Accessed by tapping the gear icon in the dock at the bottom of the Passport Prime home screen and then tapping Backups, the Backups screen is where users can view and manage the different types of Passport Prime backups. To learn more about Passport Prime backups and recovery, click here .
Magic Backups Switch (NOT AVAILABLE YET)
Changing this setting is not available yet. On KeyOS 1.4.x the Magic Backups switch on this screen is not interactive. It shows the choice made during onboarding, and Prime Magic Backups cannot be turned on or off from here. The Magic Backups toggle in Envoy only controls backups of the Envoy mobile wallet.
Unless you opted out during onboarding, Magic Backups will show as enabled on this screen. While it is on, Passport Prime backs up its encrypted Settings & Data to the Foundation server automatically every 12 hours, and whenever you tap Back up now. This backup contains app data and settings only. It does not include the contents of the Files app.
Back Up Now
Back up now is only shown when Magic Backups are enabled. Tapping it creates an updated Settings & Data backup on the Foundation server straight away, without waiting for the next automatic backup.
Passport Prime also indicates the last time an update was sent on this page. If there is no active connection to Envoy via QuantumLink, this button will not be accessible.
If a backup cannot be created, Passport Prime will warn you, and backup creation will time out gracefully rather than hanging.
Verify Keycards
Use this feature to check Passport Prime's Master Key backup Keycards at any time. Hold a Keycard to the back of Passport Prime so the device can detect which backup set the card belongs to. Passport Prime will then prompt for the remaining parts, and shows a success message once every required part has been verified.
What you need depends on your backup type:
- Magic Backup: an active QuantumLink connection to Envoy, so Passport Prime can check the part stored by Envoy, plus both Keycards from the backup.
- Manual 2 of 3 Keycard Backup: all three Keycards.
Verify Keycards only checks Keycards. It does not check a Settings & Data backup file.
Advanced Backups
Use the Advanced Backups menu to create and manage additional backups.
View Seed Words
View the BIP39 seed word representation of the Passport Prime Master Key.
Passport Prime first shows a warning screen covering the ways seed words are abused, and each point has to be acknowledged before you can continue. You are then asked to enter your PIN. This step exists so that someone who picks up your unlocked device cannot reveal your seed words without knowing your PIN.
The seed words can also be viewed and exported in both SeedQR and Compact SeedQR formats. For durable offline storage, consider backing up your seed words in a Steel Backup Capsule .
Back Up to Keycards
Use this feature to create a new 2-of-3 Keycard backup of the Passport Prime Master Key using the Shamir format. Each backup part is stored with its own unique identifier, making your Keycards easier to tell apart. Writing to a Keycard overwrites any existing data on it.
- With Magic Backups on, this creates a brand new set of parts: a new part stored by Envoy plus two newly written Keycards. Your old Keycards will no longer combine with Envoy, so do not rely on them after creating the new set.
- With Magic Backups off, this writes a 2-of-3 set to three Keycards. Any two of the three restore your Master Key.
Single Keycard backups and saving passphrases to Keycards are coming soon .
If you have Magic Backups on, creating a new Keycard backup replaces your existing Magic Backup parts. Keep the newly written Keycards safe and use Verify Keycards to check them before putting them away.
Settings & Data Backup
Use this feature to save an encrypted Settings & Data backup file. Tapping Settings & Data Backup opens the Create Backup File screen. The file contains device settings and app data (account labels, multisig configurations, 2FA codes, security key registrations, etc.), but NOT the contents of files stored in the Files app, which live only on the physical device, and not the installed app bundles themselves. The backup file is encrypted with the Passport Prime Master Key.
Tick I have saved my Master Key, tap Save Device Backup, then choose a folder. Save the file to external storage (a USB drive or microSD card connected via USB-C) or to the Airlock, then copy it somewhere off the device. To use the Airlock, disconnect Passport Prime from your computer before saving, as it can't save to the Airlock while connected by USB, then reconnect to copy the file across (see Airlock and USB Connections
). A file saved to Internal storage is lost if Passport Prime is erased. Each file is named with the date and time it was created, for example settings-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.tar, making it easy to tell multiple backups apart.
Not available yet on KeyOS 1.4.x: a Settings & Data backup file cannot be verified or restored on Passport Prime. You can create and keep these files, but there is currently no way to load one back onto the device. If a local file is your only backup of your app data, contact support before erasing or restoring your device.
Restore Backup
To restore a backup, Passport Prime must first be erased . Tapping Restore Backup from the Backups screen opens the Erase Device warning straight away, headed Are you sure? and warning that "Your Passport is about to be erased." Tapping Erase erases Passport Prime and restarts it, ready to be set up again. Check the warning below before you tap Erase.
Erasing cannot be undone. Before completing this step, confirm you have a working backup of the Passport Prime Master Key (use Verify Keycards for Keycard backups), a recent Magic Backup of your settings and app data, and separate copies of any important Files. Restoring the Master Key alone does not bring back imported Vault items, 2FA codes, security key registrations, multisig or account configurations, wallet passphrases or Files. On KeyOS 1.4.x a local Settings & Data backup file cannot be restored. If that file is your only backup of your app data, contact support before erasing. See the recovery checklist for what each backup restores.
After doing so, the user can complete the QuantumLink connection to Envoy, set a new device PIN or Password, then choose Restore from Backup at the Master Key introduction screen.
After restoring the Master Key, if a matching Magic Backup exists on the Foundation server, Passport Prime offers to restore your settings and app data through Envoy. Restoring a local Settings & Data backup file is not available yet.
