I have bewen performing some fairly deep tests on the state of all lightning wallets currently. And though I would share a Mini Review
Custodial: You send bitcoin to these and then can use their lightning channels custodially. Easiest setup.
Wallet of Satoshi 9/10
This is the leader in custodial wallets.
+Consistently low fees, even 0 sometimes (I do run a channel with them on my node so sending money back to my node is zero cost.)
+Very rare that Tx fail. As in, I do not think I have seen it happen outside of pilot error.
+Allows ad-hoc transactions (will create an invoice with no amount)
+UI is decent
This is a wallet I would DEFINITELY have on my phone if I were traveling. I believe they have a very good network of well connected nodes. I run a channel to it on my node, so if I were experiencing routing issues or high fees from my node I might keep this one loaded from my node just to take advantage of the connectivity.
Coinos.io 8.5/10
+a web wallet version
+can do LIQUID!
+very reliable well connected lightning
-You have to be careful with managing your login
This one is really cool. The only reason it is not tied for first is it is possible to send this thing a transaction to an anonymous not logged in user. Which is ACTUALLY a FEATURE. It makes it able to be used with a little strange amount of privacy. But if you accidently do this and not notice the random name it gives you (Satoshi-#####) then you will have to contact the folks who run it to refund your money as it will be in some random wallet. This is more a ME problem than sn IT problem, though.
BlueWallet 5/10
-Fees are "OK" but could be 200-800 sats. Currently on chain is not much more.
-Payments still fail as much as they ever did
-Failed payments may appear to have worked and then fail later (yuck)
-There is a delay in returning sats from a failed tx.
-You can't easily spend bigger amounts
Whenever I get sats into this thing, I then work really hard to get them back off... lol It's like having hit your golfball onto a beach. Even as a lightning wallet that has been around a while I find it klugey
Non-custodial Neutrino private channel (These run a full neutrino node, and establish a single channel to the wallet company) They are sort of a hybrid between a custodial wallet and a full node wallet. Easier to set up, but has a little less smoothness than WoS, or Zeus for example
Phoenix 8/10
-Will handle ad-hoc amounts
-Cheap fees
-Can receive when in the background
-Good UI
Best in this class. Solid.
Breez 7/10
+Similar to Phoenix but not quite as smooth
-Forces you to keep 600 sats there at all times (?)
+Can do micro payments to streaming podcasts and has a podcast PLAYER in it now. Kinda neeto.
+Can work in POS mode
-I think this needs to be in the foreground on your device to receive payments. Meh. But just a little meh. Usually this is OK.
Muun 7/10
+Also similar to the two above
+nice UI
-Cannot do ad hoc amounts
-VERY unique backup strategy.
Non-Custodial connected to your node. Hardest to set up. You have to connect these to a real node. You will be spending the money on THAT node so setup and maintenance is a bitch. You have to manage and balance channels etc. BUT, if you can do all this, it is also the most sovereign solution.
Zeus 9/10
+The nuts.
+great UI
+can do ad hoc amounts
+can do MPP!!!! (Multi path Payments. I have actually not tried this yet. But it's in there... Could be good when needing to send a large payment.
Zap 8/10
+Very similar to Zeus, but not quite as slick a UI
-And can't do ad hoc amounts.
So, say I was going to spend a week at Bitcoin beach. I would load Zeus and WoS on my phone. I would also have Strike standing by to drop more funds into my channels as needed (But if i spent all the money on my node, um, that would be a problem of some kind). I would probably try to live out of Zeus, but if I had any trouble I would just keep WoS going. Of all the wallets I feel like it is #1 in just payment ease. And since I have a channel to it I can swing money to it for free from my node in 1 hop. I was surprised that Bluewallet still stunk like it did when I first tried it... too bad.
Honorable mention.
Strike 8/10
I don't know how to classify this one. It can work as a bitcoin wallet, a lightning wallet, and the cash app. The lightning features are kind of hidden, but you CAN sent a payment to a lightning destination with it, in fact I use to to refill my channels from time to time. I would not probably use it much on my trip, but I would certainly have it loaded as a sort of backup.
Hey cAPSLOCK ... thanks for your overview.
I remember recently that you had become a bit of a fan of Blockstream, so I was looking to see if you had included the blockstream green or the blockstream agua wallets... I had heard that green was more sophisticated and fully featured and agua was supposed to be more consumer (beginner) friendly. Just wondering whether you purposefully left those out or if there was a reason - perhaps time-consuming to play around with so many wallets, too.