Independent, unofficial guide. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Ledger SAS. Ledger Live is only ever published on ledger.com — download it there and nowhere else.
Ledger Live · Desktop
Ledger Live Desktop is the free companion app for Ledger hardware wallets on Windows, macOS and Linux. It shows your balances, tracks transactions, and lets you send, receive, buy, swap and stake — while the keys that control your crypto stay locked inside the device on your desk.
Independent guide. Not affiliated with Ledger SAS. The app is only published on ledger.com.
If you own a Ledger hardware wallet, Ledger Live is the program that talks to it. On a phone it is the Ledger Live app; on a computer it is Ledger Live Desktop, and the two are the same product on different screens. Neither one is where your crypto lives. They are the dashboard and the remote control: you choose what to do, the app builds the transaction, and the hardware wallet signs it after you approve it on the device's own screen.
That split matters. The hardware wallet keeps your private keys inside a secure chip that never hands them to the computer, and the desktop app is designed to work without ever seeing them. It is why Ledger Live can run on an ordinary laptop that is used for everything else — and why the single thing you must protect, your 24-word recovery phrase, is the one thing the app will never ask you for.
The desktop version is the one to reach for when you have real work to do. A larger screen makes long account lists, transaction histories and address checks far easier to read carefully, and there is room to keep several accounts and networks open at once. This guide walks through installing it, using it day to day, and staying out of the traps that catch people.
A free desktop app from Ledger that shows your portfolio, adds accounts, prepares transactions, and asks your hardware wallet to sign them. A convenient front end to a device that holds the keys.
Not a wallet that stores coins, not a backup, and not a way to recover a lost recovery phrase. It cannot move funds without the device, and it should never receive your 24 words.
Everything in the app follows the same pattern: you choose an action, and the device confirms it. These are the parts most people use every week.
Total balance, allocation by asset, and performance charts in one place, with market prices pulled in automatically. Accounts across several networks sit side by side instead of in separate apps.
Portfolio and market data →Accounts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and thousands of other assets, each with its own address and history. Labels and account order are yours to arrange.
Add your first account →Receiving means confirming the address on the device screen before you share it. Sending means checking the destination and amount on the device before you approve.
How send and receive work →Third-party providers are built into the app for buying with a card or bank transfer and for swapping one asset for another. Availability and fees depend on your country.
Buy, sell and swap →For networks that reward holders, the app can delegate or stake through a provider, with your device still signing the operation.
Staking in the app →The device manager section of the app updates your hardware wallet's firmware and installs the coin apps it needs. Both are signed operations you approve on the device.
If an update fails →From an unopened box to your first received payment. The full walkthrough, with what to check at each stage, is in the getting started guide.
Open the hardware wallet and check what is inside: the device, a cable and a blank recovery sheet. A device that arrives with a recovery phrase already written down, or a scratch-off card you are told to use, has been tampered with. Send it back and tell Ledger.
Open ledger.com yourself and download the installer for Windows, macOS or Linux. Not a mirror, not a link from an email, not the first sponsored result in a search engine. Then install it and launch it.
Write down the recovery phrase the device shows you, on paper, and store it offline and separately from the device. Or restore an existing wallet by entering an existing phrase on the device's own screen. Never on the computer, and never into the app.
Plug the device in with the supplied cable, unlock it with your PIN, and use the app to add a Bitcoin or Ethereum account. The app asks the device for the account's public address — the device confirms on its own screen, and Ledger Live adds the account.
Use Receive, verify the displayed address on the device screen, then send a small test amount to it and wait for the confirmation. Only after that arrives should you move anything significant.
Your 24-word recovery phrase is the wallet. Anyone who has it has your funds, and no legitimate company, app, website or support agent will ever ask you to type it into a computer or share it. Ledger Live Desktop does not need it to install, update, sync or recover anything.
A hardware wallet is a small computer whose only real job is to hold private keys and sign transactions without ever letting the keys out. Your Ledger stores those keys in a secure element, and the PIN protects the device itself: enter the wrong PIN three times and the device wipes its keys rather than giving them up.
Ledger Live Desktop is built around that boundary. When you send crypto, the app assembles the transaction and hands it to the device. The device shows you the destination address and the amount on its own screen — the one place a compromised computer cannot fake — and only after you approve it there does the device sign. This is why the app's warning to check the device screen is the single most useful habit you can build.
What the app does keep on your computer is the account list: which coins you hold, your labels, your settings, and a cache of transaction history so it does not have to re-download everything on every launch. None of that can move funds, and losing all of it is an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.
Both apps manage the same accounts and both require the same hardware wallet. The difference is where each one is comfortable.
| Situation | Better on desktop | Better on mobile |
|---|---|---|
| First setup and firmware updates | Desktop — guided steps and a large screen for reading each prompt | Supported, but easier to rush |
| Checking balances and history | Wide tables, sortable history, several accounts at once | Mobile — anywhere, in seconds |
| Verifying a long address | Desktop — full address visible on screen | Cramped, easier to misread |
| Sending a quick payment on the move | Needs a computer and a cable | Mobile — Bluetooth on supported devices |
| Managing many accounts and networks | Desktop | Gets crowded |
Most long-term users install both and do their serious work on the desktop. The full comparison covers syncing, connection methods and which tasks belong where.
Four problems account for most of the help requests around the desktop app. None of them mean your crypto is gone, and none of them require your recovery phrase to fix.
Usually the cable, the port or a device that is waiting for you to approve the connection. Work through the cable and driver checks first.
Fix device detection →A synchronization error, a hidden account, or a node that has not caught up yet. Nothing has been lost; the app needs refreshing.
Fix synchronization →A fee set too low for current network conditions. There are proper ways to replace or wait it out.
Stuck transactions →Antivirus interference, a half-finished install, or a downloaded copy from somewhere that is not ledger.com.
App and update problems →Yes. The desktop app is free to download and use, and it is published by Ledger itself at ledger.com. You only ever pay for the hardware wallet, and for optional services inside the app such as buying crypto through a third-party provider.
Yes, for anything that matters. Ledger Live Desktop is a companion app: it can show market data on its own, but sending, receiving and staking all require a connected device, because your device is what signs the transaction. It is not a software wallet and it cannot hold your crypto for you.
No. Your crypto lives on the blockchain and your keys live in the hardware wallet's secure element. The app stores your account list, labels and settings on your computer, never your 24-word recovery phrase. No legitimate version of the app will ever ask you to type that phrase into your computer.
Only from ledger.com — the official Ledger website. Search results and ads are routinely used to push look-alike installers, and a fake build of the app is one of the ways people are tricked into giving away their recovery phrase. Bookmark the real page rather than searching for it.
Ledger Live Desktop is free and is distributed by Ledger at ledger.com. There are no mirrors, no “pro” versions, no paid unlocks and no need to enter your recovery phrase anywhere to install it.
Download, install, pair your device, add an account.
Open guide →Portfolio, accounts, buy, sell, swap, stake and settings.
Open guide →Recovery phrase rules, phishing, and safe habits.
Open guide →