If your BitBox02 is lost, damaged, or reset, a wallet backup lets you restore access to your funds on a compatible hardware wallet. Recovery words are one form of that backup: an ordered list of words that lets the wallet recreate the private keys used to control your funds. If you use an optional passphrase, you also need that exact passphrase to restore the wallet it protects.

You may also see recovery words called a seed phrase, recovery phrase, or mnemonic. Understanding what they do helps you protect your backup and know what you will need if you ever lose access to your BitBox02.

How recovery words relate to your microSD backup

During standard BitBox02 setup, the device saves a backup to the microSD card without asking you to write down recovery words. This does not mean your wallet has no recovery words. You can later display them on the BitBox02 and make a written backup; the words are shown on the device, never in the BitBoxApp.

A microSD backup and a written copy of the recovery words provide two ways to restore the same underlying wallet. Adding a written copy does not create a new wallet or move your funds. Paper and steel are different materials for storing those same words.

The standard BitBox02 setup creates a wallet with 24 English recovery words. An advanced setup option allows 12 words instead; you cannot change the number of words for an existing wallet. See advanced backup options for that choice, or compare microSD, paper, and steel backups to choose how to store your backup.

What your recovery words restore

Your coins are recorded on the blockchain, rather than stored inside the BitBox02 or its backup. The backup restores the keys that let you control those coins.

When the BitBox02 creates a wallet, it generates secret random data. The BIP39 standard represents that data as recovery words. The words, together with an optional passphrase if you use one, are used to derive the wallet seed. From that seed, the wallet can recreate its accounts, private keys, and receiving addresses.

This is why you do not need to update your backup after sending or receiving funds, creating a receiving address, or adding an account derived from the same wallet. Creating a different wallet with new recovery words does require a new backup.

Recovery on another wallet also depends on support for the relevant networks, account types, and derivation paths—the rules used to locate accounts. BIP39 support alone does not guarantee that every account will appear automatically. For more detail about accounts and recovery, read how BitBox accounts and backups work.

Recovery words, device password, and optional passphrase

These secrets have different purposes. Knowing which one you need helps prevent a device problem from becoming a loss of wallet access.

• Recovery words: restore the wallet's keys on a compatible device. Keep every word in its exact numbered order.
• Device password: unlocks your particular BitBox02 for daily use. It does not replace a wallet backup, and someone restoring your backup on another device does not need this password.
• Optional passphrase: combines with the recovery words to create a separate wallet. If you use one, you need the exact same passphrase as well as your backup to recover that wallet. It is not included in the recovery words or microSD backup.

A different passphrase opens a different wallet, usually with no funds, rather than producing an incorrect-password error. Keep a separate, reliable offline recovery record for a passphrase you use. Learn how an optional passphrase works before enabling this feature.

The words themselves must also be exact. A missing word, spelling mistake, or incorrect order can make a recovery phrase invalid. If an altered phrase is still valid, it leads to a different wallet. Do not choose words yourself, rearrange them, translate them, or shorten a backup.

Protect and check your backup

Record the words clearly and in order, then use the BitBox02's verification process to check your copy. Follow how to view and verify your recovery words; you do not need to reset the device to do this.

Keep the backup offline, private, and separate from your BitBox02. Do not photograph, scan, print, email, or save the words digitally. Handle them away from cameras and anyone who could see or record them. A microSD backup is also a wallet secret: insert it only into your BitBox02 and store it securely after use.

If you rely on a microSD backup, follow how to verify your microSD backup to check that it is readable. For physical protection and storage planning, follow how to store recovery words securely.

If your backup is missing or your device is unavailable

You can still unlock the BitBox02 containing the intended wallet: a lost written backup does not by itself remove access to your funds. Use the viewing and verification guide above to create a correct written copy. Do not reset the device first. If the old backup may have been found or copied by someone else, use the exposed-backup guidance below instead.

Your device is unavailable, but you have a backup: use a trusted compatible hardware wallet for recovery. With written words, follow how to restore your wallet using recovery words. A usable microSD backup is another recovery path even if you never wrote the words down; follow how to restore a microSD backup on a BitBox02. In either case, a passphrase-protected wallet also requires its exact passphrase.

You have neither access to the wallet nor a usable backup: BitBox Support cannot recreate your recovery words or private keys. Without the required recovery material, access to the funds cannot be restored. If you are unsure which recovery path applies, contact BitBox Support and describe only whether you can unlock the device, whether you have a microSD or written backup, and whether you use an optional passphrase. Never send the backup, words, passwords, or passphrase.

If someone else has seen or copied your backup

Treat recovery words as compromised if someone else has seen or copied them, or if you have entered them into software. Treat a microSD backup as compromised if someone else has obtained a copy. A new copy of the same words does not revoke the exposed backup. To stop relying on it, you need a new wallet with new recovery words and a new backup, then you must transfer the funds to that wallet.

If funds remain accessible, act promptly, but do not reset your only working device before you have confirmed how you will regain access to the current wallet. Follow how to move funds to a new wallet using a single BitBox02 for the backup prerequisites and transfer sequence. An optional passphrase does not make exposed recovery words suitable for continued use.