Monero Wallets by Platform: macOS, Windows, Linux, Android and iOS in 2026
The question every "best Monero wallet for Mac" list skips is the only one that changes your privacy: does the wallet scan the blockchain on your own device, or does it hand your private view key to someone else's server to scan for you? The official downloads page organises its entire wallet list around exactly that split. Almost no listicle mentions it.
This guide is organised by platform, because that is how people actually search, but the local-versus-remote distinction runs through all of it.
Key points
- Official GUI is 0.18.5.2 (21 July 2026); CLI is 0.18.5.1 (8 July 2026). The two version numbers genuinely differ.
- There is no official Monero GUI for Windows on ARM, and none for Linux on ARM — so no official GUI on a Raspberry Pi.
- The macOS build has been signed and notarised since 2020. The
xattr -d com.apple.quarantinetrick every guide repeats should not be necessary, and running it on a wallet binary is bad advice. - iOS is weaker than Android for two specific, documented reasons — an App Store rule and the absence of any background blockchain-scanning mode. Not vibes.
- In our directory, every scam-flagged wallet is browser-based. Across 31 desktop, mobile, hardware and CLI listings there are zero scam flags.
The only distinction that matters
Monero has no public balance lookup. Your funds sit in one-time stealth outputs, and finding yours means trial-decrypting every output on the chain using your private view key. Something has to do that work. Either it happens on your device, or you give the key to a server.
| Model | Who holds the view key | Privacy cost |
|---|---|---|
| Local synchronisation | You. Never shared. | Remote node sees your IP and request timing only |
| Remote / lightweight | A server | Full receive history, every amount, all your addresses — permanently |
| Custodial | Server holds everything | Not a wallet; a counterparty |
A trap worth knowing: "light wallet" means two opposite things in Monero. Monerujo calls itself a light wallet because it uses remote nodes for block data while keeping all private data on your device — that is local scanning. MyMonero-style light wallets ship the view key to a server. Same phrase, opposite privacy. Articles routinely file Monerujo with the wrong group.
We cover the custodial end of this in Monero web wallets explained, and remote nodes in the remote node privacy guide.
What the official builds actually ship
The architecture matrix is lopsided in ways that trip people up:
| Platform | GUI | CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | x64 only | x64 and x86 |
| Windows on ARM | none | none |
| macOS | Intel + native Apple Silicon | Intel + ARM |
| Linux | x64 only | x64, x86, ARMv8, ARMv7, RISC-V 64 |
Apple Silicon has been native since GUI 0.18.3.1 in October 2023, so Mac users on M-series chips get a proper arm64 build. Windows-on-ARM users run the x64 build under emulation. And because the GUI has no ARM Linux build while the CLI has four, there is no official Monero GUI on a Raspberry Pi — a claim several guides make anyway.
macOS: the Gatekeeper advice is backwards
The official .dmg is code-signed and notarised by Apple, and has been since GUI 0.16.0.3 in August 2020. The build pipeline runs codesign with a hardened runtime, then notarytool submit, then staples the ticket.
So the near-universal advice to run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine on the app is cargo-culted from an era that ended six years ago. If you see "damaged or incomplete", the realistic causes are a corrupted download or a mirror that is not getmonero.org — verify the SHA256 against the signed hashes.txt and download again. Stripping quarantine from a wallet binary is precisely the habit an attacker distributing a fake build would want you to have.
One genuine quirk: the app requests the disable-executable-page-protection entitlement, because RandomX compiles code at runtime. That is why it needs a hardened-runtime exception.
Windows: expect an antivirus false positive
The downloads page carries a standing notice that some antivirus products flag the Monero executables. This is not a one-off — it is permanent, official, and there is a long-running project issue about contacting vendors.
The mechanism is plausible: the GUI bundles P2Pool, and the daemon embeds RandomX, so genuine mining code really is present in the package. A heuristic that flags "miner-adjacent" binaries will fire. The Windows installer also is not EV-code-signed, so SmartScreen shows an "unrecognised app" warning on first run.
The correct response is to verify the hash against hashes.txt, not to disable your antivirus. A thread titled "I hate Windows (maybe helpful)" drew 42 upvotes on r/Monero in November 2025, which is roughly the community's collective feeling about this.
Linux: no official AppImage
Official packaging is the Arch extra repository (not the AUR), NixOS, Flathub (org.getmonero.Monero, website-verified, x86_64 only), GuixSD, and a Homebrew cask on macOS. There is no official Monero GUI AppImage — guides that say otherwise are thinking of Feather, which does ship one, including a Tails/Whonix variant. There is also no official .deb or .rpm and no APT repository.
Wallets by platform
The official list splits into local-sync and remote-sync. As of now the remote-sync column has exactly one entry.
| Wallet | Platforms | Sync | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monero GUI / CLI | Win, macOS, Linux | Local | Reference implementation |
| Feather | Win, macOS, Linux, Tails/Whonix | Local | Native arm64; no release since 2.8.1 (April 2025) |
| Cake Wallet | iOS, Android, Win, macOS, Linux | Local | Trezor support for Monero since v6.2.0 (June 2026) |
| Stack Wallet | iOS, Android, desktop | Local | Actively shipping despite a stale-looking website |
| Monerujo | Android only | Local | No release in ~15 months |
| ANONERO | Android only | Local | Onion-first, Tor-mandatory, deliberately opaque |
| Monfluo | Android only | Local | Newest addition to the official list |
| Unstoppable | iOS, Android | Local | Mobile only |
| Edge | iOS, Android | Both | Added local Full Sync in July 2026 — see below |
| Cupcake | iOS, Android | n/a | Air-gapped signer, not a wallet |
One correction worth carrying: Edge shipped a local Full Sync mode on 8 July 2026, meaning it can now download and validate the chain locally instead of using view-key scanning. The official downloads page has not caught up and still lists Edge as the sole view-key wallet. Both modes now exist.
Browse the full set on our wallets category — 35 listings, 11 verified.
Why iOS is worse than Android, precisely
The honest explanation is duller and more useful than "Apple hates privacy".
An App Store rule excludes solo developers. Guideline 3.1.5(i) permits virtual currency storage apps only from developers "enrolled as an organization". Every Monero wallet on iOS maps to an incorporated entity. Monerujo (one developer) and ANONERO (pseudonymous, Tor-only) structurally cannot qualify. Note this is a rule about corporate structure, not about Monero — and neither project has publicly blamed Apple, so do not assume that is why they are Android-only.
There is no background blockchain-scanning mode on iOS. Apple's background task APIs are built for short refreshes and time-bounded processing, and the system kills apps that overrun. Cake Wallet's own documentation states plainly that background sync is Android only — while its App Store listing advertises "full support for background sync" with no platform qualifier. Two primary sources, same company.
Do not over-correct, though: Android is not unlimited either. Since Android 15, dataSync foreground services are capped at six hours per 24-hour period. The real comparison is "six hours with a persistent notification" versus "system-scheduled wake-ups measured in minutes" — not "unlimited versus nothing".
iOS does have one clear advantage: the best consumer cold-storage story on mobile. Cupcake as an air-gapped signer paired with Cake Wallet holding only view keys, plus Ledger over Bluetooth, is a genuinely strong setup. The weakness is sync, not custody.
Hardware wallets: the official table is out of date
The hardware matrix on the official site is copied verbatim across the web, and it is wrong in four separate ways.
| Device | Monero status |
|---|---|
| Ledger Nano S (original) | App no longer built for it. Still listed officially |
| Ledger Nano S Plus / X | Supported |
| Ledger Stax / Flex | Supported — Stax since 2023, Flex since October 2025. Not listed officially |
| Ledger Nano Gen5 | Supported since January 2026. Almost undocumented anywhere |
| Trezor Model T / Safe 3 / Safe 5 | Supported |
| Trezor Safe 7 | Firmware supports it, Monero GUI cannot talk to it — new host protocol not yet implemented. Works via Cake Wallet |
Two things nobody mentions:
Monero is not in Ledger Live or Trezor Suite. Both vendors direct you to third-party wallet software. There is no native Monero account type in either vendor app.
View-key export to the host became mandatory in 0.18.4.4 (November 2025). The old opt-out — scanning on the device itself, much slower — is gone. The privacy-versus-speed tradeoff is now decided for you, and if the host machine is compromised the attacker gets your private view key. That is a real change and it is not on any "best hardware wallet" list.
Restore is vendor-locked. Trezor states outright that a Monero wallet created on a Trezor may not be recoverable into other software because of different derivation. With Ledger you cannot type the 24 BIP-39 words into Monero GUI at all — Monero uses a 25-word seed — you re-derive from another Ledger. Practical upshot: if your device dies you need another device from the same vendor. Our hardware wallet listings cover what we track.
Cold storage and offline signing
The genuinely correct flow is an offline wallet plus a view-only online wallet, passing files or QR codes between them: build the transaction online, sign offline, submit online. After every spend you also have to sync key images back, or the view-only wallet's balance is wrong.
That last point is the one people get burned by. A view-only wallet cannot compute key images, so it cannot tell which of your outputs are spent. Its balance inflates toward lifetime receipts rather than merely going stale. For a full resync the commands need the all keyword, and import_key_images requires a trusted daemon — if your view-only wallet points at a remote node it will refuse unless you explicitly mark it trusted. Almost no third-party guide mentions that.
Feather wraps the whole cycle in a GUI with animated QR codes and two cheap webcams, which is the most approachable version. Cake Wallet plus Cupcake does the same on mobile.
Why paper wallets are a bad idea for Monero specifically
- You cannot check the balance. Because the chain is private, you cannot look up an address to confirm funds arrived, the way you would with Bitcoin.
- Spending it converts it to a hot wallet. There is no partial-spend path that keeps the key cold, because spending needs key images, which needs the spend key.
- No restore height. The standard paper-wallet fields do not include one, so restoring means scanning from the beginning of the chain.
The seed on paper is a different thing, and it is the recommended cold backup: write down the 25 words, generated offline. The seed is the wallet. It is the "paper wallet as a spending mechanism" pattern that deserves to die.
And a live hazard: the old moneroaddress.org generator domain now redirects to an affiliate marketing page whose guide tells readers to download MyMonero — a service that went offline in January 2026. The official generator lives on getmonero.org.
Sync reality in 2026
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Full blockchain on disk | ~290–295 GB |
| Pruned node | ~118–123 GB (not the advertised one-third) |
| Growth | ~2 GB/month of raw blocks, ~35 GB/year on disk |
| Block height | ~3,766,500 |
| Published sync-time benchmark | None exists |
That last row is worth dwelling on. Every "12 to 48 hours" or "8 to 20 days on a Pi" figure in circulation traces back to content farms. The official guidance is deliberately qualitative. We would rather tell you no benchmark exists than repeat an invented number.
Two useful notes: fast block sync is already on by default, skipping expensive proof-of-work verification for old blocks using hashes embedded in the binary. And a remote node does not make sync free — your wallet still has to request every output, which can take hours.
Pruning also has a catch: pruning an existing full database does not shrink the file, it just marks space free. For the real saving you need to prune on the first sync.
What our directory data shows
We track 35 wallet listings. Split by type, the pattern is stark:
| Type | Listings | Verified | Scam-flagged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 16 | 5 | 0 |
| Desktop | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| Hardware | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| CLI | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Web | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Browser | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Thirty-one local-scanning wallets across four form factors, zero scam flags, eleven verified. Five browser-based listings, none verified, one flagged scam and one flagged questionable. Small sample, but it points the same way as everything above.
FAQ
What is the best Monero wallet for macOS?
The official Monero GUI runs natively on Apple Silicon and scans locally, which makes it the default answer. Feather is the lighter desktop alternative with the same local-scan model and native arm64 builds. Both are on the official local-synchronisation list. Ignore any guide telling you to strip the quarantine attribute — the build is notarised.
Is there a Monero wallet for Windows 10 and 11?
Yes — the official GUI ships an x64 installer and portable zip for both. Expect a possible antivirus false positive, because the package bundles P2Pool and RandomX; verify the SHA256 against the signed hashes file rather than disabling your antivirus. There is no Windows-on-ARM build, so Surface-style ARM devices run it emulated.
What is the best XMR wallet for Android?
Android has the widest choice, and all the main options scan locally: Cake Wallet, Monero.com, Stack Wallet, Monerujo, Monfluo and ANONERO. Android also supports background sync, which iOS does not. Note Monerujo has not shipped a release in about fifteen months.
Why are there fewer Monero wallets on iOS?
Two documented reasons. Apple's guideline 3.1.5(i) only allows crypto wallet apps from developers enrolled as organisations, which excludes solo and pseudonymous projects. And iOS has no background mode for blockchain scanning, so wallets cannot keep syncing while closed — Cake Wallet's own docs confirm background sync is Android-only.
Can I use a Ledger or Trezor with Monero?
Yes, but not through Ledger Live or Trezor Suite — neither vendor app supports Monero natively. You pair the device with Monero GUI, Feather or Cake Wallet. The original Ledger Nano S no longer gets the Monero app built for it, while Stax, Flex and Nano Gen5 do work despite not appearing on the official table. Trezor Safe 7 works through Cake Wallet but not yet through Monero GUI.
How much disk space do I need to run a full node?
Budget around 290–295 GB for a full node, or roughly 118–123 GB pruned, growing about 35 GB a year. Prune on the first sync — pruning an existing database only marks space free rather than shrinking the file. Widely-cited "175 GB" guidance is years out of date.