Lightning Wallets
Wallets and management tools that drive a Lightning node you run yourself — LND or Core Lightning on StartOS. Some are apps on your phone or laptop; others install onto the server and are reached in a browser.
Connecting to a Lightning node is not like connecting to an Electrum server: instead of a host and a port, your node hands you a single URI that already contains its address and a credential. Start with Connecting to your node below, then find your wallet. For on-chain wallets, see Bitcoin Wallets.
Node implementations
- LND — the most widely supported. Wallets connect over its REST or gRPC API, authenticating with a macaroon. Also supports Lightning Node Connect, which reaches your node without opening ports or using Tor.
- Core Lightning (CLN) — Blockstream’s implementation. Wallets connect over CLNrest (its built-in REST plugin) or gRPC, authenticating with a rune. Ships with its own web dashboard on StartOS.
- Eclair — ACINQ’s implementation. Not packaged for StartOS; a couple of the tools below support it if you run one elsewhere.
Connecting to your node
LND
LND publishes two connection interfaces, REST and gRPC LND Connect. Each carries an lndconnect:// URI that you copy or scan as a QR code, and which already contains the address, the certificate details the client needs, and your credential — so there is nothing else to fill in.
Warning
That URI embeds your admin macaroon, which is full control of the node and its funds. Treat it exactly like a password: never paste it into a chat, a screenshot, or a support ticket. LND’s own instructions cover what to do if one is exposed.
Which interface to use depends on the wallet:
- REST — what most mobile wallets want. StartOS serves it with your server’s own certificate, so leave certificate validation on in the wallet and install the StartOS Root CA on the device, exactly as you did for the dashboard in your browser. A custom domain with an ACME certificate needs no such step.
- gRPC LND Connect — for clients that speak gRPC. LND serves its own certificate here and the URI carries it, so the client can verify with nothing installed. That makes the URI long — copy it rather than scanning the QR, which will be dense and slow to read.
To reach your node from outside your home, add an onion address or a custom domain to the interface first, then take the URI: it is only as reachable as the address inside it, so a LAN address in a wallet you carry around stops working the moment you leave.
Core Lightning
Core Lightning authenticates with a rune rather than a macaroon, and its CLNrest interface publishes a URL with one already embedded — that single URL is usually all a wallet needs. If an app wants a rune supplied separately instead, the Create Rune action mints one.
The URL’s scheme tells the wallet which protocol to use:
| Scheme | Used for |
|---|---|
clnrest+https:// | LAN and clearnet addresses, where StartOS terminates TLS |
clnrest+http:// | .onion addresses, where Tor already encrypts and no TLS is involved |
As with LND’s URI, the embedded rune is a credential — anything holding it can spend.
Lightning Node Connect
Lightning Node Connect (LNC) is a Lightning Labs protocol that reaches your LND node through a relay using a short pairing phrase, end-to-end encrypted so the relay sees nothing. No port forwarding, no domain, no Tor.
It requires Lightning Terminal running alongside LND: generate a session with Admin permissions on Lightning Terminal’s Connect page, then pair the wallet with the phrase or QR it shows. Zeus and Lightning Labs’ own web terminal both support it.
Summary
Apps you run on your own devices
| Wallet | Platforms | LND | CLN | Tor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BitBanana | Android | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BlueWallet | Android, iOS | Via LNDHub | No | Yes |
| FullyNoded | iOS, macOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zeus | Android, iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tools that run on your server
| Tool | LND | CLN | Eclair |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alby Hub | Yes | No | No |
| BTCPay Server | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CLN Application | No | Yes | No |
| Lightning Terminal | Yes | No | No |
| LNbits | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RTL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
These install from the StartOS Marketplace and wire themselves to your node over the server’s internal network — no URI to paste, no certificate to trust, and no credential leaving the machine. Each one’s own instructions in StartOS cover its setup.
Apps you run on your own devices
BitBanana
- Platforms: Android
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning
- Tor: Native
The actively maintained successor to the Zap Android wallet, connecting to LND by lndconnect:// URI over REST, and to Core Lightning over gRPC. Supports BOLT 12, coin control, and NFC.
To connect: open LND’s REST interface on your server and scan the QR into BitBanana.
BlueWallet
- Platforms: Android, iOS
- Connects to: LND, through LNDHub
BlueWallet does not talk to LND directly. It talks to LNDHub, an account layer in front of a node — which makes it a reasonable choice when one node serves several people, and a poor one if you want the wallet to be your node.
Note
BlueWallet’s hosted LNDHub service shut down in 2023; the self-hosted software still works. On StartOS the practical route is LNbits, whose LNDHub extension serves BlueWallet from your own node.
FullyNoded
- Platforms: iOS, macOS
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning
- Tor: Integrated; everything routes through it
Primarily a Bitcoin wallet — see Bitcoin Wallets — with Lightning support alongside. Because it connects over Tor to a .onion address, there is no certificate step.
Zeus
- Platforms: Android, iOS
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning, Eclair, LNDHub
- Tor: Native on Android; experimental on iOS
The most capable mobile Lightning wallet, and the one with the most ways in. It can also run an embedded node on the phone itself, with no remote connection at all.
To connect, in Zeus go to Settings → Connect a node → +, choose your implementation, and take the matching credential from your server:
| Your node | Zeus implementation | Take from |
|---|---|---|
| LND | LND | The REST interface’s lndconnect:// QR |
| Core Lightning | CLNRest | The CLNrest interface URL, rune already embedded |
| LND, without exposing an address | LNC | Lightning Terminal’s Connect page |
Enable Tor in Zeus only if you are actually using a .onion address. For a LAN or clearnet address, leave certificate validation on and install the StartOS Root CA on the phone.
Tools that run on your server
Alby Hub
- Connects to: LND, or its own embedded LDK node
Bridges Lightning to the Nostr ecosystem through Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC), letting Nostr clients, podcasting apps, and web apps spend from your node under permissions you set per app. Also available as a desktop app if you would rather not self-host it.
BTCPay Server
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning, Eclair
A self-hosted payment processor: invoices, point-of-sale, and e-commerce plugins for WooCommerce, Shopify and others. Its Lightning integration supports all three implementations, and it also has a full on-chain wallet — see Bitcoin Wallets.
CLN Application
- Connects to: Core Lightning only
Blockstream’s official web dashboard for Core Lightning. It is part of the Core Lightning service rather than a separate install, and is reached through that service’s Web UI interface.
Lightning Terminal
- Connects to: LND only
Lightning Labs’ dashboard for LND, bundling Loop (swaps between channel and on-chain funds), Pool (a liquidity marketplace), and Taproot Assets. Its daemon also provides Lightning Node Connect, which is reason enough to install it even if you prefer another dashboard: LNC is what lets Zeus reach your node without an onion address or a domain.
LNbits
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning, Eclair
An accounts-and-extensions layer over your node. It carves out isolated wallets — useful for a household, a business, or anything you would rather not hand the admin macaroon — and its extensions cover paywalls, point-of-sale, tipping, and an LNDHub backend that serves BlueWallet and Zeus from your own node.
RTL
- Connects to: LND, Core Lightning, Eclair
Ride The Lightning: the broadest node-management web UI, and the only one here that covers all three implementations. Channel management, payment history, routing fee configuration, and Loop/Pool integration.