Thinking about using an old smartphone as a Bitcoin node? Just a heads up: a bitcoin node is basically a device or computer that runs the bitcoin software and keeps a full copy of the blockchain. It’s super important for verifying transactions and keeping the network secure.
Using Old Phones as Bitcoin Nodes: Is it Worth It?
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Yeah but old smartphones usually don’t have enough storage. The entire blockchain is huge, way over 100 GB. Only reason to do it would be for privacy or if you can’t set it up on a PC. Plus, running Bitcoin Core on a smartphone is tricky and might not even be safe.
k1ng_blockNewbie
Posts: 131 · Reputation: 6
#3Mar 13, 2021, 01:57 AM
Processing power is a bigger issue than storage. During initial block download, the phone will probably lag when it’s trying to validate all that old data. It just can’t keep pace with the network.
I think it’s better than just letting the phone sit around collecting dust. Even if it’s not as durable as a computer, I just bought a power bank to keep mine running as a node. Gonna join the node challenge for newbies too. Is that cool?
Disagree with the previous guy on a lot of this: if you’re not using a wallet on your node, what’s the point? My full node barely uses any bandwidth, so there’s no shortage on the network. Plus, if you take care of them, phones last a long time.
Yeah but can you back that up? You said old phones have enough storage but then mention needing an external hard drive. How do you even set up something like mynode? Can you explain that?
Sorry about the confusion. I watched a video on running bitcoin nodes on iOS but didn’t double-check the info since I don’t have an iPhone. I’ll lock this thread or get a mod to delete it, but I’ll post pics of my setup on Android.