What a crypto wallet looks like, screen by screen, from first launch to the address
Nobody photographs a crypto wallet, because there is nothing to photograph: it is software. Follow a newcomer through their first session and you meet the same handful of screens in almost every app, from the recovery phrase to the receive QR code. Here is what each one shows and where its numbers come from.
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First, correct the mental picture
People who search for a picture of a crypto wallet are often expecting a leather billfold with a coin on it. The real thing is a program. It runs as a phone app, as a panel that drops down from a browser toolbar, or as the companion to a small hardware device, and in each case the screens are close cousins. A fourth look-alike, the crypto tab of an exchange, behaves differently and gets its own section near the end.
The coins never sit inside any of them. They live as entries on a blockchain, and what the program holds are the keys that can move those entries (how crypto wallets work). Every screen below is a window onto that record. Ethereum.org describes the job as showing balances and history and letting you send and receive funds, which is a fair summary of the whole tour.
Minute one: the recovery phrase
A brand new self-custody wallet starts with its most serious screen, not its prettiest. You are shown 12 or 24 words in a numbered grid, frequently blurred until you tap, with a warning to copy them onto paper and tell no one. The words are drawn from a fixed list of 2,048 defined by the BIP-39 standard, and a 12-word phrase encodes 128 bits of randomness while a 24-word one encodes 256 (a seed phrase example, word by word).
Phantom's help center describes the phone flow: a 12-word phrase appears, and you press "OK, I Saved It" when it is on paper. Many other apps then test you, asking for the words in order or for a few specific positions, before they let you in. There is no spare copy anywhere. Ethereum.org puts it bluntly: this phrase is the only way back into the wallet.
Minute two: the home screen
Once the wallet is open, the home screen is where you spend most of your time. Rather than list it top to bottom, here is each element with the question that matters most about it: where does it come from?
| What you see | Typical look | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account name and avatar | "Account 1", a colored circle, a shortened address like 0x71C7...976F | Set by the app, and you can rename it |
| Total balance | The biggest figure on the page, such as $2,481.36 | Computed: each token amount times its market price, summed |
| Change for the day | An amount and a percentage in green or red, mostly over 24 hours | Market data, compared with a day earlier |
| Action buttons | Three to five round icons: Receive, Send, Swap, Buy, sometimes Sell or Stake | Features of the app, some run by partner companies |
| Tabs | Tokens, Collectibles (NFTs), often Activity | Read from the chain |
| Token rows | Icon, name, quantity (0.85 ETH, 312.4 SOL), value in dollars, its own 24-hour change | Quantity from the chain, value from the price feed |
A strip along the bottom usually jumps between home, swap, an explore tab for on-chain apps, activity and settings. Plenty of apps also let you hide the numbers with a tap, which blurs the amounts on screen without hiding the address underneath.
Receiving: the QR code and the address
The first time you need an address is on the receive screen. Choose the coin or the network, and the app draws a large QR code with the written address under it and two buttons, Copy and Share. A few add a box to request a fixed amount, and most print a notice saying only assets from that network belong at this address.
The QR code carries the address, or a payment link built around it. Trust Wallet's guide says its code holds only the public address. Bitcoin's BIP-21 standard defines bitcoin: links so that people can pay by clicking or scanning, and ERC-681 gives Ethereum the same idea with ethereum: links.
The address text itself is the quickest way to guess which chain you are looking at. Only formats are listed below, never a working address.
| Chain | Opening characters | What the rest looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | bc1 on modern addresses, 1 or 3 on older ones | Long, lowercase letters and digits after the prefix |
| Ethereum and other EVM chains | 0x | Forty hexadecimal characters (digits and a to f), which apps often abbreviate to the first and last few |
| Solana | none | Between 32 and 44 letters and digits |
See checked address examples for each chain for more. Sharing an address is how you get paid, so it is fine to hand to a payer. It does cost some privacy, since Bitcoin.org warns that anyone can see the balance and the full transaction list of any address. That is the reason a creator never films a real one.
Tapping a token: chart on top, your position below
A tap on any row in the list opens that asset's own page. The upper half is a price chart with range buttons (1H, 1D, 1W, 1M, 1Y, All) and today's price. Under the chart is your holding: the quantity and what it is worth right now. The same four action buttons come back, and then come market figures such as market cap and volume, a short blurb and, for tokens, the contract address. Some apps close the page with a mini activity list limited to that token.
Sending: three fields and a review
Sending money out is a short form with a checkpoint at the end, and it is the screen where the wallet makers put the most advice.
- Who. A box for the destination address, with shortcuts to paste, scan a QR code or choose a saved contact. Ethereum.org recommends scanning over typing.
- Which network. If a token exists on several chains the app asks you to pick, and the other side must be on the same one or the funds can disappear.
- How much. A big keypad, a toggle between the token and dollars, and Max.
- Review. From, to, amount, network and fee on one card, sometimes with a speed slider. Trust Wallet's walkthrough has users check address, amount and network against the estimated fee before confirming.
- Confirm. A swipe, a button or Face ID, then a pending status.
MetaMask's help pages add a habit worth copying: after pasting an address, compare its first and last characters with the original, since malware can quietly swap clipboard contents. And once you confirm, ethereum.org is clear that the transaction cannot be cancelled.
History and settings: the dull screens that matter
The activity tab is a list under date headings. Every line has an icon and a verb (Sent, Received, Swapped, Approved), the counterparty as a shortened address or a name, the amount in tokens and dollars, and a status. Trust Wallet's guide lists three statuses: Pending, Completed and Failed. Tapping a line opens the fee, the full addresses, the transaction hash and a link to a block explorer, where the same event is just a hash, two addresses and a block number.
Settings looks ordinary except for a few rows.
- Security: passcode, Face ID or fingerprint, and how fast the app locks itself.
- Recovery phrase (MetaMask says Secret Recovery Phrase) and sometimes the private key, reachable only after your passcode and a warning page.
- Connected sites: every web app the wallet has been linked to, each with a disconnect option.
- Networks: the chains on display, and occasionally the server used to read them.
- Preferences: currency, language, dark mode, hidden tokens, contacts and notifications.
Look-alikes: the exchange tab and the hardware device
An exchange app draws a portfolio too, with a total, a chart and a token list, but three tells separate it from a wallet. You log in with an email, a password and two-factor codes, not a recovery phrase. Buy and Sell buttons link to your bank or card. And moving coins out is called Withdraw, while coming in uses a deposit address the exchange hands you. The exchange holds the keys, and that is the real difference (a wallet or an exchange account).
A hardware wallet is the one version you can hold. It is a signing gadget about the size of a USB stick or a bank card, with a small display and one or two buttons. The keys never leave it, each transaction appears on its own screen for you to approve, and the balances are shown by a companion app on your phone or computer. A paper wallet is just a key or phrase on paper.
When you need the screens but not the money
All of this assumes a wallet exists, with keys, an address and some real funds so the numbers are not zero. That is a heavy setup for a parent explaining it to a teenager, a teacher with a class, a designer drawing an app or a creator who needs a wallet in shot.
A whole category of apps fills that gap. A larp wallet, also called a crypto wallet app simulator, draws a believable wallet screen from balances you type in, for videos, skits, pitch decks and demos. It holds nothing and never reads a blockchain.
Flexdger Wallet is one, a paid app we build: its home screen, token list and receive and trade sheets are generated from the figures you enter, with live market prices, and no real address or key hides behind them (what a larp wallet is). Our terms of use set the limit: it is an illustration, and a number typed into it proves nothing about what anyone owns.
We are not affiliated with MetaMask, Phantom or Trust Wallet, nor with any other wallet named here: we cite their public help pages and nothing else. The illustrations are generic wireframes, a prop, never proof and never a copy of any wallet.
Sources
- ethereum.org, Ethereum wallets, 2026
- ethereum.org, How to use a wallet, 2026
- Bitcoin.org, Protect your privacy, 2026
- BIP-21, URI Scheme, 2012
- Ethereum Improvement Proposals, ERC-681: URL Format for Transaction Requests, 2017
- BIP-39, Mnemonic code for generating deterministic keys, 2013
- Trust Wallet Academy, Sending and Receiving Crypto: Trust Wallet Basics, 2026
- Trust Wallet Academy, Transaction Status: Understanding Crypto Transactions in Trust Wallet, 2026
- MetaMask Support, How to copy your address and view account details, 2026
- Phantom Help Center, How to create a new Phantom wallet with a recovery phrase, 2026
Questions
Where are the coins, if the wallet is only an app?
On the blockchain, which is a shared public record. The app keeps the keys that are allowed to move them and reads the record to draw your balance. Delete the app and the coins are still on the chain, which is why the recovery phrase matters: it rebuilds the keys on a new device.
Why is the big number on the home screen in dollars?
Because the app calculates it. It takes each amount you hold, multiplies it by a current market price, and adds the lines up. The total is a conversion for your convenience, not a figure stored anywhere, so it moves whenever prices do.
Is it safe to show my wallet on camera?
Showing a screen is not the same as showing a recovery phrase, but it is not harmless either. Anyone who sees an address can look up its balance and every transaction it has made, so a real address should stay off camera. The recovery phrase must never appear at all.
How can I tell a wallet from an exchange app at a glance?
Look at the sign-in and the buttons. An exchange asks for an email, a password and two-factor codes, offers Buy and Sell tied to a bank or card, and calls sending out Withdraw. A wallet opens with a passcode or Face ID and has Send, Receive and Swap.