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How do I become a Recovery Contact?

A Recovery Contact is someone who can help a Bitkey wallet owner recover access to their wallet if they lose both their phone and their Bitkey hardware device.

Being a Recovery Contact is simple, secure, and low responsibility:

  • You do not gain access to the wallet or its keys
  • You can only help with recoveries that the wallet owner initiates and approves
  • Your role is to hold a piece of information (a cryptographic tool) that can help the wallet owner decrypt their App Key backup, if needed
  • You can’t use that information yourself — it's useless on its own, and you never see the App Key or any wallet data

🔷 You’re not responsible for monitoring, managing, or maintaining anything. You’re simply there to help if the wallet owner needs you.

If you already have Bitkey:

After receiving your invitation:
  1. Tap the link in the invitation from your mobile device
  2. The Bitkey app will open and automatically apply the invitation code
  3. Enter the name of the person you are a Recovery Contact for, then tap Continue
  4. Approve the action using your Bitkey hardware device
  5. A cryptographic tool used to help the wallet owner recover access to their wallet will be securely saved to your cloud account
⚠️ Important: When you complete these steps, you’ve finished your part of the process. The wallet owner must open their Bitkey app to complete activation. The process is complete when you both see each other listed in your apps with a status of Active.

 

If you're new to Bitkey:

After receiving your invitation:
  1. Tap the link in the invitation from your mobile device and download the Bitkey app
  2. Open the app and tap More options
  3. Tap Enter the invite code
  4. Enter the invite code from your Recovery Contact invitation and tap Continue
  5. Review the invitation screen, then tap Continue
  6. A cloud backup will be created automatically
  7. Enter the name of the person you are a Recovery Contact for, then tap Continue
  8. You’ll be taken to the Home screen
⚠️ Important: When you complete these steps, you’ve finished your part of the process. The wallet owner must open their Bitkey app to complete activation. The process is complete when you both see each other listed in your apps with a status of Active.
 

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