How do I restore from my 12-word secret recovery phrase?

If you lost access to your crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and etc., you can use your 12-word secret recovery phrase to restore access to them inside the Exodus wallet. Below are instructions on how to restore your wallet using the Exodus recovery phrase.

In this article:

How do I restore from my 12-word secret recovery phrase

Desktop

Here is a video guide that will take you through the steps to restore your wallet on your desktop. There are step-by-step instructions below.

Note that additional methods of restoring from your 12-word phrase are available from the developer menu or lock screen.

1
Download the latest version of Exodus.
2
Launch Exodus.
3
Click the Restore from Backup button on the Home  welcome screen.

4
Exodus will then ask to restart. Click Restart.

5
Type your 12-word phrase in order with no capital letters. Click the arrow to the right when you are finished.

6
After a few seconds, Exodus will open with a popup "All done!". Click OK and wait a few minutes while Exodus rescans the blockchains and displays your balances.

7
Make sure to set a password to protect your newly restored wallet.

Mobile

Here is a video guide that will take you through the steps to restore your wallet on mobile. There are step-by-step instructions below.

Restoring a previous wallet into your mobile wallet is simple and only takes a few steps.

  • If you are trying to link your Desktop Exodus wallet to your mobile wallet, then you can find this even easier tutorial here
  • If you just have a 12-word phrase and want to restore it inside of Exodus Mobile, please keep reading.

WARNING: This process will overwrite your current mobile wallet. If you have a mobile wallet with funds in, send all its funds to Exodus Desktop (or a different wallet) before syncing the wallets.

If you have forgotten the passcode for your wallet, then to restore your wallet please use the guide: How do I access my wallet if I forget my password?

1
Open your Dashboard by tapping the dashboard icon in the lower right corner of your screen. Then tap Settings.

2
Scroll down and tap Restore Wallet

3
This process will overwrite your current mobile wallet. If you have a mobile wallet with funds in, send all its funds to Exodus Desktop or another wallet you own before syncing the wallets. Tap Continue.

4
You will be presented with a screen when you will enter the first 4 of 12 words of your secret phrase. Enter your first 4 words and tap Next. Continue until all 12-words have been entered and tap Restore.
5
After tapping Restore, Exodus will ask you if you are sure. Tap Continue & Restart when ready. Exodus will restart and begin to sync your assets.

6
The restore process may take a few seconds or several minutes depending on your wallet history. If you have a diverse portfolio with a long transaction history, it may take longer. Once the restore is complete, Exodus will let you know!

Browser Extension

If you have an existing 12-word recovery phrase you can restore it inside of Exodus Browser Extension. The Exodus Browser Extension supports 12-word phrases generated by an Exodus wallet. At the moment, Browser Extension does not support 12-word phrases generated by the Phantom wallet.

WARNING: This process will overwrite your current browser extension wallet. If you have a browser extension wallet with funds in it please send these funds to a different wallet before restoring.

Please note: If you have forgotten the passcode for your browser extension wallet, then to restore your wallet please use the guide: How do I access my wallet if I forget my password?

1
Open the Exodus Browser Extension and a) click the menu icon, then b) click Settings.
2
Click Restore Wallet.
3
Click Continue.
4

a) Enter the 12-word phrase that you wrote down on a piece of paper during the backup process. When the 12-word phrase is entered, b) click Restore.

When entering the 12-word phrase, make sure you're entering the words:

  • In sequence from 1 to 12, without the numbers.
  • Separated by one space.
  • In all lower case letters.
  • Spelled correctly.

Please note: Your 12-word secret recovery phrase controls your funds, so It is important to keep the 12-word phrase secret. Anyone with your 12-word phrase will have access to your funds, so please don’t share it with anyone, including Exodus Support!

5

Next, a) create a new password for your wallet. After entering the password, b) click Next.

Please note: For more information on how to create a strong password see our guide: The importance of a good password

6
To confirm the new password you set for the wallet, a) enter the password again then b) click Restore Wallet.
7

Finally, click Restore. You are done! After a few moments, Exodus will display your balances.

Please note: Currently, the Browser Extension supports the Solana network. So when you restore in Browser Extension only your Solana assets will appear.

I restored with my 12-word phrase so why is my wallet empty?

If you restored a previously used wallet with a 12-word secret recovery phrase, but the wallet is empty (with no transaction history), then it is possible that the wallet you restored is not the wallet you were trying to restore.

The 12-word phrase generates all the private keys in your wallet, so the smallest change in the 12-word phrase would change the private keys. Your private keys allow you to access your funds.

If the 12-word phrase you entered was different from the original 12-word phrase, or entered incorrectly, then it would create a brand new wallet, and not restore the original wallet.

Please note: Not every 12-word phrase can restore a wallet. The words in the 12-word phrase need to be on the BIP39 wordlist and some combinations will not work.

If you restore a wallet and see the wallet is empty and different from the original wallet, please double-check your 12-word phrase. You can have a look at the checklist below and follow the guidelines in order to make sure that your 12-word phrase is entered correctly.

  • If you have multiple 12-word phrases there is a chance that you restored the wallet with a different 12-word phrase. Check if you have more than one 12-word phrase and try all of the 12-word phrases you might have.
  • Enter the words in the correct order from 1 to 12.
  • All the words should be written in lowercase.
  • There should be no special characters - only enter characters from the English alphabet.
  • Make sure the words are spelled correctly.
  • Make sure the keyboard on your device is in English.

To help ensure that the 12-word phrase is correct, you can compare every word to the BIP39 master wordlist. With the BIP39 word list, you can check that each word is valid, and spelled correctly:

Some words from the BIP39 word list can easily be confused for another word from the list, especially if a typo was made when it was written down. If you have any doubts that one or more of the words in your 12-word phrase has been written down incorrectly, then please see the link below. It will take you to a list of commonly misspelled words from the BIP39 list.

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