What does a crypto wallet look like? Every screen, explained

A crypto wallet is an app, not an object, and on a phone it comes down to seven screens: home, token page, send, receive with its QR code, activity, settings and the recovery phrase backup. What each one shows, what every number on it means, and how to look at them without opening a wallet of your own.

Published: 22 October 2026

A crypto wallet is an app, not an object

Ask what a crypto wallet looks like and most answers describe what it does. The literal answer is simpler: for most people it is an app on a phone, with a handful of screens that look much the same from one app to the next. Ethereum.org sums up the job in one line: a wallet "shows your balances, transaction history and gives you a way to send/receive funds."

It comes in four shapes, and three of them show the same screens.

• A phone app. The most common form, and the one this page walks through. MetaMask, Phantom and Trust Wallet are well-known examples.
• A browser extension. The same screens in a narrow panel that opens from the browser's toolbar.
• A hardware wallet. A small device, often the size of a USB stick or a bank card, with a tiny screen and one or two buttons. It keeps the keys offline and pairs with a phone or desktop app that shows the screens below.
• An exchange account. The crypto section of a trading app. It looks like a wallet but works differently, as a later section explains.

The coins themselves are never inside the app. They are recorded on a blockchain, and the app holds the keys that can move them (how crypto wallets work). Everything on screen is a view of that record.

The home screen: one total and a list of tokens

Open a phone wallet and you land here. From top to bottom, almost every app follows the same order.

1. The account bar. An avatar or a colored circle, the account name ("Account 1" by default in many apps), a shortened address such as 0x71C7...976F, and icons for settings, a QR scanner and sometimes a network picker.
2. The total balance. The largest number on the screen, in your local currency: $2,481.36, say. It is not stored anywhere. The app multiplies each token amount by a market price and adds the results.
3. The day's change. Under the total, an amount and a percentage in green or red, usually over 24 hours.
4. The action row. Three to five round buttons: Receive, Send, Swap, Buy, sometimes Sell or Stake.
5. The tabs. Tokens, Collectibles (the NFTs) and often Activity.
6. The token list. One row per asset: its icon, its name, the quantity you hold (0.85 ETH, 312.4 SOL), its value in dollars and its own 24-hour change.

A bottom bar usually links the main sections: home, swap or trade, an explore tab for on-chain apps, activity and settings. Most apps also hide the figures with a tap or a long press, which masks the screen but not the address behind it.

The token page: a chart and your position

Tap a row and the app opens that token's page. The top half is a price chart with range buttons (1H, 1D, 1W, 1M, 1Y, All) and the current price. Below it sits your position: how much you hold and what it is worth now. The action buttons repeat (Send, Receive, Swap, Buy), followed by market data such as market cap and volume, a short description and, for a token, its contract address. Many apps end the page with the activity for that token alone.

The send screen: an address, an amount and a fee

Sending is a short form followed by a review step.

1. Recipient. A field for the destination address, with buttons to paste, to scan a QR code with the camera, or to pick a saved contact. Ethereum.org recommends scanning a code rather than typing an address by hand.
2. Network. When the same token exists on several chains, the app asks which one. The recipient has to be on the same network, or the funds can be lost.
3. Amount. A large number pad, a switch between the token and dollars, and a Max button.
4. Review. A summary of from, to, amount, network and network fee, often with a choice of speed. Trust Wallet's guide, for instance, tells users to check the address, the amount and the network, and shows the estimated fee before they confirm.
5. Confirm. A swipe, a button or Face ID. The transaction then shows as pending.

Two habits come straight from the wallet makers' help pages. MetaMask tells users to compare the first and last few characters after pasting an address, because malware can swap what is on the clipboard. And ethereum.org is plain about the last step: once a transaction is confirmed, "you cannot cancel the transaction."

The receive screen: your address and its QR code

Tap Receive and you first pick the coin or the network. The app then shows a large QR code, the full address written out below it, and two buttons, Copy and Share. Some add a field to request a set amount, and most print a warning to send only assets on that network to this address.

The QR code is the address, or a payment link built from it; Trust Wallet's guide notes that its code "contains only your public wallet address." Bitcoin's BIP-21 defines bitcoin: links so that users can pay by "clicking links on webpages or scanning QR Codes", and ERC-681 does the same for Ethereum with ethereum: links. What the address looks like depends on the chain: 0x and 40 hexadecimal characters on Ethereum, bc1 and a long lowercase string on modern Bitcoin, 32 to 44 characters with no prefix on Solana (checked address examples for each chain).

This is the screen that looks the most harmless and gives away the most. An address is meant to be handed to a payer, but Bitcoin.org warns that "anyone can see the balance and all transactions of any address."

The activity screen: the history, in plain words

Activity is a list grouped by date. Each line has an icon and a verb (Sent, Received, Swapped, Approved), the other party's shortened address or name, the amount in the token and in dollars, and a status. Trust Wallet's guide names three: Pending, Completed and Failed.

Tap a line and the details open: date and time, network fee, the full addresses and the transaction hash, with a link to view it on a block explorer (what a transaction hash is). The app's wording is a translation. On the explorer, the same entry is a hash, two addresses and a block number.

Settings: where the security lives

Settings looks like any app's settings, with a few rows you will not find elsewhere.

• Security and privacy: passcode, Face ID or fingerprint, auto-lock timer.
• Show recovery phrase (MetaMask calls it the Secret Recovery Phrase), and sometimes show private key: behind your passcode, after a warning screen.
• Connected apps: the sites the wallet has been connected to, with a way to disconnect each one.
• Networks: which chains the app shows, and sometimes the server it reads them from.
• Display and contacts: currency, language, dark mode, hidden tokens, address book, notifications.

The recovery phrase backup: the screen you see once

The most important screen comes at the very start, when a self-custody wallet is created. It shows 12 or 24 words in a numbered grid, often blurred until you tap to reveal them, under a warning to write them down and never share them. The words come from the 2,048-word list of the BIP-39 standard: 12 words encode 128 bits of randomness, 24 words 256 bits (a seed phrase example, word by word).

Phantom's help center describes its mobile version: the app shows a 12-word phrase and you tap "OK, I Saved It" once it is written down. Other apps then quiz you, asking you to tap the words in order or to fill in a few positions, before the wallet opens. No copy of the phrase exists anywhere else, and ethereum.org calls it "the only way you'll be able to recover your wallet."

What an exchange account looks like instead

An exchange app shows a similar portfolio, with a total, a token list and a chart, but three details give it away. You sign in with an email, a password and two-factor codes, not a recovery phrase. There are Buy and Sell buttons tied to your bank or card. And sending out is called Withdraw, while receiving uses a deposit address the exchange assigns to you. The exchange holds the keys, which is the whole difference (a wallet or an exchange account).

Seeing these screens without funds

All of these screens exist only once a wallet exists. To see them for real you create keys, get an address and, to see anything but zeros, put money in. That is a lot to ask of someone who only wants to see how it works: a parent before a teenager asks, a teacher in front of a class, a designer sketching an app, a creator who needs a wallet in a video.

A category of app exists for that gap. A larp wallet, also called a crypto wallet app simulator, is an app that shows a believable crypto wallet screen built from the balances you type in, for videos, skits, pitch decks and demos. It holds no funds and touches no blockchain.

My Larp Wallet is one such app, a paid one that we make: the home screen, the token list and the receive and trade sheets are drawn from the amounts you type, with live market prices, and no real address or key sits behind them (what a larp wallet is). The line is the one in our terms of use: it is an illustration, and a balance typed into it never proves that anyone holds anything.

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

What is an example of a crypto wallet?

The most common example is a phone app that creates a recovery phrase when you set it up and then shows your tokens, a Send button and a Receive button. The same screens exist as browser extensions. A hardware wallet is a small physical device that keeps the keys offline and pairs with such an app, and the crypto section of an exchange account works as a wallet the exchange controls for you.

How do I know if I have a crypto wallet?

If you bought crypto on an exchange or a payment app, you have an account there, and the exchange holds the keys for you. If you installed a wallet app and were shown 12 or 24 words to write down, you have a self-custody wallet, and those words are its only backup. If neither happened, you do not have one.

What does a crypto wallet address look like?

A string of letters and digits whose start tells you the chain: 0x followed by 40 hexadecimal characters on Ethereum and other EVM chains, 1, 3 or bc1 on Bitcoin, and 32 to 44 characters with no prefix on Solana. The receive screen shows it in full under a QR code that encodes the same address.

What does a physical crypto wallet look like?

A hardware wallet is a small device, often the size of a USB stick or a bank card, with a small screen and one or two buttons. It keeps the private keys offline and shows each transaction on its own screen for approval, while a companion app on a phone or computer shows the balances. A paper wallet is simply a key or recovery phrase written or printed on paper.

Can you cash out a crypto wallet?

Not straight to a bank account from a self-custody wallet. You send the coins to an exchange or another service that buys them for currency and pays your bank, and that service checks your identity. Some wallet apps build this in through a Sell button run by a partner company.