A lot of us use wallets to store and trade cryptocurrency right from our mobile phones but what happens if your phone gets lost, broken or needs a trip to the repair centre?
Most wallets use a seed phrase which will be presented to you when you first create the wallet. Hopefully, you wrote this down and stored it somewhere safe, but if not make sure to find your seed phrase and do that now. You can either store it in a digital file (make sure to encrypt it and back it up), or store it on paper and lock it away safely. Make sure you don’t lose it, this is the only way to recover your wallet in a pinch. Some wallets will include a backup feature built right into the app or allow you export your keys instead so it’s worth investigating this method.
You will need to do this for each wallet you own. Now, you’re backed up.
To restore your wallet, install the app on your phone and select the option to import a wallet during the setup phase. Here is where you’ll input the seed phrase. This will restore your funds to the new wallet. This is the only time you should use your seed phrase, never put it into an unknown app or website, as this method can be used to steal your funds.
Can people access my crypto wallets when my phone is being repaired?
We recommend users wipe their data before bringing a device in for repair so usually there is no data to access. It’s common for devices to be wiped during the repair process so you should make absolutely sure all your data is backed up. In some cases the phone is broken and data can no longer be accessed, if you need to retrieve information from your device we recommend talking to us about the options before sending your phone in for repair.
We may need your password to access the phone for repairs but this doesn’t extend to accessing individual apps. To give you piece of mind, back up your wallets and other data and reset your iPhone prior to sending it for repair. If you’re nervous about restoring your wallet you can transfer your funds to an alternative wallet on your Mac or a backup phone until your device is repaired.