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Breez has released a new app, Misty Breez, the simplest self-custodial app for bitcoin payments.

Carl Benz was a great engineer, and the car he invented has indisputably and indelibly shaped the world we live in. The first model was patented in 1886, and it was pretty cool. He drove a few demo laps, sold a few at trade shows, and people were pretty impressed. But the invention was still perceived as a kind of toy — like a 19th-century Segway or hoverboard.
In 1889, Carl’s wife Bertha took their two sons and one of the 3rd-gen models on a drive from their home in Mannheim to her parents’ place in Pforzheim 104 km (c. 60 miles) away. Since there were no gas stations, she had to scrounge petroleum distillate from pharmacies along the way, and she didn’t like the way the brakes worked, so she had a cobbler attach some scraps of leather to the brake shoes, inventing brake lining. Oh, and she reportedly hadn’t told Carl about any of this. She just sent him a telegram when they arrived. But he may have already heard by the time the telegram arrived because her practical demonstration caused such a buzz that it was all anybody was talking about. She was perhaps the first woman to perform a mic drop by telegram.
Sisters doin’ it for themselves. And her fit was absolute fire! (Image: Manu Ferrón)
There are two lessons to be drawn from this. First, never mess with a woman named Bertha. Second, if you want people to grasp the revolutionary implications of a new technology, the best way is to show them with a live demonstration.
Thanks for the inspiration, Bertha. If we want the world to grasp the revolutionary implications of the Breez SDK, how it fulfills bitcoin’s promise by turning it into an everyday currency for everyday purchases, and how easily it can transform any app into a thriving bitcoin business, we ought to show them. So we are.
World, I’d like you to meet Misty Breez, our new reference app to showcase the power and simplicity of the Breez SDK.

Why Have We Built Misty Breez?

To Demonstrate What You Can Do With the SDK

The original Breez Lightning app runs a node on each mobile device. While kinda miraculous, this also comes with limitations: each device needs to carry a graph of the whole network locally, each device needs an indefinite number of costly payment channels, and the overall complexity means that the best possible UX is merely okay.
Misty Breez is built on the nodeless variant of the Breez SDK, which offers the best UX currently possible in terms of cost and ease of use for self-custodial Lightning (with the trust profile of Liquid). But how easy and economical is that exactly? How big is the difference?
To find out, you could read our extensive documentation and consult our coding samples. Dozens of partners already have and are building great things on that basis.
Or you could try it out for yourself. That’s the first reason we’ve built Misty Breez: to show developers exactly what the Breez SDK can do and how good the UX has become. Play with it. Explore new use cases. Debug with it. Rock out and let the app do the talking.

To Showcase UX and UI Best Practices

Lightning is bitcoin, but it’s not a blockchain, at least not directly. Developers coming to Lightning from other corners of the crypto galaxy and mainstream app developers are going to run into objects they may never have seen before: Lightning addresses, invoices, preimages, nodes, routing fees, etc.
All of these peculiar species exist for good reasons, and combined they make a beautiful system, but they’re not exactly self-explanatory. Seeing them in action and how they fit together is perhaps the best way to learn how Lightning works as a payment network.
Perhaps more importantly, Misty Breez can show developers how to deal with such issues in the UX or even how to obfuscate them completely. For example, the SDK can handle offline payments, which have long been unfeasible in Lightning, using mobile notifications if they’re integrated seamlessly, giving users a very familiar-feeling experience. Raw utility can almost never overcome a weak UX (and we can all think of very popular apps with almost no utility but an addictively marvelous UX). So Misty Breez can also give devs new to Lightning a UX benchmark to meet or surpass.

To Give Devs a Head Start

Some devs might not want to go the SDK route. Maybe they don’t want to add Lightning to their app because they don’t have an app yet, and instead they want to bootstrap their own Lightning app. Fair enough.
If you fall into this category, you can build the app of your dreams around Misty Breez and rebrand it accordingly. It’s open source. It’s yours to play with and customize!

Sound Like Fun? Wanna Play?

Have we tempted you? Are you keen to see how easily users can set up a Lightning address, just like the built-in roys@breez.fun? Are you desperate to see Misty Breez float effortlessly between protocols, including Bolt11, Bolt12, LNURL-Pay, BIP353, Lightning address, and BTC address? Are you just dying to see how offline payments work with mobile notifications?
Then get in on the action. Misty Breez is the Lightning playground, it’s a blast, and there’s room for everyone. The early access release is available now on Android and iOS.
Told you the best way is just to show you. Maybe we should’ve named the app Bertha instead of Misty?
31 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 2 Apr
This is a great idea.
It reminds me that this is something I always hoped to see from Fedi - a distilled version of the value they're providing. A simple payments app before I choose to enter the super app ecosystem.
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @_ds OP 3 Apr
Glad you like it @k00b. We want folks to see the full capabilities of the SDK and bring Bitcoin payments to more apps around the globe!
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Car 2 Apr
👏 Great post Danny! Breez just showing time and time again why they make all the right decisions.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @_ds OP 3 Apr
Thanks @Car ⚡️
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I downloaded breez and misty last night
which is more beginner friendly? Breez or Misty?
Breez seems more intuitive to me but I should try both for more than a day lol
I asked chatgpt...
Here’s a video that highlights what makes Misty Breez stand out compared to other Lightning wallets:

🔍 Misty Breez vs. Breez (Original Mobile Wallet)

1. Architecture & Node Setup

  • Breez (original) runs a full Lightning node directly on your mobile device. You manage channels and liquidity automatically via built‑in LSP (Lightning Service Provider) support—so it’s self-custodial and on-device (breez.technology).
  • Misty Breez, built with the “nodeless” Breez SDK, operates via the Liquid sidechain—no channels or on-device Lightning node required. It handles swaps behind the scenes and simplifies setup for users (breez.technology).

2. Target Audience & Use Case

  • Breez is ideal for users who want full Lightning control but with automated channel/liquidity management, plus added features like in-app point-of-sale, podcast streaming, marketplace, LSP connectivity, etc. .
  • Misty Breez is aimed at developers and everyday users who want plug‑and‑play Bitcoin/Lightning payments—no setup friction. It’s open‑source and designed as a clean reference app for integration (medium.com).

3. UX & Feature Set

4. Trust Model

5. Ideal Use Cases

Use CaseBreez (original mobile)Misty Breez
Want full Lightning node on-phone✅ Yes❌ No
Zero user channel/liquidity setupPartial—automatic, but present✅ Yes
Point-of-sale / podcast capabilities✅ Built-in❌ Not included
Developer reference & SDK integration✅ SDK available✅ Specifically designed for SDK showcase
Offline-payment supportYesYes—via notifications (breez.technology, en.wikipedia.org, medium.com, breez.technology)

✅ Which Should You Choose?

Choose Breez (original mobile) if you:
  • Want full Lightning control with smart automation of channels and liquidity.
  • Value features like point-of-sale, podcast/sats streaming, and in-app marketplace.
Choose Misty Breez if you:
  • Prefer zero setup Lightning/payments experience.
  • Are a developer looking for a clean SDK reference app to quickly embed payments into your own application.
  • Want simple, self-custodial Lightning without managing the technical backend.

TL;DR

  • Breez is your all-in-one Lightning wallet: self-custodial with full node, auto channel routing, merchant/podcast tools.
  • Misty Breez is a lighter, nodeless version designed for ease-of-use and smooth developer integration.
Let me know if you want a step-by-step guide for either—or a comparison with other Lightning wallets like Phoenix or Muun!
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