Backing up your wallet

When you first install the Bitcoin.com Wallet on your phone, you have the option of setting up biometrics or a PIN. This acts as the key to your wallet, but what happens if you lose or break your phone?

That's why it's important to "back up" your Wallet. Backing up your Wallet effectively means you're creating an additional key and storing it separately from your phone. You can use that key to gain access to your Wallet from any device.

There are a few ways to back up your Wallet, but the easiest is surely the Cloud Backup Service. Here, you create a single custom password that decrypts a file stored in your Google Drive or Apple iCloud account. If you lose access to your device, you can reinstall the Wallet app on a new device, enter your password, and you'll again have access to all your cryptoassets. Here's a video demonstrating how to set up Cloud Backup:

Note: To use the Cloud Backup service, you'll first need to login to either Google or Apple through the Wallet app.

Another way to back up your wallet is to create keys manually. With this method, you'll be assigned a random set of 12 words (a "passphrase"). Then, when you reinstall the app on a new device, you'll need to enter the 12-word passphrase to gain access to that wallet. Here's a video demonstrating how to manually back up your wallets:

Your Bitcoin.com Wallet actually consists of multiple wallets, one for each of the blockchain networks we support. This means you have a BTC wallet, a BCH wallet, and an ETH wallet. You can also create as many additional wallets as you want for those networks. Critically, each new wallet you create will have its own backup key. For this reason, it can be extremely difficult to manage all your passphrases - and that's exactly why we created the Cloud Backup services: It's one simple password for all your wallets!

Password management best practices

Whether you choose a single password that decrypts your entire Wallet or multiple auto-generated 12-word passphrases corresponding to each wallet in your Bitcoin.com Wallet, it's essential that you adhere to password management best practices.

Firstly, you should never store your passwords in digital form, as doing so opens you up to the possibility of having them stolen by hackers. This includes taking screenshots or digital photos of your handwritten passwords.

For most people, the best strategy is to physically write down the password/passphrases on a piece of paper and store that paper somewhere safe. If the crypto assets in your Wallet are worth a lot, you'll want to (manually) make copies of the paper, and store those copies in separate locations (eg. one at your house, one at a family member's house).

While all of this may sound a little complex, it's important to remember why it's so important: when you use a non-custodial wallet, you - and you alone - are in control of your funds.

Note that for manual backups, anyone with the passphrase can gain access to your wallet (and steal the assets in it) while for the cloud backup service, you have an extra layer of protection because an attacker will need to first get into your Google or Apple account, then enter the additional master password you created. If you set up your Google or Apple account with 2-Factor Authentication, you're making it very difficult for a hacker.