The long-awaited suite of Ledger Wallet apps have now been released! First announced at the peak of the crypto craze, these applications replace the legacy apps which were bolted onto Google Chrome in the form of a native app through the Google store. However, this comes with drawbacks - notably the announcement from Google that the Chrome Apps feature will be terminated. So it's easy to see why Ledger would seek to release an independent application.
Ledger Live, as it is called, has an easy release on July 9th. It is currently supported on Windows, Max, Linux, and source code. The iOS app is planned, and is coming soon.
Given Google's statement on their Chrome Apps, this move makes sense. Especially since many prefer to access their funds without using Chrome as an intermediary. Many of Google's services, such as Gmail, YouTube, G+ etc have been vectors for malicious hacks - given that all of these services share the same account information. Despite this, Google has lead the charge when it comes to Two-Factor Authentication, a technology which authorizes an application on a mobile device to act as a secondary layer of security. But no system is totally secure. It pays to be security conscious with your funds. That is the idea behind the Ledger Wallet, anyways.
The Live apps allow you to add each of your cryptocurrencies as an ''account'' in the interface. It shows graphs of your account value, both in terms of amounts of each coin as well as market value. Moreover, it shows one large graph which is an aggregation of your entire portfolio.
Your accounts and balances are stored client-side on your machine. However, just like the Chrome apps, this is encrypted. In this case, it's with a password you establish when setting up the app. Your private keys in either case do not leave your Ledger device, which only does the signing of transactions. The desktop app replaces all of the Chrome applications. Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc - all in one place. In fact, those with a device will be surprised to see that the "Ledger Manager" app is also included: an app which allows you to update your wallet as well as to install the various apps on the hardware wallet itself. No more hopping between applications to check your balances. It's all in one place!