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Getting Started

All you need to know about Bitkit.
Matt Carvalho
By Matt Carvalho
• 4 articles

What is Bitkit?

Bitkit is a self-custodial mobile wallet empowering you to take true ownership of your Bitcoin so you can spend on your terms. Enhanced with standout features and a sleek design, Bitkit unlocks instant payments to anyone, anytime, anywhere. All while being fully open-source for anyone to audit. As a fully-fledged Bitcoin wallet, Bitkit includes all the functionalities you expect: - Instant Payments: No more juggling between wallets for on-chain and Lightning transactions. Bitkit blends them both seamlessly. - Balance Management: Effortlessly transfer funds between your savings and spending account to ensure you always have enough capacity for instant payments. - Recovery Phrase: Restore your savings balance on any wallet that supports BIP 39. - Automatic Backups: Non-sensitive data from your wallet is automatically backed up so you can always restore your spending balance. - Detailed Transaction History: Assign contacts and tag your transactions to keep them organized. Bitkit also boasts unique capabilities that set it apart: - Payable Contacts: Say goodbye to asking for addresses or invoices. Simply add friends to your contact list and pay them. - Live Widgets: Add a touch of fun and utility to your wallet home screen with engaging widgets. - Social Profile: Take control of your public profile and links, so your contacts can reach out and pay you at any time. - Passwordless Accounts: Log in to websites that support Slashtags or Lightning authentication. For experts, Bitkit offers powerful options: - Custom Fee: Select your network fee and boost transactions for faster confirmation. - External Lightning Connections: Get your node ID so you can get connections from any peer. - Coin Control: Choose which coins to spend on each transaction. - Electrum Server: Synchronize with the blockchain through your preferred server. - Address Viewer: View the receiving and change addresses derived from your seed. - Address Type: Receive payments through Legacy, Nested Segwit, or Native Segwit addresses. Buying or selling bitcoin Bitkit doesn't support buying and selling bitcoin. To buy or sell, use exchanges like Bitfinex, then send to or from Bitkit.

Matt Carvalho By Matt Carvalho
• Last updated on Dec 12, 2023

How does Bitkit handle my data and privacy?

Bitkit is fully self-custodial, and this reflects in our approach to privacy. Just like how we don't want to hold your funds or private keys, we don't want to have any information that might be used against you by potential attackers. Still, it's inevitable to expose certain pieces of data when using wallets like Bitkit. For this reason, you need to accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. We value transparency, so we're upfront about the data you expose when using the app: Installing through App Store or Google Play Apple and Google may collect data per their own terms if you download Bitkit through their app stores. We have no influence on and aren't responsible for any data collected by them. Android users can bypass this by downloading the APK from GitHub. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't allow installing apps from different sources. Pasting invoices, profile keys, or login links Bitkit has an opt-in feature that reads your clipboard to make it easy for you to paste Bitcoin invoices, profile keys, and login links. But don't worry: Bitkit doesn't store or log this data. You can turn it off anytime in the settings. Paying instantly Instant payments are made online over the Lightning Network, and IP addresses are unavoidably revealed due to how the Internet works. Still, you can rest assured that we don't log your IP. Due to how Lightning works, your spending balance is visible to whoever connects you to the network. If you choose to get a Lightning connection provided by us, know that we don't check individual spending balances or correlate them with any other data. Paying to contacts Bitkit lets you pay contacts without the hassle of requesting invoices back and forth. This means that anyone with your profile key can retrieve your unused invoices (one per type). It works similarly to publicly listing different invoices on your website or social media profiles so anyone can pay you through their preferred method – except that you don't need to list multiple invoice types, only your profile key. This feature is entirely opt-in. To opt-out, navigate to Settings → Advanced → Payment Preference. Backing up your profile, contacts, transaction history, and tags Bitkit automatically backs up your profile, contacts, transaction history and tags to ensure they're always readily available. We don't scrape or process your data in any way. Backing up your Lightning connections Backing up your connections is critical to secure your spending balance, and must be updated at least as frequently as you send or receive an instant payment. Given that the backup doesn't contain sensitive information and can't be used to steal your funds, Bitkit handles it automatically. We don't provide alternative backup methods, but developers are welcome to fork our open-source code and modify the backup process. Synchronizing the blockchain Bitkit synchronizes with the blockchain over the internet via Electrum servers, so your IP address is revealed to the server you connect with. We connect you to our Electrum server by default, but you can change it in the Settings. Bitkit doesn't support Tor natively because, among other reasons, interfere with wallet's ability to communicate over the Lightning Network as needed. Since it's not possible to hide your IP with Tor without degrading the user experience and slowing down instant payments, we chose not to support it.

Matt Carvalho By Matt Carvalho
• Last updated on Dec 15, 2023

Are Lightning Service Providers custodians?

Lightning Service Providers are not custodians. LSPs are usually for-profit service providers who make it easy for users to onboard the Lightning Network in exchange for a fee. LSPs don't need to control your funds to be able to serve you by connecting you to the Lightning Network and enabling you to make instant Bitcoin payments. LSPs don't control your keys and are only capable of closing the channel they've opened, which causes your funds to go back on-chain. Note that to be served by an LSP, you need a Lightning node. If you didn't have a Lightning node, you wouldn't be able to be served by any LSP because they wouldn't have a node to connect to. Self-custodial wallets such as Bitkit have Lightning nodes running inside of them, while custodial wallets don't — users of custodial wallets rely on a single or a handful of nodes controlled by the wallet developer. That's the key difference, and that's why LSPs only serve users of self-custodial wallets. A channel opened by an LSP is like any other Lightning channel, so it retains the same properties of being enforceable on-chain. The difference between a channel opened by an LSP and a channel opened by any other peer is that LSPs manage liquidity professionally and provide an easier onboarding experience. If your node is connected to a peer node that has good liquidity, your payment success rate will increase. LSPs are not hobbyist node operators, so they manage liquidity professionally, which means that whichever node has a connection to them will have better payment reliability. To learn more about LSPs, read The Rise of Lightning Service Providers.

Matt Carvalho By Matt Carvalho
• Last updated on Dec 15, 2023