Bitkey is a 2-of-3 wallet. That means your wallet is protected by three keys — and any two of them are required to send funds or make changes.
This design gives you control — and it’s also what makes recovery possible.
If you lose your phone, for example, your App Key is still safe. That’s because, during setup, Bitkey saved an encrypted backup of your App Key to your cloud account. So as long as you still have your hardware device, you can decrypt that App Key backup and restore your existing wallet using Cloud Recovery.
But what if you lose your phone and can’t access your cloud backup? Or what if you need to replace your hardware device?
In either case, you’re missing a key. That’s where Delay + Notify comes in.
When would you use Delay + Notify
Delay + Notify is used when one of your keys is truly lost, and you still have access to the other one. It's Bitkey’s secure process for replacing the missing key and recovering your wallet.
| If this happens... | Delay + Notify lets you... |
| You lose or replace your phone, and don’t have a cloud backup | Use your Hardware Key to create a new App Key |
| You lose or replace your hardware device, but still have your phone | Use your App Key to create a new Hardware Key |
How the Delay + Notify process works
Delay + Notify is simple and seamless, but powerful. Here’s what happens:
- You initiate a recovery from your Bitkey app using the one key you still have
- A seven-day delay period begins (see below for details)
- After the delay, you approve the recovery and the network fee
- Bitkey generates a brand-new keyset and creates a new wallet
- Your funds are securely moved to the new wallet
- Your cloud backup is updated with your new App Key
- A new Emergency Exit Kit PDF is created and saved to your cloud
Everything is handled in the background. The only thing you’ll need to do is confirm the recovery and approve the bitcoin network fee to complete the transfer.
What is the delay period?
The seven-day delay is a security feature built into the recovery process.
During this time:
- The wallet owner receives multiple notifications that a recovery has been initiated
- Alerts are sent through the Bitkey app and any enabled critical alert channels (email, SMS)
- This delay gives the rightful owner time to respond
If you initiated the recovery and recognize it, there’s nothing you need to do — just wait for the delay to finish.
If you didn’t initiate the recovery, you can cancel it immediately from your Bitkey app.
What happens after the delay?
Unlike Cloud Recovery, Delay + Notify does not restore your existing wallet. It creates an entirely new wallet with a new set of keys.
After recovery is complete:
- Your funds are moved to the new wallet
- Your cloud backup is updated with your new App Key
- A new Emergency Exit Kit PDF is saved to your cloud account
This ensures your wallet is fully secure — with a new keyset that has no connection to the lost key. Because your funds are moved to a new wallet with new keys, the lost key is no longer associated with your funds.
Even if the lost key were to fall into the wrong hands later, there’s nothing they could do with it — it would be cryptographically disconnected from the wallet that holds your bitcoin.