Ledger Live Desktop
The Official Companion App for Your Ledger Hardware Wallet: Securely Manage, Grow, and Explore Web3.
The Secure Ecosystem for Digital Assets
Ledger Live is the essential desktop application that forms the core of the Ledger ecosystem, enabling users to interact with their cryptocurrency assets while maintaining the highest standard of security provided by their Ledger hardware wallet. Designed for both novices and seasoned investors, Ledger Live transforms your computer into a powerful, yet protected, control center for your entire digital portfolio. It supports a vast range of over 5,000 coins and tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and countless others, providing a consolidated view and management interface that is both comprehensive and intuitive.
The critical innovation of Ledger Live is its architectural separation of the user interface (the app) and the cryptographic engine (the hardware device). This design ensures that the most sensitive part of your digital life—your private keys—never leaves the secure, certified chip (Secure Element) inside your Ledger device.
🔒Hardware-Centric Security Model
The Ledger Live Desktop application operates on the principle of non-custodial ownership where the user retains full, exclusive control over their assets. When you use Ledger Live to perform an action—such as sending funds or confirming a swap—the application merely constructs the transaction request. This request is then sent to the connected Ledger device (Nano X, Nano S Plus, or Stax) via an encrypted channel.
The proprietary operating system, BOLOS (Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System), running on the Secure Element chip, is the only place the private keys are ever utilized. The transaction details are displayed on the device's screen, and the user must physically verify and approve the transaction by pressing the device buttons. This "What You See Is What You Sign" (WYSIWYS) mechanism ensures that even if your computer is compromised by malware, the malicious software cannot alter the transaction details without your explicit, physical confirmation, nor can it steal your private keys.
The Ledger Live software itself does not store your Secret Recovery Phrase or private keys; it acts purely as a secure read-only interface to view your balance and a secure broadcast mechanism for signed transactions.
🔑The Role of the Recovery Phrase
Security within the Ledger ecosystem extends beyond the device itself. The 24-word Secret Recovery Phrase (BIP 39 standard) is the master key to your cryptographic secrets. This phrase is generated offline on your Ledger hardware wallet during the initial setup process, ensuring it is never exposed to an internet-connected environment.
It is imperative that users store this phrase securely, offline, and never input it into the Ledger Live application or any other digital interface. The recovery phrase serves as the sole backup for recovering access to your assets in case your physical device is lost or damaged. Ledger Live guides users through the crucial setup and genuine check process, confirming the device is authentic and initialized correctly before any assets are managed.
Advanced users may also employ the optional Passphrase (or 25th word) feature, which creates a 'hidden' secondary set of accounts, adding an extra layer of plausible deniability and security against coercion.
All-in-One Digital Asset Hub
Real-Time Portfolio Overview
Monitor your entire portfolio across all supported chains in real-time. Ledger Live provides detailed account balances, transaction history, and price charts, consolidating all your holdings into one secure dashboard view. This feature allows for informed decision-making without exposing your private keys.
Seamless Transaction Management
Send and receive crypto with confidence. Ledger Live simplifies the process of generating new, verified receiving addresses and initiating outgoing transactions. All transactions require confirmation on the Ledger device, maintaining the highest security standards throughout the transfer process.
My Ledger: Device Management
Use the dedicated 'My Ledger' section to manage applications (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) installed on your hardware wallet. This is also where critical firmware updates are performed, ensuring your device has the latest security patches and functionality necessary for optimal performance and compatibility.
Integrated Services: Buy, Swap, and Earn
Beyond cold storage management, Ledger Live integrates a suite of vetted, third-party services directly into the application, allowing users to interact with the broader crypto economy securely. These features facilitate portfolio growth and diversification, all while keeping the critical private key operations confined to the Ledger hardware wallet.
Direct Buy & Sell
Fund your accounts directly by purchasing crypto using integrated fiat-to-crypto providers. This allows users to acquire assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum and have them instantly and securely deposited into their Ledger-protected accounts, bypassing the need for vulnerable exchange wallets.
Supported via partners like MoonPay, Coinify, and others, subject to geographic availability.
Secure Swapping
Effortlessly exchange one cryptocurrency for another across chains (cross-chain swaps) or within the same ecosystem. The entire swap flow, from initiation to final confirmation, is validated on the Ledger device, eliminating counterparty risk associated with browser-based dApps.
Compare rates across multiple trusted swap providers directly within the Ledger Live interface.
Staking & Earning Rewards
Grow your assets by staking Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies directly from Ledger Live. This process delegates your assets to a validator to earn network rewards, without ever transferring ownership or control of your principal assets away from your hardware wallet.
Track your staking rewards and manage assets like Tezos, Polkadot, Solana, and Ethereum (via liquid staking) in the dedicated 'Earn' section.
Web3 and Discover Exploration
The 'Discover' section within Ledger Live Desktop acts as a curated portal to the Web3 ecosystem. It provides secure, verified access to decentralized applications (dApps), NFT platforms, and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. By launching these dApps directly from Ledger Live, users benefit from an enhanced security layer, as all critical smart contract interactions and authorizations still require the final, secure signature generated exclusively by the Ledger hardware device. This mitigates the risk of connecting to malicious or phishing sites found through conventional web browsing, offering a safer way to navigate the decentralized world.
Technical Compatibility and Installation
Ledger Live Desktop is built on a robust, cross-platform architecture, leveraging technologies like React and Redux for a consistent user experience. The application relies on standard communication protocols to securely interface with the Ledger device, ensuring stability and reliability across all major desktop environments.
To ensure optimal security, Ledger strongly recommends downloading the Ledger Live installer exclusively from the official website and verifying the installer's signature/checksum where possible.