If you lose access to your Bitkey app, your cloud backup, your hardware device, or even two of the three, Bitkey provides secure, built-in ways to regain access to your wallet and funds — without exposing sensitive information or relying on seed phrases.
When to use our recovery methods
| If this happens... | Use this method | What happens |
| You lose or replace your phone, but still have your hardware and cloud access | Cloud recovery | Your Bitkey hardware decrypts the App Key from your cloud backup |
| You lose or replace your phone, and don’t have a cloud backup | Delay + Notify | Use your Hardware Key to create a new App Key |
| You lose or replace your hardware device, but still have your phone | Delay + Notify | Use your App Key to create a new Hardware key |
| You lose or replace both your phone and your hardware device (at the same time), but had set up a Recovery Contact |
Cloud recovery (with help from your Recovery Contact) |
Your Recovery Contact helps decrypt your App Key from your cloud backup, then you can use Delay + Notify to replace your Hardware Key |
Supporting tools
-
Cloud Health Check:
A monitoring tool that ensures your encrypted backups are still active and accessible in your cloud account
→ Not a recovery method, but helps ensure you’re always prepared to recover if needed
-
Recovery Contacts
An optional feature that allows someone you trust to decrypt your cloud-stored App Key. This is useful in cases where you've lost both your phone and your hardware.
→ They never have access to your wallet or your key — they simply provide the ability to decrypt what’s already yours
If you’re looking for a way to ensure the funds in your Bitkey wallet are accessible after your death, see:
To learn more about how Bitkey recovery works under the hood, visit our blog or download our full recovery paper, which is also available for download at the bottom of this article.