Blixt Wallet review: a full LND node on Android

Blixt Wallet is a non-custodial, open-source Lightning wallet that runs the LND node software and the Neutrino light client directly on your phone. Its site says it does not use any centralized servers for doing transactions. The project lead and main developer is Hampus Sjöberg, and the code is released under the MIT license.

The current release is v0.9.0, from February 18, 2026. It updated LND to v0.20.0, added an automatic channel opener that offers to open a channel when you have on-chain funds, and moved the advanced controls into a separate Power User Tools screen. Development is slower than Zeus: the release before that was v0.8.0 in July 2025.

Blixt is a real Android app. It is on Google Play, last updated February 18, 2026, and each GitHub release carries the APK with its SHA-256 hash in the release notes, so you can check the file you downloaded.

The iPhone version is a TestFlight beta, not an App Store app. Searching the US App Store for "Blixt wallet" returns Blixt One, a budgeting app from another company, so do not install that by mistake. The v0.8.0 notes also said the macOS build was not being updated. On my Lightning wallet rankings, Blixt is the Android pick for that reason.

Blixt suits an Android user who wants to understand Lightning by running it: choosing peers, opening private channels, and reading LND's logs when something stalls. Its site says it is aimed at Bitcoiners who want to try out using Lightning Network and its FAQ asks you to learn the basics before you start.

To install a wallet and pay a coffee shop the same afternoon, pick Phoenix, which manages its own channel. Zeus also runs a node on the phone, with an App Store version and more frequent releases. Anyone who already runs a node at home will get more from controlling it remotely, and my Lightning node guide covers that setup.

The Blixt guides walk through the current screens. Here is what each stage does and why.

Every channel in Blixt is private, meaning unannounced: your node pays and receives but does not route for others. You pick the peers. Blixt's own node offers Dunder channels for onboarding, which the FAQ says it provides for free now, as a courtesy for new users, and it warns that these are small channels meant for getting started, not as your source of inbound liquidity. For more inbound capacity, the app links to LNBig and Bitrefill's Thor.

Blixt also supports Simple Taproot Channels since v0.6.9, for normal channel opens. On the payment side you get LNURL, sending to Lightning addresses, keysend, and a built-in WebLN browser, per its feature list.

Receiving to a Lightning address works through Lightning Box, which gives you an @blixtwallet.com address that pays your phone directly. The FAQ says it works only on Android, with persistent mode turned on.

I found no hardware wallet signing in Blixt's feature list. That is normal for a node-on-the-phone wallet: Lightning keys have to stay online to sign payments. Treat Blixt as spending money, and when the balance climbs past what you would be fine losing with the phone, send the excess on-chain to a hardware wallet such as SeedSigner or Krux. My guide to moving bitcoin to a hardware wallet covers the steps.

Blixt syncs with Neutrino block filters, so it reads blocks from a server without telling that server your addresses. The FAQ describes it as reading blocks from a remote node while everything else is done on your device, and names node.blixtwallet.com as the default sync server. You can point it at your own Bitcoin node or any node that serves BIP157 filters, including one behind Tor.

Tor is built in and off by default. Blixt's settings page notes that some services still connect over clearnet when it is on, and the FAQ warns that Tor makes syncing slow and unstable on many connections. If you run a node already, serving Neutrino filters from it is the private option. My Bitcoin privacy basics cover why the server your wallet talks to matters, and my node rankings cover the hardware.

Blixt's FAQ says the app does not charge any fees for usage. You still pay the Bitcoin network's mining fee to open and close channels, routing fees to the nodes your payments pass through, and whatever an inbound liquidity provider charges. Small channels are the hidden cost: the FAQ explains that commitment fees and channel reserves can leave a 20,000 to 30,000 sat channel with almost nothing spendable when on-chain fees are high.

Blixt's GitHub repository lists no published security advisories, and I found no Blixt incident to add to my security incident log. The bigger risks are the ordinary ones for a Lightning node on a phone: a lost device without a channel backup, restoring an old backup, or a sync that falls behind. The README says plainly that the wallet runs LND, which is young and might have bugs.

Blixt is a well-made way to run a real Lightning node on an Android phone, and its FAQ and guides teach you more about Lightning than any wallet that hides the channels. It sits below Phoenix and Zeus on my list because it asks the most of you, it updates less often, and iPhone users only get a beta. Keep only spending money on it, and keep your savings on a hardware wallet.