Where to Keep a Recovery Phrase Safely (and Where Not To)
Write the words on paper, in order, and keep the paper somewhere safe at home, like your passport. Do not photograph it, type it into Notes, or email it to yourself.
A recovery phrase is a spare key. Anyone who reads it can open that vault, and without it nobody can.
Get an email when Cryptile is on the App Store
What do I need to know?
- Paper beats every app. A sheet in a drawer cannot be hacked, synced or leaked.
- Two copies in two places is enough. One at home, one with someone you trust or in a safe place elsewhere.
- A phrase in your phone defeats the point. A vault key kept next to the vault is easy to find.
Where should I keep it?
Good places:
- A sealed envelope in a home safe or locked drawer.
- A second envelope at a trusted person's home, or in a safe deposit box.
- A fireproof document bag, with your passport and birth certificate.
Write the words clearly, in order, with the numbers. Add which vault it belongs to, in a way only you would understand.
Where should I never keep it?
- The Photos app. A photo of the paper syncs to iCloud Photos and shows up in search.
- Notes, Messages or email. Copies end up in backups and on other devices.
- A screenshot. It lands in Photos and may sync.
- A password manager shared with others. Anyone with access can read it.
If you already did one of these, delete it. Then empty Recently Deleted in Photos, where deleted items wait 30 days.
How do I see my phrase again?
In Cryptile, open the vault, tap the More button (three dots), then Recovery phrase. Vaults made before the phrase was stored inside them cannot show it again.
Each vault has its own phrase. A decoy vault's phrase restores only the decoy. See encrypted iCloud backup and the recovery phrase for how restore works.
What if I lose the phrase?
If you still have the phone and know the pattern, you can open the vault and look at the phrase again. If you have neither the phone nor the phrase, the vault is gone. Cryptile runs no server and holds no keys, so nobody can reset it.
Should someone else know where it is?
Think about what happens if you cannot open the vault yourself. A trusted person who knows where the envelope is can restore it. They also need your Apple Account sign-in to reach the backup. Read what happens to your photos when you die for the wider picture.
What this doesn't protect against
Paper can be burned, flooded or found. Anyone who finds the phrase can restore that vault with your Apple Account. A phrase also does not protect a weak pattern on a phone that an attacker has fully copied, so draw 8 or more cells. If you lose the phone and the phrase, the vault cannot be recovered.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile shows 9 words once when you create a vault. Write them down before you tap I wrote it down.
Cryptile is free to start, with encrypted iCloud backup included.