Backing up a Bitcoin wallet, properly
There is exactly one thing to back up, and it is not the app, the phone, or the transaction history. It is twelve words — and the way most people store them is the way most people lose them.
Your device backup is not a wallet backup
This trips up careful people. A well-built wallet stores its key in a way that is deliberately excluded from iCloud and iTunes backups — in BitHedge’s case a Keychain item marked WhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly. Restoring a new iPhone from a backup therefore brings the app across but not the wallet, and the app will tell you so and send you to the restore screen.
That is the safe design, not a bug. A wallet that did ride along in your iCloud backup would be protected by your Apple ID password rather than by your phone’s secure hardware. The trade is explicit: your recovery phrase is the only path to a new device, so it has to exist somewhere outside the phone.
Where to put twelve words
| Method | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Handwritten on paper, numbered, stored out of sight | The baseline. Fine for most amounts |
| Two paper copies in two separate places | Better. Most losses are fires, floods and moves, not burglars |
| Stamped into a steel plate | Best for amounts you would grieve. Survives what paper does not |
| Screenshot or photo | No. Goes to your photo library, then to the cloud, then to any app with access |
| Notes app, email draft, cloud document | No. Guarded by an account password, not by hardware |
| Password manager on the same phone | No. Two secrets behind one unlock is one secret |
| Typed into any website or support chat | Never. There is no legitimate reason, ever |
Splitting it up is usually a mistake
Six words here, six there, feels clever. It is not: you have doubled the number of places that must survive for the wallet to survive, and half a phrase is meaningfully easier to attack than a whole one. Real schemes for splitting a secret exist and are considerably more careful than cutting the paper in half. Unless you are going to implement one properly, do not improvise.
Test it before it matters
- Write the phrase down and put the phone away.
- Install a second, unrelated wallet app that supports BIP39 with BIP84 or BIP86, and restore from your written copy.
- Confirm the same receiving address and balance appear.
- Delete that second wallet.
If step three fails, you found a transcription error at the only time in your life when it costs nothing. This is also a live demonstration that you are not locked into any one app, which is the point of using standard phrases in the first place.
What does not need backing up
Transaction history, labels, address book entries and settings are conveniences rebuilt from the chain or re-entered by hand. Losing them is annoying. Losing the phrase is permanent. Spend your attention accordingly.
Common questions
Does iCloud back up my Bitcoin wallet?
Not if the wallet is built properly. BitHedge stores its key in a Keychain class Apple excludes from iCloud and iTunes backups, so restoring an iPhone backup does not restore the wallet — only the recovery phrase does. Other wallets vary, and it is worth checking rather than assuming.
How do I move my Bitcoin wallet to a new phone?
Install the wallet on the new phone, choose Restore, and type the recovery phrase. Your coins are on the blockchain, not on the old device, so they reappear once the wallet has re-scanned. The first sync after a restore can take a few minutes.
How many copies of my recovery phrase should I keep?
Two, in two different physical places, is the practical answer for most people. One copy is a single point of failure against fire, flood and simple loss; many copies increase the chance one is found.
Can I store my recovery phrase in a password manager?
It is better than a photo and worse than paper, and it is clearly wrong if the manager unlocks on the same phone as the wallet — that puts both secrets behind one unlock. If you do it, treat it as a second copy rather than the only one.
BitHedge is a Bitcoin-only self-custody wallet for iPhone. Keys are generated on your device and never transmitted — no account, no KYC, no tracking. See how it works.
Keep reading
- Your recovery phrase, and why it is the only thing that matters — How twelve words become a key, and how they get stolen in practice.
- Custodial vs non-custodial, without the slogan — What custody changes about your risk — and when a custodian is right.
- Running your own node, and pointing a wallet at it — The one change that stops leaking your addresses to a stranger.
- All guides