Zodl (Zashi) vs Vizor: Zcash Wallet Comparison (2026)

Updated November 4, 2026. Last verified: November 4, 2026.

This comparison is written by the Vizor team. We've tried to be fair, every claim links to the wallet's own release notes or store listing, and we say where Zodl is the better pick.

Short version: Zodl (formerly Zashi) and Vizor are both self-custody, shielded-by-default Zcash wallets with Keystone, Ledger, TEX, swaps, and coinholder voting. Zodl is mobile only and adds retail payments through Flexa and view-only accounts. Vizor runs on phones and computers, holds several recovery phrases in one wallet, and goes further with Ledger, including voting and USB on desktop.

Who makes each wallet

Zodl is the renamed Zashi. In January 2026 the Electric Coin Company (ECC) team that built Zashi left ECC and formed Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL). The app became Zodl on the App Store in February and on Google Play in March 2026. Old electriccoin.co blog posts now redirect to zodl.com. The code is on GitHub under zodl-inc, MIT-licensed.

Vizor is built by a team with years of experience building crypto wallets. The code is at github.com/chainapsis/vizor-wallet, licensed Apache-2.0.

Zodl vs Vizor at a glance

Mobile first: Zodl vs Vizor on your phone

Both are full mobile wallets, so this is the comparison that matters most.

Zodl is on the App Store (iPhone, iOS 16 or later) and Google Play. The team also ships Android builds through GitHub and its F-Droid repository.

Vizor is on the App Store (iPhone, iOS 15 or later) and Google Play. Both listings cover the same core: create or import a wallet, receive to shielded or transparent addresses, send from the shielded balance, memos, multiple accounts, Keystone, and custom lightwalletd servers.

Day to day, the two feel similar: shielded balance first, transparent funds shielded before you spend them, memos on shielded sends. The differences show up in the details.

• Accounts. Vizor holds several software accounts, each with its own recovery phrase, in one wallet. Zodl's account picker groups one Zodl account with Keystone, Ledger, and view-only accounts. We found no release note that adds a second recovery phrase.
• Send max. Vizor's Send screen has Use Max. Zodl's iOS changelog lists a Max button for internal and testnet builds only (3.10.3). We didn't find a later note that brings it to the App Store build.
• Spending in stores. Zodl lets you pay at merchants through Flexa. We found no in-store payment feature in Vizor's release notes.
• View-only accounts. Zodl 3.18 lets you import a full viewing key to watch an account. Both wallets can export viewing keys.
• Tax export. Zodl can export a transaction history CSV for taxes. We found no equivalent in Vizor's release notes.
• Gift cards. Both redeem ZEC gift cards. Vizor can also create them, one at a time or in bulk.

Desktop: only Vizor has one

Zodl calls itself a "Zcash-powered mobile wallet", and we found no desktop build. Vizor's v0.0.63 release ships a macOS DMG, a Windows x64 installer, and Linux AppImages for x86_64 and aarch64. The Linux builds come with .sha256 checksums and .asc signatures. You can also link Vizor desktop to Vizor Mobile with a one-time QR code to move accounts and contacts across.

If you want the same wallet on your phone and your laptop, Vizor is the only one of the two that does it.

Privacy: shielding, addresses, and the network

On-chain. Both wallets are built around shielded ZEC. Zodl says it prompts you to shield transparent funds with a single tap, and only shielded funds go to private payments. Vizor sends from your shielded balance and you shield transparent funds after they arrive. Neither moves funds without your approval. Vizor rotates your transparent receive address after each deposit, so separate exchange withdrawals don't land on one public address. Zodl's Receive screen also prepares a fresh rotated address.

TEX addresses. Exchanges like Binance can require a TEX (tex1) deposit address. Zashi added TEX support in August 2024. Vizor supports TEX sends, from Keystone too, through a two-step QR approval. It also recovers funds the exchange returns. For how TEX works, see how to send ZEC.

Network. Your light-wallet server can see your IP address and when you connect. Both wallets offer Tor. Zodl has Tor in Advanced Settings and fetches exchange rates over Tor even when Tor is off elsewhere. Its automatic mode picks the fastest server, and manual mode lets you pin one. Vizor routes sync, broadcasts, and in-app services through Tor with fail-closed protection on desktop, and supports Tor on iOS and Android. It also has experimental Private queries, which look up transactions without revealing their IDs to the server. You can pick a Private queries server or enter a custom HTTPS one.

Hardware wallets: Keystone and Ledger

Keystone. Both pair with a Keystone 3 Pro over air-gapped QR codes, and both support Keystone for coinholder voting.

Ledger. This is the biggest difference.

• Zodl added Ledger in 3.17 (October 2026), over Bluetooth, one Ledger account at a time. Sending, shielding, swaps, and payments sign on the device. The 3.17 notes say voting and Ironwood migration don't work with Ledger yet.
• Vizor supports Ledger on mobile over Bluetooth, including Ledger Flex and Nano Gen 5. On desktop it supports USB on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and Bluetooth on macOS. Ledger accounts can vote and, since v0.0.63, move Orchard funds to Ironwood.

Either way, update the Ledger Zcash app to 3.10.0 or newer before NU7. Keystone hasn't confirmed NU7 firmware yet, so check Keystone's firmware page before activation. For cold storage, see how to store ZEC safely.

Swaps, payments, and currency conversion

Both wallets swap through NEAR Intents. Zodl offers swaps to and from shielded ZEC and CrossPay, where you pay in ZEC and the recipient gets BTC or a stablecoin. Its swap list is a curated set of major coins and stablecoins. Vizor has Swap on chains like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana, and Pay, a guided flow where the recipient gets an exact amount in USDC or another asset.

Zodl's "Currency Conversion" is a price display, not a swap. It shows your balance in fiat and fetches rates over Tor so exchanges don't see your IP address. Vizor shows USD values and lets you type a send amount in ZEC or USD.

Voting, Ironwood, and NU7

Voting. Zcash Labs lists Vizor, Zodl, and Zkool as supporting the NU7 coinholder vote, and says Keystone hardware wallets work with the voting system.

Ironwood. Ironwood launched with NU6.3 on July 28, 2026. Zodl added Ironwood support in 3.8.0 and a guided Orchard-to-Ironwood migration in 3.9. Vizor shipped Ironwood support and migration on July 28.

NU7. NU7 (ZIP 259) is expected around November 5, 2026 (UTC), at block 3,543,405. Both wallets are ready. Zodl shipped 3.19.0 for iOS and Android. Vizor shipped 0.0.63 on desktop and 0.0.60 on iOS. If an Ironwood migration is running when NU7 activates, both wallets show what's left and help you move the rest.

Why people are choosing Vizor

Vizor is the newer wallet. Its first release came out in April 2026. People are switching anyway, for two main reasons.

It ships fast. Vizor published 63 desktop releases between April 23 and October 30, 2026, about one every three days. That pace shows when Zcash changes:

• Ironwood migration on day one. Vizor desktop shipped its guided Orchard-to-Ironwood migration on July 28, the day Ironwood activated. Zodl's guided migration arrived in 3.9.0 on August 7.
• Ledger, including voting. Vizor desktop added Ledger signing for sends, swaps, and coinholder voting on September 16. Zodl added Ledger on its phone apps in 3.17.0 on October 9 and 10, and its notes say voting doesn't work with Ledger yet.
• Private queries. On October 3, Vizor added experimental Private queries, which look up your transactions without telling the server which ones. We found nothing similar in Zodl's changelogs.

A Zcash cofounder switched to it. Sean Bowe co-founded Zcash and was its first engineer. He has built Zcash's zk-SNARK cryptography since the 2016 launch, and he now co-maintains the Zakura full node. In August he wrote:

Personally switched from Zodl to @VizorWallet for Zcash!

It helps that all of these incredible optimizations we're shipping in Zakura this week have an easy path into Vizor.

It's your wallet developer's wallet.

— Sean Bowe (@ebfull), August 19, 2026

In October, after Private queries went live, he added: "The cutting edge of privacy tech is deployed first in Zcash. And those features and integrations ship first in Vizor." (post, October 13, 2026)

Speed isn't the whole story. Zodl still does things Vizor doesn't, and they're listed below.

Which should you pick?

Pick Zodl if:

• You want to pay at stores with ZEC through Flexa.
• You want to watch an account with a viewing key, without being able to spend from it.
• You need a tax CSV export.
• You install Android apps from F-Droid.
• You want the wallet built by the team that built Zashi and much of Zcash's core protocol.

Pick Vizor if:

• You want one wallet on your phone and a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer.
• You keep several recovery phrases and want them in one app.
• You use a Ledger and want USB on desktop, voting, or Ironwood migration from it.
• You send to TEX exchange addresses from a Keystone.
• You want to send your entire balance with Use Max, or create ZEC gift cards.

Both wallets are shielded by default, open source, and NU7-ready, and you can run both on the same recovery phrase.

How to move from Zodl to Vizor

You don't move funds. You import the same recovery phrase, and Vizor finds your balance on the chain.

1. In Zodl, back up your recovery phrase. Write the words down and keep them offline. Never paste them into a website.
2. Finish or stop any Ironwood migration in Zodl. Don't run a migration from two wallets at once.
3. Install Vizor on your phone or computer and choose Import. Vizor accepts 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24-word phrases, plus an optional BIP39 passphrase.
4. Set the wallet birthday. The birthday tells Vizor where to start scanning. Pick a date on or before the day you created the Zodl wallet. Earlier is safe, just slower. Vizor works out the block range locally and starts a little earlier for privacy.
5. Let the sync finish. Your balance and history will appear. If the phrase has other accounts with transparent activity, Vizor offers to import those too.
6. Send a small test amount before you rely on the new setup.

You can keep Zodl installed. Both apps will show the same funds, and a send from one shows up in the other after it syncs. Hardware wallet users don't import anything. Connect the Keystone or Ledger to Vizor, and your keys stay on the device.

FAQ

Is Zashi the same as Zodl?

Yes. Zashi was renamed Zodl in February 2026 through a normal app update. The same team builds it, now as Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) after leaving Electric Coin Company in January 2026. Zashi users did not need to move funds or change their recovery phrase.

Can I use the same recovery phrase in Zodl and Vizor?

Yes. Both wallets restore standard Zcash recovery phrases, and both scan the same keys, so the same balance appears in each. Finish or stop any Ironwood migration in one wallet before you start using the other, and test with a small send first.

Which is more private, Zodl or Vizor?

On-chain, they are equal: both are shielded by default and only spend from the shielded balance. The differences are at the network level. Both offer Tor and server choice. Zodl fetches exchange rates over Tor. Vizor adds experimental Private queries that look up transactions without revealing their IDs to the server.

Does Zodl have a desktop app?

Not that we could find. Zodl describes itself as a mobile wallet and ships for iOS and Android. Vizor ships for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Do Zodl and Vizor work with Ledger?

Both do now. Zodl added Ledger over Bluetooth in version 3.17 (October 2026), one Ledger account at a time; its release notes say voting and migration are not yet available for Ledger accounts. Vizor supports Ledger over Bluetooth on mobile and over USB on every desktop platform, including voting. For NU7, update the Ledger Zcash app to 3.10.0 or newer.

Are Zodl and Vizor ready for NU7?

Both have shipped NU7-ready releases: Zodl 3.19.0 on iOS and Android, and Vizor 0.0.63 on desktop and 0.0.60 on iOS. NU7 is expected around November 5, 2026 (UTC), at block 3,543,405. Update before activation.

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Want to try Vizor alongside Zodl? Get Vizor for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, or Linux. It's free and open source, and it works with Ledger and Keystone. Questions? Visit Vizor support, see how to send ZEC, or go back to vizor.cash.