Zingo Wallet Review (November 2026): Shielded by Default, Nym Mixnet, Swaps and NU7

Zingo is a shielded Zcash wallet from Zingo Labs for iOS and Android (Zingo) and Windows, macOS and Linux (Zingo PC). It is open source, built on the Zingolib Rust library, and shielded by default: "new addresses are Orchard (Ironwood) unless another type is chosen" (Zingo README). Its standout feature is the Nym mixnet. Payments are broadcast through it and the app "fails closed", so a payment "goes out over the mixnet or not at all". Syncing, however, still goes directly to your server. It also has built-in swaps (NEAR Intents, Maya, THORChain and Flashnet via SwapKit), a guided Ironwood migration, view-only import from a viewing key, and a careful seed backup flow. The mobile release 3.0.0 (build 324) of 31 October 2026 lists "Full compatibility and protocol-level support for Zcash's Network Upgrade 7 (NU7)" (Zingo releases), and ZecHub marks Zingo "NU7: Compatible". The gaps: no hardware wallet support in its documentation, one wallet at a time on mobile, and no automatic shielding of transparent funds.

Our verdict: a strong choice for people who want a phone wallet that takes network privacy seriously and do not need hardware signing. This review is based on Zingo's published documentation, release notes and ZecHub's directory, read on 12 November 2026. We did not install and test it ourselves.

Zingo at a glance

Sources: Zingo mobile README, Zingo PC README, Zingo mobile releases, Zingo PC releases, ZecHub: Wallets.

ZecHub lists Zingo as "Devices: Mobile | Desktop", "Wallet Support: Seed Phrase | Viewing Key | Unified Address", "Pools: Transparent | Sapling | Ironwood", with features "Address Book | Financial Insights | Payment Request | PepperSync | Shielded Memo | Testnet Support". It also lists zingo-cli, a command-line version for developers.

How Zingo scores on our criteria

These are the criteria we use across our wallet directory. "Documented" means the project's own pages say so; we did not test it.

Privacy: what the Nym mixnet covers, and what it doesn't

Zingo is unusually precise about its network privacy. Both READMEs say exactly which traffic goes through the Nym mixnet and which does not.

Through the mixnet (Zingo PC README):

• "Broadcasting a payment. The transaction is transmitted through the tunnel, so the indexer it is submitted to does not learn the IP it came from."
• "Shielding the transparent balance."
• "The transmissions of the Ironwood migration, which are payments by another name."
• "The ZEC price. Mixnet-only: no setting sends it over clearnet."

Over the normal internet (clearnet):

• "Syncing. Compact blocks, nullifiers, transparent-address queries, full transaction fetches, the mempool — the whole scan talks to your server directly." Zingo notes that putting this through the mixnet was decided in principle but "its implementation is deferred, so the server you sync from does see your IP."
• Swap traffic: "The provider therefore sees the IP the request came from, beside the addresses a quote has to carry."
• Resolving a name.zcash alias.
• The server list from hosh.zec.rocks.

On mobile, the README adds: "Sending fails closed: a payment goes out over the mixnet or not at all, unless the mixnet has been switched off deliberately". It also mentions a "Mixnet Doctor" that "diagnoses the transport and the server through the tunnel, with a redacted report to copy".

Why this matters. A light wallet's server is the party best placed to link your IP address to your transactions. Zooko made the point during the Ironwood migration: without a network privacy tool, "your server/endpoint/lightwalletd sees your IP address… which means that server will be able to link your IP address with the amount of your Orchard funds" (Zcash Community Forum). Zingo's design removes that link for the moment you send, which is the most sensitive one. The sync server still sees that your IP runs a Zcash wallet and when it is online.

Zingolib's own README spells out the remaining leaks: "the server can learn what blocks contain your shielded transactions", "The server also learns other metadata about you like your ip address", and "Price information is retrieved from Gemini exchange" (Zingolib README). (On Zingo PC, the price lookup goes over the mixnet, per its README.)

Other privacy and safety touches

From the mobile README:

• "Screenshots and screen recording blocked on the seed and key screens."
• "A copied seed or viewing key is cleared from the clipboard after 60 seconds."
• "Hide sensitive values from the header."
• Device authentication (biometrics or PIN) "to open the app and to see the seed".
• "Support email with redacted diagnostics."

Shielding and transparent funds

Zingo is shielded by default, but it does not shield transparent funds automatically. You "Shield the transparent balance from History or Pools" on mobile, or use "One-click shielding of the transparent balance" on PC. Two details from Zingo's documentation:

• Zingo PC "Looks ten transparent addresses past the last one used, so funds sent to an address you skipped are found rather than left behind the first gap."
• Zingolib's note management "Will automatically shield your sapling funds at the first opportunity". When you send to a shielded address, it "can decide to use the transaction to additionally shield your sapling funds (i.e., send your sapling funds to your own orchard address in the same transaction)". And "Transparent funds are only spent via explicit shield operations" (Zingolib README).

The second point means Zingo moves old Sapling funds forward into the newest pool when it can. That is good for keeping funds in one pool. The trade-off is that a pool-crossing amount becomes public when Sapling funds move into the Orchard-protocol pool.

For how shielding works and what it reveals, see how to shield Zcash.

Ironwood migration in Zingo

Zingo added migration support after Ironwood (NU6.3) activated on 28 July 2026:

• Mobile: "Meet Ironwood, then a choice: migrate now or not; the migration sends the Orchard funds to Ironwood in self-transactions that confirm together."
• PC: "Guided migration of Orchard funds to Ironwood, with progress on the dashboard", with "Immediate migration for the straightforward case, and a scheduled, batched migration that spreads the transfer over time when privacy calls for it."

The mobile wording, "self-transactions that confirm together", suggests several transfers sent close together. Spreading transfers over time, as ZIP 318 recommends, is described only for Zingo PC. Every transfer out of Orchard reveals its amount on the chain. If amount privacy matters to you, the PC's scheduled mode is the better choice, and the migration transmissions go over the mixnet in both versions. The 3.0.0 release notes add that "the pools icon stays away when all funds are confirmed in Ironwood".

All the options across wallets are in how to migrate Orchard funds to Ironwood.

Swaps

Zingo integrates swaps "through SwapKit (NEAR Intents, Maya, THORChain and Flashnet)". The 3.0.0 mobile release describes "Full incorporation of the cross-chain swap system (Swap tab, quotes, deposits, live tracking, history", and Zingo PC's recent releases are mostly swap fixes. Points from the README worth knowing:

• "Routes compared against the market rate, with the slippage tolerance chosen."
• "When a provider offers no route, its own reason is given."
• "Buying ZEC with a token (USDT, USDC…) from another wallet never goes through Maya or THORChain", because their memo "travels only through the router contract, which no wallet's Send calls". Those routes "are listed as unavailable, with the reason".
• "A Maya purchase lands shielded when its memo can carry a unified address, and a Maya sale's refund comes back shielded."
• "An expired purchase is still watched for a late payment."
• "Swap traffic goes over clearnet, not the mixnet; the ZEC deposit itself is a payment and goes through it."

Swaps are convenient, but a swap always involves a third-party service and an address on another chain. If you are buying ZEC to hold privately, the ZEC side lands shielded in Zingo; the other side of the trade is as public as that chain is.

Backup, restore and servers

Backup and restore

Mobile (README):

• "Create from a new seed, restore from a seed, or import a Unified Full Viewing Key (view-only)."
• "Seed backup flow (the words, a check that they are on paper, three words to confirm), with a reminder in History until it is done."
• "One wallet at a time, with the last one kept as a backup that can be restored from Settings."
• "A birthday below Sapling activation is raised to it, and the app says so once."

Zingo PC supports several wallets in one install and syncs the others "in the background, one after another, when the app starts and every 15 minutes".

Moving to or from Zingo. Zingo follows ZIP 316's internal change addresses. ZecHub's recovery guide lists Zingo among the wallets where, when restoring the seed elsewhere (for example in Zkool), you should "enable Use Internal Change" or change outputs may appear missing (ZecHub: Recovering funds). See restore a Zcash seed in another wallet.

Servers

Zingo picks a light wallet server "Automatic, from a list, custom… or offline", using a "Live list from the community registry (hosh.zec.rocks), ranked by 30-day uptime and then ping". Zingo PC's automatic mode prefers "Zingo's recommended Zaino server". Zaino is the indexer that replaced lightwalletd in the new Z3 stack; see zcashd is gone.

Background sync

On Android, background sync runs "once a day… around 3 a.m., on an unmetered network while charging"; on iOS, "when iOS grants a background processing task". Open the app before sending, so it catches up.

Everyday features

• Memos: "Encrypted memos, with a byte counter", and a separate Messages view.
• Payment links: "zcash: payment links open the app (ZIP-321, first recipient)" on mobile. Zingo PC handles "several recipients".
• Zcash Names: "type alice.zcash or alice.zec in Send or a contact, and it resolves to the address". On PC, resolving a name goes over clearnet.
• Address book per network, including contacts on other chains for swaps.
• Fiat entry: amounts can be typed in USD; "what is sent is always ZEC".
• Explorer links: ZcashExplorer, ZecBlock, ZExplorer or none.
• Send progress in steps: "build, mixnet, mempool, confirmations, with what to do when one fails".
• Financial Insight: "activity over time and amounts per recipient".

Release history and NU7

Zingo ships often. From the mobile releases page (first page, read 12 November 2026):

Zingo PC 2.0.27 build 201 (26 October) said "NU7 ready on mainnet" and warned that earlier versions would stop working at activation. One date conflict: that note gave the activation as block 3,543,405 on 2026-11-05. The block's own timestamp is 6 November 2026, 02:34 UTC (Blockchair). The height was right; the date was an estimate made before the event.

Update before you use it. Any Zcash wallet older than its NU7 release may build transactions the network now rejects; ZIP 259 made version 4 transactions invalid from NU7.

Sync: PepperSync and "spend before sync is complete"

Zingo's website highlights its sync engine: "The pepper-sync engine lets you spend before the sync is complete, and it keeps throughput high" (Zingo website). ZecHub lists "PepperSync" among Zingo's features. In practice this addresses the most common complaint about shielded light wallets: waiting for a long scan before you can pay.

Other sync details from the mobile README:

• It "Follows the chain while it is open, so a payment shows up when it lands."
• "Performance profiles (Maximum, High, Medium, Low)" let you trade speed against battery and data.
• A "Sync report with a scanning map, the last background sync, and Rescan" shows what has been scanned.
• "Offline mode: create or restore a wallet with no server, and sync once one is chosen."
• A wallet's network (Mainnet, Testnet or Regtest) is "fixed when the wallet is created", and "a server on another network is caught on opening, with a switch to the right one".

The website also says the architecture is "ready for future Zcash updates such as staking and Memo Bundles". Neither exists on Zcash mainnet today; read that as a design goal, not a feature.

Zingo PC: the desktop version

Zingo PC shares Zingolib with the mobile app but adds desktop features (Zingo PC README):

• Several wallets in one install, each optionally on a different network, with background syncing of the others "when the app starts and every 15 minutes".
• Downloads for Windows (.msi installer or portable .zip), macOS (.dmg, the Mac App Store and a public TestFlight beta) and Linux (.deb, .AppImage for x64 and ARM64, and Flatpak).
• A scheduled, batched Ironwood migration in addition to the immediate one.
• Payment requests with "a zcash: link and QR for an amount, a memo and an optional title", and QR scanning from a file, drag and drop, a pasted screenshot or the camera, "decoded on the device, never stored or sent".
• Search across history and messages "by address, contact name, memo or transaction id".
• Encrypted swap records: "Each wallet's records are encrypted with a key derived from that wallet, so they travel with it."

A practical note for Windows users from the README: "Our Windows builds are code signed, but a recently issued certificate has to accumulate reputation before Windows stops flagging it." If Windows warns you on first launch, check that you downloaded from Zingo's GitHub releases page before continuing.

Beta and production apps

Zingo publishes two parallel mobile apps from the same code: "Production (org.ZingoLabs.Zingo): App Store and Play Production" and "Beta (org.ZingoLabs.Zingo.Beta): TestFlight External and Play Open Testing" (Zingo README). The beta has a "BETA" band on its icon. New features, such as recent Maya shielded swaps, appear in beta first. Use the production app for real savings and treat the beta as a test bed.

Zingo compared with Zodl and Zkool

Sources for Zkool: Zkool README. Zodl's Tor page says enabling it means the wallet "will use the Tor network to fetch exchange rates, send transactions, retrieve transaction data, and to connect to third party APIs". So on paper, Zodl's Tor covers more of the traffic than Zingo's Nym. Zingo's advantage is that its mixnet is on by default for payments and fails closed. A deeper comparison of the other two is in Zodl vs Zkool.

For developers: zingo-cli

ZecHub lists zingo-cli for Windows, Linux and macOS, with "Command Line Interface | PepperSync | Shielded Memo | Testnet Support" and "NU7: Compatible". Zingolib's README describes it as "a command line indexer client" that bundles the nym-proxy binary, and lists the note-management rules quoted above. It warns that "Releases are currently only provisional". It is useful for scripting and testing on Testnet or Regtest, not as an everyday wallet.

Common problems and what Zingo's documentation suggests

Quotes are from the Zingo mobile README and the Zingo PC README. If a transaction ID is shown but the payment never arrives, look it up on our explorer and see Zcash transaction status.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• Shielded by default, with Ironwood as the default destination.
• The clearest public statement of any Zcash wallet about what its network privacy covers.
• Payments fail closed rather than leaking over clearnet.
• Swaps built in, with honest refusals rather than routes that silently fail.
• Desktop and mobile versions, open source, frequent releases.
• Thoughtful seed backup and screen-capture protection.

Weaknesses

• No hardware wallet support documented.
• Mobile holds one wallet at a time.
• No automatic shielding of transparent funds.
• Sync traffic, swaps and name lookups go over clearnet.
• Mobile Ironwood migration does not document time-spreading; PC does.
• We found no published third-party audit in the material we read.

Who should use Zingo?

Our overall rankings are in best Zcash wallets.

Getting started with Zingo

1. Download from an official source. The README links the App Store (apps.apple.com/app/zingo/id1668209531) and Google Play (org.ZingoLabs.Zingo). Zingo PC binaries are on its GitHub releases page; macOS is also on the App Store.
2. Create a new wallet and complete the seed backup flow: the words, the paper check, and three confirmation words.
3. Leave the mixnet on. It is the default for payments.
4. Receive to your shielded (Ironwood) address. Use a TEX or transparent address only for services that require one.
5. Shield any transparent receipts from History or Pools.
6. If you restored an older wallet with Orchard funds, run the migration when prompted.
7. Test a small send and watch it on our explorer.

FAQ

Is Zingo a good Zcash wallet?

For a phone wallet that is shielded by default and protects your IP when you send, yes. It lacks hardware wallet support and automatic shielding.

Is Zingo free and open source?

Yes. Zingo, Zingo PC and Zingolib are published by Zingo Labs on GitHub.

Does Zingo support Ironwood and NU7?

Yes. It shows Ironwood balances, offers migration from Orchard, and release 3.0.0 lists NU7 support. ZecHub marks it "NU7: Compatible".

What does the Nym mixnet in Zingo protect?

Payment broadcasts, shielding, migration transfers and (on PC) the price lookup. Syncing, swaps and name lookups do not use it.

Does Zingo work with Ledger or Keystone?

Not according to the documentation we read. Use Zodl or Zkool for hardware signing.

Can I use one Zingo app for several wallets?

Zingo PC supports several wallets. The mobile app holds one wallet at a time, plus one backup copy.

Does Zingo shield transparent funds automatically?

No. You shield them from History or Pools. Zingolib does shield Sapling funds forward when it can.

Can I restore my Zingo seed in another wallet?

Yes, but in wallets like Zkool turn on "Use Internal Change", or some change may seem missing (ZecHub).

Has Zingo been audited?

We did not find an audit report in the material we read. Check Zingo Labs' site and GitHub for current information.

Is there a Zingo for desktop?

Yes, Zingo PC, for Windows, macOS (including the App Store) and Linux.

Which servers does Zingo use?

It chooses from a live community list (hosh.zec.rocks) by default, or you can pick one or enter your own. Zingo PC's automatic mode prefers Zingo's recommended Zaino server.

Sources

• Zingo website
• Zingo mobile README
• Zingo mobile releases
• Zingo PC README
• Zingo PC releases
• Zingolib README
• ZecHub: Wallets
• ZecHub: Zcash Wallet Fund Recovery
• Zcash Community Forum: Ironwood update for users
• ZIP 259: Deployment of the NU7 Network Upgrade
• Zodl support: Shielding transparent ZEC
• Zodl support: Enabling Tor protection
• Zodl support: Why does my receiving address change?
• Zodl support: Ironwood steps for Zodl users
• Zkool README
• Blockchair Zcash explorer (block 3,543,405 timestamp)