Security / Recovery phrases

What a recovery phrase is, and how to keep yours safe

Updated 2 November 2026 · By the FirstHour team

Short answerYour recovery phrase is a second way into your Vault, for when you forget your pattern or PIN. It's also what opens your backup file. Write it on paper and keep it somewhere safe. Nobody, including FirstHour, can give it to you again.

What it opens

Your Vault, if you forget your pattern or PIN. Here's how that works.
Your encrypted backup file, if you need to restore it.

Don't confuse it with a crypto wallet's recovery phrase, which can look similar. They're separate things, and this one only opens FirstHour's Vault.

Why it's so strong, and why that matters

FirstHour gives you 12 random words, which makes far too many combinations to guess. It needs to, because a backup file isn't tied to your iPhone's security chip. Someone with your backup could try phrases on a fast computer, with none of FirstHour's waits in the way. On your iPhone's Forgot screen, wrong phrases do get waits: 5 free tries, then 1, 5 and 15 minutes, then 60 minutes each time. A day without a wrong try clears the count. Those waits can't help with a copied backup, which is why a weak phrase of your own is a real risk.

Every guess is still slowed by 600,000 rounds of calculation, but your phrase is the real protection.

If you use your own phrase

You can, but then it's up to you to make it hard to guess. FirstHour asks for at least 5 words and 20 letters or numbers, and it turns down the most obvious choices. It can't catch everything, so:

Don't use a saying, a song lyric, a prayer, or anything someone could find out about you.
Do use unrelated words that don't belong together.
When in doubt, use the 12 words FirstHour gives you.

Where to keep it

On paper, in a place you'd remember, away from your phone.
Not as a screenshot or a photo. It would sit in Photos, where anyone with your iPhone could find it.
Not in the Vault. You'd need the phrase to get to the phrase.

What it can't do

It can't be recovered. Lose both your pattern and your phrase, and nobody can open the Vault, not even FirstHour.
It can't tell who's using it. Anyone who has your phrase can get in, so treat it like a key to the Vault.

Questions

Can I change my phrase?

Yes. In the open Vault, tap ••• then New recovery phrase, and write the new one down. Older backups still need the phrase they were made with, not the new one, so keep the old paper until you've made a new backup and deleted the old files.

What if someone sees my phrase?

Change it as soon as you can. Then make a new backup, and delete old backup files if you can reach them. If they may already have a copy of an old backup, changing the phrase can't undo that: they could read that backup, and any later backup they get hold of.