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Luis Clark
Luis Clark
Luis is a personal finance expert who has been passionate and writing about crypto for more than five years.
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    Blue wallet review South Africa: Features, Pros and cons

    bluewallet app mobile

    Blue wallet review South Africa: Our Opinion

    After reviewing several wallet apps, each of which has benefits and cons, we can confidently state that Blue wallet is the best iOS Bitcoin wallet app ever used in terms of simplicity, usability, and security.

    An Overview of Blue Wallet

    Blue wallet review South Africa

    The Blue Bitcoin wallet is a Lightning Network-compatible, non-custodial Bitcoin wallet. It provides a very complete set of usability features. It implements most of the updated Bitcoin features in the Bitcoin protocol, such as native segwit, lightning wallets, RBF, hardware wallet support, etc. It also aims to be available for beginner users with a streamlined user interface.

    The Blue Wallet seems to be raising the standard for the next generation of Bitcoin wallets. It is the first to incorporate the Lightning Network (LN), enabling incredibly rapid and “unfairly inexpensive” transactions, and it is available for Android and iOS. It combines the latest Bitcoin technology (SegWit, LN, Replace-by-fee, etc.) with some nifty security features (plausible deniability) alongside the simplest user experience to date.

    The wallet is one of the best Bitcoin wallets and Bitcoin only wallet. It is the first wallet that enables users to refill the LN wallet with an on-chain transaction without closing/opening a new one, back up the LN wallet with a URL/QR code or uses the same LN wallet across different devices. The Blue lightning wallet has advanced features and advanced settings such as user-provided entropy via dice rolls and coin toss, variable miners fees, coin control, duress wallet, and lightning integration.

    Pros

    Cons

    What is Blue Bitcoin Wallet?

    Blue Bitcoin wallet is a free open source wallet exclusively for iOS and Android. It has a flexible fee system where users can select the amount to pay, affecting the speed of the transaction. Hence, the more the fee value, the faster the transaction. The wallet is one of the top mobile wallets for users who wish to keep their Bitcoin while having easy access to their funds.

    how bluewallet works

    Bluewallet Country Support

    The wallet is available in practically every country, like most non-custodial wallets (the app stores must permit it). The wallet caters to a global audience. In addition to English, it supports more than 20 languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, French, and Turkish. Users can also see the value of their Bitcoin holdings in over 20 different fiat currencies, such as AUD, USD, CAD, BRL, CZK, CHF, EUR, CNY, GDP, INR, JPY, HRK, I MXN, MYR, or RUB.

    How does Blue Lightning Wallet Work?

    To use the Blue mobile wallet, you will need:

    • Android or iOS smartphone
    • For peer-to-peer transactions, the wallet has integrated Hodl Hodl. If a user does not already have access to an exchange, the wallet will redirect them to Moon Pay. Most US states accept Moonpay, except for Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, and Rhode Island. 
    • Please write down the pin code and seed phrase on paper or another non-digital material.

    Once you download the Blue Bitcoin wallet app on your phone:

    • You will go to the main page. You can add a wallet by clicking the “Add now” button.
    • Create a Lightning or Bitcoin wallet first, then give it a name. The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a layer built on top of the Bitcoin network to buy and sell small amounts of bitcoin instantly. Vendors may use this layer to sell their goods and services to customers directly.
    • If you have the seed phrase, you will also have the choice to import a wallet.
    • If you decide to create a new Bitcoin wallet, you will receive a seed phrase for your new wallet.
    • Be sure to replicate the seed phrase on a non-digital surface, such as paper with a pen or metal with engravings. Never keep a copy of your seed phrase on a computer or phone. Writing down the seed phrase is important because it allows you to recover your Bitcoins on another device if your phone is lost or destroyed.
    • This page contains a seed phrase from a test wallet.
    • You have the choice to set up a Lightning Network wallet in addition to your on-chain Bitcoin wallet. The processes are the same as for setting up a wallet. Once you have selected the Lightning option, click the “Create” button.
    • You will receive a QR code and URL to back up your Lightning Network channels.

    How to Send and Receive Bitcoin

    On setting up the wallet, the user gets access to the account screen showing his current balance. To send or receive funds, the user must first select an account (one of the wallets created).

    To send a transaction, users should paste the destination Bitcoin address or scan its QR code, a customary approach in cryptocurrency wallets. The wallet offers an automatic fee estimation to have your transaction included in the next block and therefore confirmed as soon as possible. You can press the green box underneath the “Note to self” area to modify the default fee rate from its current value.

    The user clicks the “Receive” button to receive funds, which reveals a public address and the corresponding Quick Response code. The user may also enter an amount used to generate an invoice and include the requested sum in the Quick Response code. Additionally, the wallet employs a process known as Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) key creation, which creates a new public key each time you want to receive money. It’s a requirement for the Bitcoin wallet’s best practices and one of many steps users must take to protect their privacy.

    how to buy bitcoin with bluewallet

    Buy Bitcoin

    By integrating MoonPay, the wallet makes it possible to purchase Bitcoin directly from the app using a credit card, doing away with the requirement for an exchange. Please visit the MoonPay website for further details on the charges, restrictions, and accepted fiat currencies. Remember that depending on the nation, the integrated service may vary.

    Key Features of Bluewallet

    • MoonPay integration to purchase Bitcoin directly with a debit or credit card.
    • Peer-to-peer exchange fueled by Hodl Hodl.
    • On-chain Bitcoin wallet.
    • Bitcoin Lightning Network wallet.
    • Bech32 wallet for Native Segwit transactions (save up to 40% on transactions). These addresses, which begin with “bc1,” often allow you to save on transactional data capacity, which translates into lower miner fees.
    • Watch-only wallets enable the customers to watch their funds via the public address.
    • A single address wallet, a Segwit-compatible wallet, and having the same receiving address (a good alternative for donations).
    • Create or import multiple wallets.
    • Available on iOS and Android.
    • There is a backup option in the settings.
    • Multiple keys are required to spend Bitcoin in a multisig vault. Recommended for large quantities and cold storage.
    • Users can choose the fees they want to pay for network transactions using the Fee & Transactions control feature. Please be advised that the time it takes for a transaction to be validated on the network increases with the transaction fee. When a transaction fee is substantial, the opposite is true. The more users pay, the faster their transaction confirmations will be sent. When the fee is high, the network will process the transaction faster and vice versa.
    • Users can choose a different password to decode a “fake” wallet setup using the plausible deniability function. For example, If you have to reveal your access to someone or don’t want to reveal your actual wallet.
    • Multilingual. Languages include Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Italian, Ukrainian, Swedish, German, French, Norwegian, Danish, and Turkish.

    Watch-Only-Wallets

    Watch-only mode lets you check your wallet’s current balance and Bitcoin transactions without importing its private key, hence not enabling the send option. To create a watch-only wallet, you must import the xpub key from an existing wallet into BlueWallet.

    Sadly, making a watch-only wallet for one of your BlueWallet accounts isn’t any easier. You can keep an eye on your cold storage wallet, like Coldcard, using watch-only wallets without having to handle your private keys.

    Segwit Support

    Suppose you click the “Receive” button. In that case, you may have noticed that BlueWallet creates an address for you that starts with “bc1,” a characteristic of a Native Segregated Witness address (also known as Native SegWit), one of the three distinct types of Bitcoin addresses. The two additional address types are “regular” SegWit addresses (starting with “3”) and legacy addresses (beginning with “1”).

    Each address type has a unique method for storing transaction data, which makes it more or less effective. A more effective address uses less room in a Bitcoin block, which results in lower fees. The most effective address type is native SegWit, followed by ‘regular’ SegWit.

    bitcoin crypto wallet

    Cryptocurrencies Supported

    The only cryptocurrency that the wallet supports is Bitcoin.

    Fees

    The wallet has a built-in fee estimator, which computes the lowest fee needed to have the transaction included in the next block and confirmed as soon as possible. However, there are situations when you don’t mind waiting a little while for your transaction to confirm. The wallet allows users to define their own transaction fees, measured in sats/byte and begins at 1 sat/byte.

    The wallet’s advanced transaction screen options allow you to enable “Allow Fee Bump”. The Replace-By-Charge (RBF) feature allows the user to modify the transaction fee after it is broadcast but before it is confirmed. It is quite helpful when a user chooses a fee that is too low or changes his mind about the transaction speed he wants. If, after an hour, your selected fee of 5 sats/byte is still unconfirmed, you can increase it to 10 sats/byte to increase the possibility that a miner would pick it up.

    Even better, the sender may choose a very low fee for a transaction you would like to receive more quickly. Child-Pays-For-Parent, or CPFP, is a feature offered by BlueWallet that allows you to increase the fee for the sender and then pay the difference.

    Batch Transactions

    It is common practice to batch Bitcoin transactions to reduce transaction costs—that is, to send money to several destination addresses in one transaction. However, it is rarely made available to end users, and exchanges or bigger Bitcoin services with higher transaction volumes use them.

    The wallet has implemented that feature very nicely into their app. The user can “Add Recipients” and enter the amount he wants to send to each recipient while creating a transaction. Advanced users can use this feature to reduce fees and other fees and to increase on-chain privacy. For example, one of the recipients can be set to the user’s wallet in order to imitate a coinjoin and increase privacy through plausible deniability.

    Security

    The wallet makes use of the well-known 24-word recovery seed. You never have to worry about protecting the private key of each individual public address the wallet generates. The private keys are actually encrypted on your device and only accessed when signing a transaction, so you never see them. In the event that you misplace your wallet PIN or lose your phone, all that is required to restore your funds is the mnemonic recovery seed.

    To unlock, delete, and export a wallet, or to sign a transaction, users of the wallet can activate biometrics. Another feature of the wallet is the ability to encrypt your wallets with an additional password. Note that the biometrics won’t be sufficient to decrypt the wallet if you encrypt it with a password because they are thought to be less secure. The wallet does not currently offer 2FA.

    Users of the wallet can choose a different password to decode a phoney wallet. In this manner, you can quickly input the password for the fictitious account if you ever need to be forced to release your wallet (cf. wrench attack). You may imagine it as a decoy wallet that you might carry around your pocket and have $20 cash in. This function is only available after you have set up the wallet encryption.

    The wallet also lets you choose to create fake wallets if someone makes you unlock your real wallet. A fake wallet can only be used if you have your secret password set. Moreover, a different wallet address is created for each new transaction to make sure your privacy is protected.

    lighting wallet bluewallet

    Lightning Wallet & Lapps Marketplace

    The wallet offers support for a custodial Lightning wallet. It’s a fascinating feature since it gives users access to the Lightning Network, probably Bitcoin’s latest and best scaling upgrade. The Lightning Network (LN) is a second-layer scaling solution that allows users to transact off-chain for quicker payments and lower transaction fees. You can create a Lightning wallet using the node of Bluewallet or, if you are more advanced, connect it to your own node.

    In case users are compelled to open their wallets, the wallet also allows the user the ability to build up decoy wallets. A fake wallet can be activated only when the user has their encryption password set up. To increase the user’s anonymity, a new wallet address is additionally generated for each new transaction.

    The app also provides access to the “Lapps Marketplace,” a curated directory of products and services that accept lightning payments. Users are urged to experiment with lightning payments and learn more about the lightning ecosystem. Advanced users can reduce the risk by linking to their own LNDHub.

    Customer Support

    Support is a crucial component of the user experience, even though it is not directly related to wallet functionalities. Responsive and helpful service might determine the difference between an excellent and a great wallet.

    Although the wallet doesn’t have a live chat, the team always replies within a day, answers all queries, and explains all the facts to customers.

    Final Thoughts

    The BlueWallet is a Bitcoin-only wallet that has some amazing usability features. It contains nearly all of the most recent developments in Bitcoin technology. Additionally, it has some great privacy and security features, which, may soon be expanded. The wallet also makes a great effort on the UI to keep it simple and make it enjoyable to use.

    If you want to know more about on Blue Wallet Competitors and other crypto wallets, you can check out our list of the Best Crypto Wallet South Africa. You can also read about our Ledger Wallet South Africa as an alternative to Blue wallet.

    FAQ

    Most frequent questions and answers

    The BlueWallet is a Lightning Network-compatible, non-custodial wallet. It incorporates most of the most recent bitcoin features and offers a comprehensive set of usability features. With a streamlined user interface, it also intends to be usable by beginners.

    Software wallets are useful for storing small sums of Bitcoin. It acts as an accompanying software wallet to your long-term holding hardware wallet. Most of your money should be in a hardware wallet if you plan to hold Bitcoin for a long time. Never store a significant amount of Bitcoin in a software wallet. Bluewallet is compatible with many hardware wallets, including the Coldcard. Therefore, you can connect the two to make transactions. This implies you get multiple wallets – an easy-to-use software wallet and a secure hardware wallet.
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