Setting up a mobile wallet in Envoy is perfect for storing smaller amounts of Bitcoin for more frequent spending, while still ensuring you are in full control of all of your funds.

At no time, under any circumstances, are the seed words for your Passport stored using any of the methods outlined in this page. To see how to back up Passport, see Passport Core Backups or Passport Prime Backups .

Types of Envoy Backup

Magic Backup

Here’s how Envoy Magic Backups work:

1. Envoy generates a Bitcoin seed for your Envoy mobile wallet. On iOS it is stored in your phone's Keychain. On Android it is encrypted with a hardware-backed Android Keystore key.
2. Since most users have iCloud Keychain or Android Auto-Backup enabled, the seed is automatically synced to your other iOS or Android devices – fully end-to-end encrypted, without needing to give Envoy permission to access your iCloud or Google account.
3. Envoy then creates a backup file containing your app settings, account labels, and other non-sensitive app data. We call this the Envoy Backup File. The backup file is end-to-end encrypted with your Envoy seed, meaning Foundation can never see the contents. It does not contain your seed words.
4. The fully encrypted Envoy Backup File is uploaded to Foundation’s servers under an identifier derived from your seed (not the seed itself!). Every request to the server is signed with a post-quantum key derived from your seed, so no one else can download your backup without proving knowledge of your seed phrase.
5. There is no Foundation user account – all you need is access to your Apple or Google account and you’re all set.

Manual Backup

Turning off Magic Backups on the Advanced screen during Envoy wallet setup is for users that do not want to leverage automatic cloud backups and would instead prefer to manage and/or import their own seed words for their Envoy mobile wallet. Here is how they work:

1. Envoy generates a new seed or the user imports their own seed from elsewhere
2. The user is asked to verify they have manually backed up the seed words
3. Envoy then creates a backup file and asks the user to provide a storage location for it. This file contains app settings, account labels, and other non-sensitive app data. We call this the Envoy Backup File. The backup file is end-to-end encrypted with your Envoy seed, meaning Foundation can never see the contents. It does not contain your Envoy seed words.

That's it! You now have 12 seed words and an accompanying file containing wallet metadata. It is strongly advisable to store these two pieces of information away from your phone such that they can be leveraged in the event that something were to happen to your phone running Envoy. After set up, subsequent metadata updates must be manually saved from the Envoy backup menu.

The Backups Screen

Open the Envoy menu and tap Backups to check and manage your backups. The screen shows:

• Envoy Magic Backups - the toggle for your Mobile Wallet, with Mobile Wallet Key (Backed up to iCloud Keychain on iOS, or Stored in Android Auto Backup on Android) and when Settings & Metadata was last backed up to Foundation Servers
• Passport Prime Magic Backup - one section for each paired Passport Prime. If it uses Magic Backups, it shows Master Key Backup (1 of 3 parts) and where Envoy's part is backed up. Its switch is greyed out and read-only
• Advanced Backups - View Mobile Wallet Seed, Download Settings & Metadata Backup File and Export Tags & Labels (BIP-329)
• Back up now - sends a fresh backup straight away
• Erase Mobile Wallet and Backups (Erase Mobile Wallet when Magic Backups is off) - dimmed while a paired Passport Prime has an active Magic Backup

See Envoy Settings for more on each option.

Backup Recovery

Magic Recovery

If you lose your phone or delete the Envoy app, restoring your Envoy Wallet takes only a few seconds with our Magic Backup. The flow is slightly different on iOS and Android. Find your platform below.

iOS

On iOS, you must be signed in to the same Apple ID (iCloud account) on your new device that was used when you originally set up Envoy on your previous device, with iCloud Keychain enabled. Envoy retrieves your encrypted seed backup from iCloud Keychain. If you're signed in to a different Apple ID, or iCloud Keychain is turned off, Envoy will have nothing to restore.

1. Sign in to the same Apple ID on your new device and ensure iCloud Keychain is enabled. This step is required and cannot be skipped.
2. Install Envoy and tap Create a Mobile Wallet on the opening screen.
3. Envoy will automatically restore your wallet. If it doesn't, tap Recover in the top right corner of the next screen.

That's it!

Android

On Android, you must first restore a full Google backup (or complete a direct phone-to-phone transfer) from your previous device onto your new phone. Your old phone must have had a screen lock set, or its backup will not include your Envoy seed. This is what makes your encrypted Envoy seed backup available to Envoy. If you skip this step, Envoy will have nothing to restore.

1. Set up your new Android phone and complete a full Google backup restoration from your previous device. This step is required and cannot be skipped.
2. Install Envoy and tap Create a Mobile Wallet on the opening screen.
3. Envoy will automatically restore your wallet. If it doesn't, tap Recover in the top right corner of the next screen.

That's it!

Explainer

1. Envoy checks your phone's Keychain (iOS) or Keystore-protected storage (Android) and looks for the seed.
   1. If it discovers a seed, Envoy derives your backup identifier from it and sends a request signed with your seed-derived key to our server. This only proves your knowledge of the seed and does not reveal your seed itself to Foundation.
   2. If it does not discover a seed, it restores the encrypted seed backup from your iCloud Keychain or Android backup to the phone's protected storage. Envoy then sends the same signed request to the Foundation server.
2. The server then sends the encrypted Envoy Backup file to Envoy.
3. Envoy uses the seed to decrypt the Envoy Backup file locally and restores all user settings, account labels, and other app data, so your Envoy looks identical to the last time you left it.

Manual Recovery

If you are not a Magic Backup user, you can recover your Envoy Wallet from your seed words; this is useful in a scenario where you have completely lost access to Envoy, e.g., losing your phone. If you still have your old phone, the Changing Phones steps below are quicker.

1. Open Envoy. On the Welcome screen, tap Advanced in the top right corner, turn off the Magic Backups toggle, then tap the back arrow. (If you already use Envoy without a Mobile Wallet, open the menu, tap Backups and turn off Envoy Magic Backups, then tap the + on the Accounts screen.)

2. Tap Create a Mobile Wallet, then tap Recover in the top right corner of the next screen.

3. On the Import Your Seed screen, choose 12 Word Seed, 24 Word Seed, or Recover with QR Code to scan a SeedQR (for example, exported from Passport Core's Key Manager ).

4. If you chose to import via seed words, enter them carefully now, then tap Continue.

5. On the Import Envoy Backup File screen, tap Import Envoy Backup File if you have a backup file from your previous Envoy wallet, and pick it from your chosen storage location. If the seed was generated elsewhere and you do not have an Envoy backup file, tap Create Envoy Backup File and choose a location for it to be stored.

6. Your wallet setup is now complete and you are ready to send and receive Bitcoin! Envoy will automatically load any balances and transaction history.

Changing Phones

If you still have access to both your old and new phone, you can move your Envoy Wallet directly using a QR code. This is the right path when:

• Magic Recovery isn't working
• You set up your old Envoy with Magic Backups disabled (manual backup)
• You're switching between iOS and Android (Magic Recovery does not work across platforms)

Steps:

1. On the new phone, install Envoy. On the Welcome screen, tap Advanced, turn off the Magic Backups toggle and tap the back arrow, then tap Create a Mobile Wallet > Recover (top right) > Recover with QR Code.
2. On the old phone, open Envoy, open the menu and go to Backups > Advanced Backups > View Mobile Wallet Seed, then tap Continue on the warning screen. The seed is shown as a QR code.
3. Use the new phone to scan the QR code displayed on the old phone. Envoy on the new phone restores your seed.
4. For non-Magic-Backup users only: at the next step, download your backup file from the old phone (Backups > Advanced Backups > Download Settings & Metadata Backup File) and import it into the new Envoy app to restore your account labels, settings, and other app data.

Backups FAQ