Phoenix review
Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Security warning
Phoenix is the wallet to choose if you want to spend over Lightning without running a node at home, and the two facts to take in first are that ACINQ can see where your payments go and that receiving can cost you an on-chain fee. It is not a hosted account: Phoenix runs a real, self-contained Lightning node on the handset, and ACINQ's FAQ says so in as many words while being equally clear that trust-minimized is not the same as trustless.
The fees are published as a table rather than discovered at payment time. Sending over Lightning costs 0.4% plus 4 sat. Receiving over Lightning is free when you already have inbound liquidity, and costs 1% plus mining fees when the wallet has to go on chain to make room. Requesting liquidity in advance costs the same 1% plus mining fees, and creating a channel costs 1,000 sat. There is no on-chain balance at all: money sent to your Phoenix bitcoin address waits for 3 confirmations and is then swapped into the channel, and Phoenix will refuse a swap whose mining fee exceeds the ceiling you set.
On privacy, ACINQ's own FAQ is blunt: "The current version of Phoenix offers no advantage regarding privacy over existing, hosted, custodial wallets. We (ACINQ) know the final destination and amount of payments." Custody is a separate question and the answer there is better. The wallet is a standard BIP39 seed on a BIP84 derivation path, and if ACINQ vanished you would force close your channels, wait roughly 720 blocks (about five days) and recover the funds on chain, with Electrum as ACINQ's suggested tool. Force closing is an emergency mechanism, not a withdrawal button, and ACINQ tells you not to use it for anything else.
One piece of history often comes up. ACINQ pulled Phoenix from US app stores on May 3, 2024, days after federal prosecutors indicted the developers of Samourai Wallet, saying US statements had cast doubt on whether self-custodial wallet providers and Lightning service providers count as money services businesses. It is back: Phoenix is listed on the US App Store today. ACINQ never announced the return on its blog and we have found no primary source giving the date, so this page does not put one on it. That is a closed chapter rather than a live restriction, and it is why older reviews still describe Phoenix as unavailable in the United States.
- Made by
- ACINQ
- Type
- Software wallet
- Runs on
- iOS, Android
- Who holds the keys
- self-custodial, a real Lightning node running on your phone behind a 12 word seed
- Bitcoin only
- Yes
- Connectivity
- Lightning only, connecting to ACINQ's nodes, with the option to watch the chain through your own Electrum server
- Released
- December 2019, alongside ACINQ's Eclair node implementation
- Coin support
- Bitcoin only, and only in Lightning channels: there is no separate on-chain balance
Pros and cons
What works
- A real self-custodial Lightning node on the phone, not an account on somebody's server
- Fees published as a table on ACINQ's own site: 0.4% plus 4 sat to send, free to receive when you have liquidity
- Standard BIP39 seed on a BIP84 path, recoverable in Electrum if ACINQ ever disappeared
- Built by ACINQ, which develops the Eclair implementation and runs a large routing node
- Rotating taproot receive addresses, with swaps that look like ordinary transactions on chain
What to watch
- ACINQ's own FAQ says Phoenix offers no privacy advantage over a custodial wallet and that ACINQ knows the destination and amount of payments
- Receiving without enough inbound liquidity costs 1% plus mining fees, and a new channel costs 1,000 sat
- No on-chain balance, which makes it a spending wallet rather than somewhere to park savings
- Recovering from a force close takes roughly 720 blocks, about five days
- Wake-up notifications rely on Google services, so GrapheneOS users need the sandboxed Play Services app
- Was off US app stores from May 3, 2024 until some point in 2025, which is why some reviews still call it unavailable there
Worth comparing
- MuunOn-chain and Lightning in one balance behind a 2-of-2 multisig, backed up by an Emergency Kit file rather than twelve words.
- BlueWalletBitcoin-only phone wallet with real coin control and multisig vaults, whose Lightning side is custodial unless you run the server yourself.
- AquaA self-custodial Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt wallet built for people who need cheap dollars on a phone, not only bitcoin.
Frequently asked questions
Is Phoenix available in the United States?
It was, and it is not now. ACINQ removed Phoenix from US app stores on May 3, 2024, days after the Samourai Wallet indictment, and it is listed on the US App Store again today. ACINQ published no announcement of the return, so reviews written in between still describe it as unavailable.
What does Phoenix cost to use?
Sending over Lightning costs 0.4% plus 4 satoshis, and receiving is free if you already have inbound liquidity. If the wallet has to go on chain to make room, receiving or requesting liquidity costs 1% plus mining fees, and creating a channel costs 1,000 satoshis.
Is Phoenix custodial?
No. Phoenix runs a real Lightning node on your phone and the funds are controlled by your own 12 word seed. ACINQ describes it as trust-minimized rather than trustless, because a channel opened by an incoming payment involves trusting ACINQ until the funding transaction confirms.
What happens to my money if ACINQ disappears?
Your funds stay yours but you can no longer make payments, so you force close the channels from the danger zone in settings. After roughly 720 blocks, about five days, the money lands on chain under your own seed, and ACINQ recommends recovering it with Electrum on a desktop.
Can I connect Phoenix to my own Lightning node?
No, and ACINQ says that is deliberate: Phoenix is built for people who do not want to run a node. You can point it at your own Electrum server to watch the blockchain, and if you do run an always-on node you are better served by a remote control app for it.