Sparrow Wallet is a free desktop Bitcoin wallet for Windows, macOS and Linux, built since 2020 by one developer, Craig Raw. It holds only Bitcoin and is designed for people who want to see and control each part of a payment: which coins it spends, which server learns about the wallet, and how the transaction looks before it is sent.

Sparrow can keep keys itself, in an encrypted file on your computer, or work with a hardware wallet that keeps the keys off the computer. Out of the box it talks to a public server run by someone else; connected to your own Bitcoin node, it tells no other server which addresses are yours. There is no phone app, no built-in purchase of bitcoin and no company behind the project.

Who Holds the Keys

Sparrow runs no server that holds your keys. According to Sparrow, a wallet created in the app stores its private keys in a wallet file on your computer, encrypted, if you set a password, through Argon2, a deliberately slow function that makes guessing the password expensive; the keys are decrypted only while a transaction is being signed. This self-custody claim comes from Sparrow’s own documentation, and no independent audit has checked it.

A new wallet gets a seed phrase of 12 to 24 words in the BIP39 standard, which almost every Bitcoin wallet can read, so the funds are not tied to Sparrow. An optional passphrase adds a further secret word to the phrase; Sparrow stores nothing derived from it in the wallet file, and a mistyped passphrase opens a different, empty wallet rather than showing an error.

Sparrow shows the words of a wallet it creates on the computer screen, so the phrase is only as safe as that computer at the moment you write it down. The alternative is to add a hardware wallet: the keys and the phrase then stay on the device, and Sparrow builds the transaction, sends it to the device for signing over USB, QR codes or an SD card, and broadcasts the result. Sparrow can also build multisig wallets that need several keys, for example two of three hardware wallets, to spend.

Losing the Seed Phrase

Nobody can restore a Sparrow wallet for you. If the computer is lost and you do not have the seed phrase, and the passphrase if you added one, the bitcoin in that wallet is gone. For multisig wallets Sparrow also recommends backing up the wallet’s descriptor, a record of which keys make up the wallet and how many of them must sign. Since the phrase is standard BIP39, it still works in another wallet if Sparrow stops being developed.

What the Server Sees

To show a balance, Sparrow asks a server about your addresses. If you do not set one up, it picks a public server at random from a built-in list run by third parties. That server’s operator sees your wallet’s addresses, its balance and your IP address. Sparrow says this openly in its setup guide and advises against a public server for significant amounts.

The better setup is your own full node, or an indexing server running on top of it, which Sparrow supports directly; a pruned node that keeps only recent blocks also works. Then no outside operator learns which addresses belong to you. Tor is built into the app: it starts automatically when you point Sparrow at a .onion server address, and you can route all connections through a Tor proxy. Tor is not switched on by default.

Some requests leave the app even with your own node. By default Sparrow fetches exchange rates from CoinGecko, fee estimates from mempool.space and update notices from sparrowwallet.com. These requests show your IP address to those services; Sparrow says your balance is never sent. With a Tor proxy configured they go over Tor, and the exchange rate and the update check can be turned off. The app sends no usage statistics.

Spending Privately

Every Bitcoin transaction is public: anyone can see the amounts and addresses on the blockchain, whatever wallet sent it. Sparrow cannot hide that; it can only avoid adding links between your coins. Full coin control lets you choose which earlier payments a new one spends, so coins from different sources are not merged by accident, and you can label every address and coin.

Sparrow can also build a payment that looks like a joint transaction of two people, though you make it alone with your own coins and no outside service is involved. It needs more than twice the payment amount in the wallet and costs a slightly higher network fee. Sparrow supports payjoin, where the recipient adds an input of their own, and it can send to silent payment addresses since October 2025 and receive on them since May 2026; such an address lets a recipient publish one address while each payment lands at a fresh one. Its optional PayNym feature does a similar job through payment codes, at the cost of a one-time notification transaction. Sparrow removed its built-in coinjoin mixing client in April 2024.

Sparrow has no built-in purchase or exchange, so it never asks for identity documents.

Open Source and Audits

Sparrow’s code is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence on GitHub. Releases are signed with the developer’s key, and the app can check the signature of a download itself. Sparrow documents reproducible builds for its .zip and .tar.gz releases since version 1.5.0; the Windows and Linux installers and the macOS download cannot yet be rebuilt to identical files, so a macOS user has no download that can be rebuilt. Outside builders have published matching rebuilds for releases up to version 1.6.6 from 2022, and none for later versions.

No independent security audit of Sparrow has been published, and the project has no bug bounty. Security reports go to the developer privately and follow a published disclosure policy. Version 2.5.4, released in August 2026, was largely a hardening release that came out of a code review assisted by AI tools; it added checks that transactions and confirmations reported by a server are genuine, closed DNS leaks when using Tor and removed secrets from log files. The developer said nothing found was likely to put funds at risk and that he saw no sign of the issues being exploited. No security incident in Sparrow’s own software is known.

Who Makes Sparrow

Sparrow is built by Craig Raw, a developer based in South Africa, with no company behind it. The software is free and funded by donations. There is no support team: help comes from a community-run Telegram group, whose admins say they never send direct messages. A project run by one person depends on that person continuing to maintain it; in October 2026 the code was still updated regularly, and version 2.5.5 came out in September 2026.

Where to Get It

Sparrow exists only for Windows, macOS and Linux, plus a version for Linux servers without a screen. It has no iPhone or Android app. In July 2026 three Bitcoin holders sued Apple over a fake “Sparrow Wallet” app in the App Store that asked for their seed phrases, saying they lost about $1.8 million in total. The official download is at sparrowwallet.com and on the project’s GitHub page; the site explains how to check that the file you downloaded is the one the developer signed.

Price

Sparrow is free and charges no fee of its own. The only cost of a payment is the Bitcoin network fee, which you pick from Sparrow’s fee estimates or set yourself. Using Sparrow with keys kept off the computer requires buying a hardware wallet separately.

Pros and Cons

The seed phrase follows the BIP39 standard, so the funds can be restored in another Bitcoin wallet
Connects to your own Bitcoin node or indexing server, with Tor built in
Full coin control and labels for every coin and address
Works with hardware wallets over USB, QR codes and SD cards, including multisig across several devices
Open source under Apache 2.0, with signed releases and documented reproducible builds
Free, with no fees of its own and no identity checks

Out of the box it uses a public server whose operator sees your addresses, balance and IP address
No independent security audit and no bug bounty
Maintained by a single developer, with no support team
Desktop only, with no phone app and no Lightning payments
A wallet created in Sparrow shows its seed phrase on the computer screen

Our Rating

Sparrow suits Bitcoin owners who want to decide which server sees their wallet, which coins each payment spends and which hardware wallets hold the keys, and who are willing to run their own node for full privacy. It does not suit someone who wants a phone wallet, other cryptocurrencies or a simple app that hides the details.

Key Custody & Recovery8.5/10
Sparrow says private keys stay on your computer, encrypted in the wallet file, or on a hardware wallet that Sparrow connects to. The recovery phrase follows the BIP39 standard, so another Bitcoin wallet can restore the funds, and an optional passphrase and multisig across several hardware wallets are supported. A wallet created in Sparrow itself shows its phrase on the computer screen, and losing the phrase means losing the funds.
Network & Metadata Privacy7.5/10
Out of the box Sparrow connects to a public server run by a third party, which sees your addresses, balance and IP address; Sparrow warns about this when you set it up. It connects to your own node or indexing server just as well, has Tor built in, gives full control over which coins a payment spends, and has no built-in purchase that asks for identity. Exchange rates, fee rates and the update check go to outside services unless you change the settings.
Security & Transparency6.5/10
The code is open source under Apache 2.0, releases are signed, and the release archives can be rebuilt from source, which outside builders confirmed for releases up to 2022. No independent security audit has been published, there is no bug bounty, and the project depends on one developer. No security incident in Sparrow's own software is known.
Usability & Chain Support7.0/10
Sparrow covers Bitcoin, the only network it is built for, in depth: single-key and multisig wallets, hardware wallets over USB, QR codes and SD cards, and a detailed transaction editor. It runs only on Windows, macOS and Linux, has no phone app and no Lightning payments, and its interface assumes you want to see every input and output.
Price & Value10.0/10
Sparrow is free, charges no fee of its own and is funded by donations. The only cost of a payment is the Bitcoin network fee, which you choose.

Overall7.8/10

Key Custody & Recovery 30% · Network & Metadata Privacy 25% · Security & Transparency 20% · Usability & Chain Support 15% · Price & Value 10%

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