Getting started
Download, install, pair your device, add an account.
Open guide →Comparison
Ledger Live Desktop or the mobile app?
They are the same product for the same hardware wallet. The honest answer is that most people end up with both, and use each one for the jobs it is good at.
- Home
- Desktop vs mobile
Same wallet, different screens
Ledger Live Desktop and the Ledger Live mobile app are two front ends to one hardware wallet. Your crypto is not in either of them, and neither one can move funds without the device. Accounts are derived from the device's recovery phrase in both cases, which is why adding an account on your laptop does not change anything for your phone.
What differs is ergonomics. A desktop app gives you a large screen for reading long addresses, wide tables for transaction histories and several accounts visible at once. A phone app gives you access wherever you are, and on supported devices it can connect over Bluetooth rather than a cable.
Side by side
| Task | Desktop | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| First setup, firmware updates, installing coin apps | Best | Possible, less guided |
| Verifying a long receive or send address | Best — the whole address is readable | Workable, more error-prone |
| Checking a balance at a glance | Fine | Best |
| Managing many accounts and networks | Best | Crowded quickly |
| Connection to the device | USB cable, the most predictable | USB or Bluetooth on supported devices |
| Sending a payment away from your desk | Needs the computer | Best |
| Working on an unfamiliar or borrowed computer | Avoid — install nothing on a machine you do not control | Better — your own device, your own app |
Do the two stay in sync?
Your device is the source of truth, so both apps always describe the same wallet — the same seed phrase derives the same accounts. Ledger Live also includes a sync feature that keeps your account lists and labels consistent between the desktop and mobile apps, so a new account added on the laptop shows up on the phone. Whichever route you take, restoring an app on a fresh machine is always possible from the device, and it never involves typing your recovery phrase into the computer.
What we would suggest
- Set the wallet up on desktop. Guided steps, one screen per prompt, and enough room to read what the device is showing you.
- Do firmware updates on desktop, with the cable that came in the box and the device on a stable surface.
- Keep mobile installed for checking balances and for sending when you are not at your computer.
- Do the large, deliberate transactions on desktop, where you can compare the address on screen with the address on the device properly.
- Never install either app on a computer you do not own or control.
Not a browser extension, not a website
Ledger Live is a desktop app and a mobile app. Any website offering to "connect your Ledger Live" in a browser tab, and any browser extension claiming to be the app, is not it. Browser-based fakes are the most common phishing format, and they exist to capture your recovery phrase.
Get the real app, from the only place that publishes 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.
Keep reading
Features
Portfolio, accounts, buy, sell, swap, stake and settings.
Open guide →Security
Recovery phrase rules, phishing, and safe habits.
Open guide →