet.
10. Bitcoin Wallet
Next in the list of best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android is the basic Bitcoin Wallet. Bitcoin Wallet was the first Android wallet and was downloaded between 1.0 and 5.0 million time since its release. The wallet app is open source and free to download and install. It is simple to use and doesn’t require a registration as it works peer-to-peer. It allows conversion into fiat currencies and users can send or receive Bitcoins both offline and online using NFC, QR Codes, or Bitcoin URLs.
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9. Coinomi
Coinomi is an Android and iOS wallet that supports Bitcoin and most major altcoins. It offers wallet encryption and cryptography to ensure the safety of the keys and it is also an HD wallet, allowing easy backup. Coinomi has Shapeshift.io integration for exchange and the IP is hidden in order to provide anonymity.
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8. CoinSpace
CoinSpace is a Bitcoin and Litecoin wallet with HD feature. The wallet also supports OpenAlias aliasing system, which associates a domain name to an address to simplify payments. CoinSpace also has a geolocation feature that allows users to search for people within an area for transactions.
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7. GreenAddress
GreenAddress (or GreenBits), is an Android and iOS Bitcoin wallet, which is also available as an online platform and a desktop app. It has a mnemonic seed (the phrase that generates the master seed), which makes it easier to write-down and remember, two-factor authentication, and allows the creation separate accounts on the same wallet).
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6. Bither
On the sixth spot in the list of 11 best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android is Bither. Bither offers offline and online features. The Cold Wallet is designed for backup phones, and acts as an offline environment to store Bitcoins, while the Hot Wallet is for phones that are used daily and offers the possibility of peer-to-peer transactions (no login required) and monitors the price of Bitcoin on major exchanges.
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5. Airbitz
Airbitz is a simple to use Bitcoin Wallet with an integrated buy/sell from a linked banked account. Airbitz also promotes the adoption of Bitcoin, so it allows the purchase of discounted gift cards and provides information about merchants that accept Bitcoin. It provides spending limits (requires a code to spend above the preset limit).
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4. Copay
Copay is another one of best bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android. Copay is a secure, open-source, multisignature wallet provided by BitPay, a US-based global Bitcoin payment service provider, which services millions of dollars worth of transactions every day. Copay offers the possibility to create multiple wallets within the app, HD address generation for backups and support for many currency pricing options.
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3. Jaxx
Jaxx has behind it an active development team, whose aim seems to be making it the top Bitcoin and altcoin wallet. It supports 13 cryptocurrencies and has integration of Shapeshift.io exchange, which makes it a good choice for users that want to store multiple cryptocurrencies. Jaxx is an HD (Hierarchical Deterministic) wallet, providing users with a seed backup feature (it creates a master key, based on a 12-24 word seed phrase, from which all other addresses are created).
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2. Breadwallet
Breadwallet is a simple Bitcoin wallet on Android and iOS platforms that is great for beginners. It connects directly to the Bitcoin network, which means that there aren’t any servers to go through, which makes it more secure and more reliable. Breadwallet also offers simple one-button payments to merchants or websites and hardware built-in encryption can be used to store Bitcoins securely.
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1. MyCelium
MyCelium developers put a lot of effort in ensuring the users’ anonymity and safety. The wallet doesn’t require identity verification to use, it has HD address generation, and web-based transactions go through Tor network to hide the user’s location and identify. Moreover, MyCelium has support for hardware wallets to provide more safety and security for the keys.
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These are the 11 best Bitcoin wallet apps for iPhone and Android. Most of them have similar features like allowing cold storage and offering HD address generation features, but some have simpler and more intuitive interfaces, compared to others, which can be more complex. Moreover, different wallets have various features like multi-platform access, offering peer-to-peer transactions, or supporting many fiat currencies, which is why each Bitcoin wallet has to be researched to find the best option.
