In both our Advanced Bitcoin Privacy and Advanced Bitcoin Security guides we outline why it’s so important to make sure you connect Zeus Wallet to Umbrel. If you’re not connected to your own Full Bitcoin Node then any transaction you send or receive, your balances, wallet info and more can all be tracked, recorded and tied to your IP Address and identity.
This extremely private information about your finances can then be shared with governments, sold to unknown third parties or worse, hacked and sold to criminals and scammers. The best way to counter these risks is to address the data leak at its source.
Although Umbrel is super easy to use, it can be tough for people that are new to it as there’s a lot of terms that you likely aren’t familiar with. But. That’s why we’re here! To give you the best educational content out there and help you use Bitcoin the way it was intended.
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Why Connect Zeus Wallet To Umbrel?
Everything in Bitcoin is done through nodes
If it’s not your Lightning node, then someone else knows your balance and spending info and can also feed you false information creating all sorts of security concerns. For example they could allow a transaction that isn’t following the rules of the Bitcoin network. If you then try to spend those bitcoins somewhere else they’ll be rejected by the rest of the network and it’s as good as them stealing your funds.
When it comes to Lightning Wallets it’s even worse as most are non-custodial, meaning your bitcoin are fully under the control of a third party. As your Umbrel has its own Lightning Node built into it, it’s far better to connect to and use that instead.
Umbrel not only makes running a Lightning Node cheap, simple and fun, it also makes it super easy to connect all your Lightning wallets to it so your transactions and balances stay safe and private.
Before You Begin
In order to connect your Zeus Wallet (or any wallet for that matter) to your Umbrel, you’ll need to make sure you have a few things setup:
- Bitcoin Core: Install and fully sync the Bitcoin Node app on your Umbrel
- Lightning Node: Install the Lightning Node App on your Umbrel
- Zeus Wallet: Install Zeus Wallet on your phone
Make sure to fully verify that what you’re installing is the legitimate Zeus Wallet and not some random piece of malware that will steal your coins.
How To Connect Zeus Wallet To Umbrel
Step 1: Open Node Configuration
Once you have Zeus Wallet open, go to the Settings area by clicking the icon in the top left hand corner. Click Connect A Node, then select the + button in the top right hand corner to add a new node. Once the Node Configuration screen is open, click the Use Tor toggle down the bottom.
Step 2: Get Your Lightning Node Server Details
Next, you’ll need to locate your Lightning LND Server Details. The Umbrel OS has different Apps for different things and to find the Lightning LND details you have to install and then open the Lightning Node App.
Once open, click the three dots in the top right hand corner and click on Connect Wallet. This will open a popup like what’s shown above. Make sure the mode and network drop down is set to REST (Tor) and then take note of your Host, Port and Macaroon details.
Note: As of writing, we were not able to use the QR code scanning feature in Zeus to scan in these details, we had to copy and paste them in manually.
Step 3: Enter Your Lightning Node Server Details
In the Node Configuration menu, make sure the Node Interface drop down is set to LND (REST) and then copy across the Host, Port and Macaroon details. Once everything is entered, hit the Save Node Config button and Zeus will connect to your Umbrel node. Be aware that this can take a minute or two, so just be patient and let it do its thing.
Note: We also saw this error out, stating that it couldn’t connect the Tor network with many others having similar issues. If this happens to you, simply force close the Zeus app and restart it.
Step 4: Confirm Connection
If the connection is successful, you should be taken to the home view where you can click on the different tabs down the bottom to view and control your Lightning Node. Congratulations, you have successfully connected to your Umbrel node over Tor! 🥳
FAQ
Is Zeus Available For Apple iPhone?
Yes. Zeus has a mobile app for iPhone and you can use the same instructions above to connect it to your Lightning Node on any iOS based device.
What Is LND?
LND stands for Lightning Network Daemon and is one implementation of the Lightning standard. Lightning Labs manages this implementation, but there are also others such as Core Lightning. The Daemon simply means that it’s a program that runs without a user facing GUI.
