Light Wallet / Light Client

A light wallet (or "light client") lets you use Zcash without downloading and verifying the entire blockchain yourself. Instead, it queries a remote server (often running "lightwalletd") for the data relevant to your addresses.

This is far faster and lighter on storage than running a full node, which is why almost all mobile Zcash wallets are light wallets. The tradeoff is a small amount of trust placed in the server you connect to for data availability (though not for the validity of funds, which is still verified cryptographically).