Updated February 2020
Upgrading smartphones is a part of modern life. To ensure that you’ll have full access to the funds in your Abra wallet after you’ve upgraded your phone follow the steps outlined below.
Extra security means a few extra steps
When you upgrade your phone, your Abra wallet information (including any funds stored there) will not automatically transfer over. This is a deliberate security decision, to ensure your wallet is not accessible on multiple devices. You need to transfer your wallet yourself. You do this by using your unique recovery phrase – a series of thirteen random English words — which is like the key to your wallet.
Abra is a non-custodial wallet. That means that we don’t hold onto your funds on your behalf. You are the only person with access to your funds. Generally, non-custodial wallets are considered more secure than hosted wallets, but it does mean that you have more responsibility for making sure you always have a way to access your money.
These extra steps are ensuring that you have the recovery phrase from the app on your old phone, and entering that phrase in the app on your new phone.
On your old phone
- Open up your Abra app on your old phone
- Go to the Menu in the top left corner
- Scroll down and choose Wallet Security (“Backup” on older versions of the app)
- Choose View recovery phrase
- Write down your wallet recovery phrase, and store it in a safe place
If you already did this when you signed up for Abra, find where you keep your wallet recovery phrase.
On your new phone
Open up your Abra app on your shiny new phone- At this point, Abra doesn’t recognize you. It thinks you’re a new user. Not true! So you have to tell Abra you’ve been here before by clicking on the Restore Your Wallet link (see screenshot).
- Verify your phone number when asked. Use the same phone number you used to create your Abra wallet.
- Input your recovery phrase when asked.
Your wallet (and funds) are now moved to your new phone.
You can learn more about the recovery phrase, and how it keeps your funds safe, on our Security page. And as always, feel free to comment here or email us with any questions – we’re always happy to help!
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Mary Thompson
1438 days agoCan I have Abra on my computer as well as my phone? How do I do that?
Daniel McGlynn
1434 days agoMary,
For now, Abra works as an app on mobile devices. In part, this is because the device is used as part of the key system to connect a unique identity with an Abra account. This post might help explain the concept in a little bit more depth: https://www.abra.com/blog/noncustodialwallet/.
Hope that helps,
Daniel