# Bitkey First Impressions

I received my 🪨 Bitkey Beta unit today!

Initial out of the box impressions are very positive. The unit itself feels good in the hand, heavy & solid. The fingerprint reader is quick, and NFC worked without issue on my pixel 6a. Overall I give the hardware a thumbs up. Sleek & simple.

Setup was fast! I recorded a video of the process, it was 4 minutes long 😂 No words to copy, just a backup of the mobile device key to online storage. Google app backup in my case, iCloud for my apple friends. It also requires either a sms capable phone number, or an email. These are for the recovery process in case of a lost Bitkey, or mobile device.

I immediately uninstalled the app and wiped data to test the recovery. It worked, once again fast. Recovered the mobile key from backup, and had me up and running in literally seconds. In a case where you have only one key, either mobile or the bitkey, the recovery is a bit different.

I obviously haven't tested this. Maybe, we'll see.

I also sent an on chain transaction to my new wallet. It does what a wallet needs to. Gave me an address plus a QR code and a copy button, received bitcoin. It uses mempool.space as it's transaction explorer, that's a plus. 👍

One thing missing. No dark mode UI! 👀 The software is minimal, not a lot of settings to tweak. You can set a daily limit for spending that won't require the hardware device. Custom electrum servers are supported. I want able to connect with my umbrel setup, but I haven't really tried anything yet. I will be sending feedback to support, I'd really like to have that working. The UI is functional and simple.

Overall the whole package has a good first impression. Beautiful, well crafted hardware. A fast, setup and recovery procedure. The software will surely see updates, but so far works well and interaction with the device itself is fast and easy.

That being said I don't expect anyone to drop their coldcard for this. It is obviously aimed at newer users, and maybe a good choice for someone who doesn't trust their ability to protect their keys. The phone and email requirements can be easily worked around with burners. The uploading of keys to online services not so much as of now, but it's just one of the two that are needed. A trade-off of security for convenience, for sure. I can see myself using this as a day to day wallet 💯

#grownostr #bitcoin