Overview
Vendano is a beginner-friendly Cardano wallet app that lets you send ADA to a phone number or email address instead of a long blockchain address. It is aimed at people who have never used crypto before, with onboarding that explains every step in plain language. The headline difference is the contact-based send: type in a friend's phone or email and the app finds their wallet for you, the way a payment app like Venmo or Cash App finds people you already know.
Vendano is built by Vendano LLC, runs on Cardano, and ships as an iPhone app on the Apple App Store. The full source code is published openly on GitHub under a permissive open-source license.
Key Features
- Send ADA by phone, email, or $handle (a readable Cardano username from ADA Handle). Type in a contact's phone number or email and Vendano resolves it to a Cardano wallet address using a privacy-preserving hash, so you never have to copy a long string of characters.
- Sign in with a one-time code. There are no passwords. Enter your phone or email, type in the code Vendano texts or emails you, and you're in.
- Self-custody by default. Your secret keys stay on your phone in secure storage — Vendano's servers never see them, so only you can move your funds.
- Dollar value shown before every send. The confirmation screen shows the ADA amount, the equivalent in US dollars, and the 1% Vendano fee, so the total is clear before you tap Send.
- Open-source code on GitHub. The iOS app source is published openly under a BSD 3-Clause license, and an Android version is being developed in public on GitHub, which lets anyone read the code, raise issues, or fork it.
What to Expect
A first-time visitor downloads Vendano from the Apple App Store, signs in with a phone number or email, and is walked through setting up a Cardano wallet — including a screen that shows the recovery phrase and explains why to write it down on paper rather than save it digitally. The app then offers a "How to Get ADA" page that points to well-known regulated exchanges (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Gemini, Bitstamp, Crypto.com) for buying ADA before the first transfer.
Once funded, the send flow is the part that distinguishes Vendano from most other mobile wallets: instead of pasting an address, you type a friend's phone number or email and the app does the lookup. Receiving works through push notifications. The app stays focused on the basics — send, receive, transfer history, and a built-in FAQ — and does not include staking, NFT browsing, or DeFi features.
Two things to know before installing. Android is not yet available; only the iPhone app is live. And no independent third-party security audit has been published, although the source is openly readable on GitHub for anyone who wants to review it.
