Set up Nunchuk
Start with one key on your phone, in an app that can grow all the way to multisig later. You will create a single-signature hot wallet, write down your recovery words, and learn to receive and send, without changing apps when you level up.
6 stepsabout 20 mingrows with you
What you will have at the end
- ✓A single-sig wallet, with the key on your phone
- ✓Your 24 recovery words written down safely
- ✓A clear path to hardware signers and multisig
Install and continue as guest
Goal: Open Nunchuk without handing over an email address.
- Install Nunchuk and open it. The first screen offers sign-in options.
- Tap Continue as guest. You do not need an account for a self-custodial wallet.
- Nunchuk's Home screen explains the two ways in: add a key first, or create a hot wallet straight away.
Why skip the account
An account unlocks Nunchuk's paid, assisted services, and none of that is needed here. Continuing as a guest keeps your keys and your wallet entirely local, with no email tying your bitcoin to your identity. You can always sign in later if you decide you want those services.
Create a hot wallet
Goal: Generate one key on the phone and get a single-sig wallet from it.
- Tap Create hot wallet.
- Read the hot wallet explainer. It says plainly that a hot wallet is connected to the internet, and that large amounts belong on cold storage or multisig. That is the honest framing, and it is why this tier is for spending money.
- Tap Continue. Nunchuk creates My hot wallet, marked Single-sig.
Why start single-sig here
One key is one thing to back up and one thing to understand. Nunchuk can do 2-of-3 multisig with hardware signers, but that is the Advanced tier and it deserves its own guide. Learn the single-key basics in this app first, then the upgrade path never involves changing wallets.
Write down your recovery words
Goal: Save the 24 words that are your only way back into this wallet.
- Open the wallet. A banner reads Please write down the seed phrase. Tap Do it now.
- Nunchuk warns that this action cannot be repeated. Have paper and a pen ready, then tap Continue.
- Write all 24 words down in order on paper. Check the spelling, then tap Continue.
- Confirm the words Nunchuk asks for (it picks three at random), then tap Continue.
- You land on your Key Info screen. Rename the key if you like, and note that View seed phrase lives here if you ever need it again. Tap the back arrow in the top left when you are done.
- The warning banner disappears and the wallet header turns from amber to navy. That is how you know it is done.
⚠Unlike some wallets, Nunchuk does not block screenshots on this screen, so it is entirely up to you: never photograph your words and never type them into anything. Paper only. The two screenshots here are deliberately blurred for exactly that reason.
One shot at this
Nunchuk shows the phrase once during setup and says so up front. You can still reach it later via Keys, then your key, then View seed phrase, but treat the first showing as the real one. Write it down properly rather than planning to come back.
Receive bitcoin
Goal: Share an address and watch the payment arrive.
- In the wallet, tap Receive. An empty wallet also shows its address straight away.
- Copy address or Share address and give it to the sender.
- The payment appears as Pending confirmations and your balance updates.
- Tap it for the details, where View on blockchain explorer lets you check it yourself.
- Once it is included in a block the badge becomes a confirmation count, climbing with every block that follows.
When is it really yours?
Pending confirmations means the payment has been broadcast but is not in a block yet. One confirmation is enough for small amounts; for larger ones wait for up to 6. View on blockchain explorer lets you confirm all of it independently, rather than taking the app's word for it.
Send bitcoin
Goal: Send a payment out of the wallet.
- Open your wallet and tap Send.
- Enter the amount, or tap Send all to sweep the wallet (Switch to USD if you prefer fiat), then tap Continue.
- Paste or scan the recipient's address. Nunchuk breaks it into blocks so you can check it a chunk at a time. Add a note if you want to remember what it was for.
- Tap Create transaction to accept the suggested fee, or Customize transaction to control it yourself.
- Customising lets you subtract the fee from the amount, choose which coins to spend, and tick Manual fee rate to set your own sat/vB against the current priority, standard and economical rates.
- Check the address, fee and total on Confirm transaction, then tap Confirm and create transaction.
- The transaction now exists but is unsigned, marked Pending signatures. Tap Sign next to your key.
- It flips to Ready to broadcast with enough signatures collected. Tap Broadcast transaction to send it.
- The send appears in your wallet as Pending confirmations, with your note beneath it.
⚠Always re-read the recipient address before you confirm. Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed.
Why sending takes two steps here
Most wallets send in one tap. Nunchuk splits it into create, then sign, because it is built for multisig: there a transaction is drafted first and then signed by several keys, often held by different people or on different devices. With a single key you simply do both yourself, so it is one extra tap. Nothing is wrong, and it is worth getting used to: this is the exact same flow you will use unchanged if you ever move up to a 2-of-3.
If you lose your phone
Goal: Know how to restore this wallet onto a new device.
- Install Nunchuk on the new phone and choose Continue as guest.
- Tap Recover existing wallet, at the bottom of the wallet-type list.
- Choose Recover hot wallet. The other entries are for hardware devices, group wallets and descriptors.
- Type your 24 words separated by a space, in order, all into the one box. Nunchuk suggests each word as you type, and Continue stays greyed out until the whole phrase is valid.
- Your wallet comes back with its full history, confirmations and all. Your words are standard BIP39, so any wallet that restores from recovery words can recover this key too.
⚠Treat the lost phone as compromised. After recovering, create a brand new wallet (a fresh set of keys with its own new recovery words) and move all funds to it. Anyone who ends up with the old phone or its written words could otherwise take your bitcoin.
Now you're hodling
You are self-custodied
One key, on your phone, with the words on paper. When you are ready for a hardware signer or a 2-of-3 multisig, you already have the app for it.
Overview