Recovery phrase: nine words to reopen your vault
The recovery phrase is nine words that Vaultopaz shows you once, at setup. If you forget your pattern, those words reopen the vault on the same phone. To move a vault to another phone you need an encrypted backup file instead.
What is a recovery phrase?
A recovery phrase is a short list of words that gives you a second way into your vault. In Vaultopaz it is nine words from the BIP-39 English wordlist. You see them one time, at setup, so that is the moment to write them down.
Vaultopaz has no account and no server that knows your pattern. Nobody can send you a reset link. The nine words are your own fallback for a forgotten pattern, so treat them like a spare house key.
How it works
Your vault is locked with keys that are wrapped by the phone’s hardware keystore, as described on the encryption on the device page. The pattern is your everyday way in. The recovery phrase is a second route to the same vault, and it also relies on the phone’s hardware key. That is why the words reopen the vault on the same phone, as long as that key exists.
The screen that shows the words refuses screenshots and screen recording. The words do not end up in your gallery or in a recording by accident.
The nine words have a second job. You can use them as the secret for an encrypted backup. A backup file sealed with the phrase opens on another phone with those same nine words. That backup file, not the phrase by itself, is how a vault moves to a new device.
What it does and does not do
What it does:
- Reopens your vault on the same phone when you forget the pattern.
- Seals an encrypted backup file and opens it again, also on another phone.
What it does not do:
- Restore a vault on a new phone by itself. There, the words only help together with a backup file that you sealed with them.
- Travel anywhere. Vaultopaz has no internet permission, so the phrase is never sent to a server.
- Show itself again later. If you did not write it down at setup, you cannot look it up afterwards.
When to use it
- You forgot the pattern of a vault on your current phone.
- You want to seal an encrypted backup without making up a separate password.
- You are about to move to a new phone: make a backup sealed with the phrase first, then open it on the new phone. There you draw a pattern and get nine new words for that phone.
How to set it up
- When you set up a vault, Vaultopaz shows the nine words.
- Write them on paper, in the order shown, and check each word.
- Keep the paper away from the phone, for example with your other important papers. Do not store the words in a photo or a note on the same phone.
- Make an encrypted backup as well, so a lost or broken phone does not mean lost files.
- Forgot the pattern? Tap Use recovery phrase under the grid and type the nine words.
If you keep several vaults, read one pattern, one vault to see how each pattern opens its own vault.
Good to know: the limits
- The recovery phrase works only on the same phone. Moving to another device needs an encrypted backup file.
- Losing both the pattern and the recovery phrase means the files are gone. There is no account and no reset.
- The phone must have a hardware-backed keystore (TEE or StrongBox). Without it the app refuses to create a vault.
Frequently asked questions
Does the recovery phrase work on a new phone?
Not on its own. It reopens a vault only on the phone where it was made. On a new phone you open an encrypted backup file, and if you sealed that file with the phrase, the nine words unlock it there.
Where do the nine words come from?
They are taken from the BIP-39 English wordlist, a published standard list of English words. You only need to write them down; you never have to think them up.
Can I see the phrase again later?
No. Vaultopaz shows the nine words once, at setup. Write them down at that moment and check that you copied every word.