Quote from: doctor-s on March 28, 2018, 11:12:45 PM

Quote from: Xynerise on March 28, 2018, 07:00:41 AM

Quote

however, there is no consumer level software for the network yet.

Not true.
There are a lot of LApps (Lightning Apps) available already And new ones are being introduced everyday

Quote

If so, who's creating these apps?

Different developers are.
You don't need anyone's permission to create a LApp.
Just read the developer's guide to get started.

Quote

Is the core team working on an implementation of an app similar to bitcoin-qt?

There is no "core team" per se.
There's no reference implementation for Lightning.
There are different groups of developers working on different implementations of the Lightning Network, but they are designed for interoperability.
There's Blockstream's c-lightning, Lightning Lab's LND written in Go, ACINQ's Eclair written in Scala, lit, lightning-onion, etc.

Each implementation has its own desktop interface á la Bitcoin-Qt:
There's Zap wallet, LND-GUI, Eclair, etc.
Most are cross-platform and there are also mobile (Android) apps for Lightning eg Eclair -- even though it's on the testnet now.
There are also browser extensions, And web wallets

Thanks, that's a fantastic post. I wish this sort of info was prominently displayed somewhere or easily found. I often feel like bitcoin would benefit from some kind of promotion group or public info resource. I know the info is all out there, it's just incredibly hard to find what you're after without asking someone for it.

It is still early days and a lot of these apps are still in beta testing phase, with some limitations. The Lightning Network also restricted the amounts that can be send, to prevent large losses if some exploit are found during the testing phase. I think it will be a buzz kill if some LApp goes mainstream now and a exploit was used to drain people's coins.

The Open source nature of most of these projects allow for good peer review, but it is still the Wild West out there.