BitBox02 Nova Review: The Swiss Wallet That Keeps Bitcoin Simple, With a Short Coin List

Most hardware wallets try to support everything and end up explaining themselves. The BitBox02 Nova does the opposite. It is a small Swiss device that wants you to hold bitcoin, perhaps some ether, and not think too hard about the rest. Whether that restraint is a feature depends entirely on your portfolio.

What changed from the original

BitBox announced the Nova in June 2025 as a redesign of the BitBox02. Three changes matter: a scratch-resistant glass display, an EAL6+ certified secure chip, and Bluetooth, which finally lets the wallet work with an iPhone and iPad. The shop describes it as "the latest BitBox hardware wallet, now with additional iPhone support and a crystal-clear glass display", sold as a Bitcoin-only edition and a Multi edition.

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That iPhone support was the original BitBox02's biggest gap. Competitors such as Ledger had it earlier. Now it is closed, and nothing else about the device had to be sacrificed to get there.

Bluetooth, handled carefully

A wireless link on a vault makes people nervous, and fairly so. BitBox's answer is a design called Whisper. The wireless part runs on a separate microcontroller, so it never touches the core wallet firmware. The main chip encrypts everything before it reaches the Bluetooth stack and checks every incoming message cryptographically, and addresses are randomised to prevent tracking. You can switch Bluetooth off.

We would still call this a trade. A wallet that cannot speak wireless has one less thing to attack. The design is thoughtful, and for desktop-only users the USB-C cable remains the simpler, safer route. If you are going to use an iPhone, the risk is the price of entry.

Open and checkable

The firmware is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, and third-party listings record reproducible builds, which means you can confirm the binary on your device matches the published code. For people who care about not trusting a vendor, that outranks any marketing claim. Compare it with our Coldcard Q review, where an otherwise strong device was undone by a seed-generation flaw: openness is how such bugs get found.

The chip is the closed part, as it is in every wallet that uses a certified secure element. BitBox's choice of an EAL6+ part with a dual-chip layout is a sound one, and the case relies on physical-attack resistance, not secrecy.

The BitBoxApp

You set up the device with the companion app, which runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

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The app is the best part of the experience: plain, with few settings and clear wording. It also covers buying crypto and, on the advanced side, a custom node, Tor, coin control, passphrase and multisig. Taproot is supported, and Silent Payments for sending, per the checklist we used. A newcomer can ignore all of that and still end up with a sound setup.

The product page leans on a customer quote that the device "is well designed and the interaction with it is 10/10". That is marketing, though we agree the touch sliders feel more considered than the buttons on cheaper wallets.

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Coins: where it holds back

On the Bitcoin-only edition, the firmware is minimal and there are no altcoins at all. The Multi edition adds Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens, Litecoin and Cardano. Independent reviewers call the thin list its main drawback. Solana is not on it. If you hold Solana, XRP or several smaller chains, Ledger or Tangem will serve you better, and our Ledger reviews cover those.

Recovery works with a 12 or 24 word phrase. A microSD backup is also offered, and it is not encrypted, so store that card like the phrase itself.

Price

The shop price is about €175 including VAT in Europe, and sellers in the US list it between about $185 and $196. That is more than the Trezor Safe 3, which costs $79 and does everything a Bitcoin and Ethereum holder needs on paper, though without Bluetooth or iPhone support. We think the extra money buys a nicer device and iOS, not more security.

The 2 year warranty and a scam warning on the homepage are small but sensible touches: BitBox says it never provides phone support and will never ask for your recovery words.

Verdict

Buy the Nova if you hold mainly Bitcoin and Ethereum, want an open and uncluttered device, and need it to work with an iPhone. Choose the Bitcoin-only edition if you mean it. Skip it if you hold many altcoins, or if $79 would do the job. As always, the device only protects what you back up properly. None of this is a recommendation to buy any asset.