Aqua vs Sparrow Wallet

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-25

A self-custodial Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt wallet built for people who need cheap dollars on a phone, not only bitcoin.

Sparrow Wallet4.7Bitcoin-only

The desktop wallet to coordinate hardware signers and multisig from, with a verification tool that also checks other projects' releases.

Verdict: Sparrow Wallet

Sparrow Wallet rates higher on our rubric: 4.7 against 3.6 for Aqua.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Aqua: 3.6
Sparrow Wallet: 4.7

Aqua and Sparrow Wallet, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Aqua and Sparrow Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Aqua	Sparrow Wallet
Editorial rating	3.6	4.7 (favoured on this row)
Status	Available	Available
Made by	JAN3	Sparrow Wallet
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android	self-custodial, keys in an encrypted file on your own computer or on a hardware signer, with no account anywhere
Bitcoin-only	No	Yes
Runs on	iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	On-chain bitcoin, the Liquid Network, and Lightning through submarine swaps rather than channels of its own	Public Electrum servers, your own Electrum server, or Bitcoin Core, with Tor built in
Released	2024, by JAN3	Not stated
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-25	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Aqua

What works

Self-custodial, with the seed kept in the phone's own secure storage and no documents required to open a wallet
Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt in one app, which is the point for anyone who is paid or saves in dollars
Aqua's own figures put a $100 USDt transfer at three cents over Liquid against eight dollars over Ethereum
Network fees on USDt can be paid in USDt, so there is no separate gas token to hold
Replace-by-fee support, so a stuck transaction can be bumped instead of waited out
Client source published on GitHub, and Aqua says it collects no personal data or transaction logs

What to watch

Not bitcoin only: a large part of the app is about stablecoins
Liquid balances are secured by the Liquid federation rather than by bitcoin's own mining
Lightning runs through third-party submarine swaps rather than channels Aqua manages
USDt transfers over Tron or Ethereum depend on SideShift's liquidity, as Aqua's own FAQ says
In-app bitcoin purchases are run by outside providers, so the country rules and the support queue are theirs
A prepaid card and lending are advertised as coming rather than shipped

Sparrow Wallet

What works

Bitcoin only, open source and free, with no account and no server holding anything of yours
First-class multisig: build a quorum across several hardware signers and keep the descriptor
Works with hardware wallets over USB or fully air-gapped by QR code or SD card, with complete PSBT support
Full coin control and labels on every transaction, input and output, plus a transaction editor that shows the raw bytes
Every release ships a signed manifest, and Sparrow verifies the next download, Bitcoin Core and hardware wallet firmware from inside the app
Connects to your own Electrum server or Bitcoin Core, with Tor built in

What to watch

Desktop only: there is no iOS or Android app
The UTXO detail and the transaction editor are the point, and they are a lot to meet on day one
No built-in way to buy bitcoin, so the coins have to arrive from an exchange or a peer
Effectively a single maintainer, which is a concentration risk whatever the quality of the code

Frequently asked questions

Is Aqua or Sparrow Wallet better?

Sparrow Wallet rates higher on our rubric: 4.7 against 3.6 for Aqua. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Aqua and Sparrow Wallet free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Aqua is self-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android; Sparrow Wallet is self-custodial, keys in an encrypted file on your own computer or on a hardware signer, with no account anywhere.

Is Aqua or Sparrow Wallet bitcoin-only?

Sparrow Wallet is bitcoin-only; Aqua supports other assets too. Multi-asset: bitcoin on chain, Liquid bitcoin, and Tether USDt on Liquid and several other chains

The full reviews: Aqua and Sparrow Wallet, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

More comparisons

Every other head-to-head Aqua or Sparrow Wallet appears in.