Recovery phrase: 12 words on paper

Each vault has a 12-word phrase, used if you forget your pattern or move to a new iPhone. Nobody else has it, so keep it safe.

Real encryption comes with a tradeoff: if the developer can’t read your files, the developer can’t reset your password. The phrase is how you stay in control of that.

How it works

The phrase encodes 128 random bits plus a checksum. Backroom makes you type it back from paper before the vault is ready, to catch mistakes. It goes through its own key derivation to unlock your vault’s key.

You use it in three situations:

• You forget your pattern. Tap Use recovery phrase on the pattern screen, type the words and set a new pattern.
• You move to a new iPhone. Restore your backup, and open each vault with its phrase.
• A pattern’s key file is damaged. Backroom sends you to the phrase. Your files stay as they were.

How to store it

• Write it on paper, in order. Check the spelling.
• Keep it somewhere private: a locked drawer, a safe or with papers you already protect.
• Keep it away from the phone.
• Make one per vault, labeled so only you understand.

Someone who has the phrase and your phone, or your device backup, can open that vault. Treat it like a key.

If you lose it

If you still know your pattern, open the vault and make a new phrase in Settings. If you lost both, the vault is gone. There is no support process that gets around this, because we hold nothing that could.