Help Center, 6 articles

Recovery & devices

Restore from your recovery phrase, use cloud or local backups, link and revoke devices.

Restoring from your 24-word recovery phrase

Paste the phrase

On a new install, choose to sign in with a recovery phrase and paste the 24 words in order.

Sign In

Tap "Sign In." This restores your identity keys and your wallet keys.

ℹThe phrase alone restores your identity and your wallet. It does not, by itself, bring back your messages, that's a separate step, next.

Getting your chat history back: cloud search or a local backup file

Right after signing in with your phrase, DChat offers a one-time Backup & Restore step with two paths:

  • "Search DChat cloud" the app derives a lookup pointer from your seed and looks for an encrypted backup on IPFS.
  • Pick a local file choose a .dmbackup file you saved yourself.

Either path can carry your messages, your contacts, and optionally media. Nothing downloads automatically, you choose one of these two paths, or skip and start fresh.

Linking a browser or second device by QR

Open the QR on the new device

On the device or browser you want to add, open dchat.app and let it show its linking QR code.

Scan it from your phone

On your phone, go to Settings → Linked Devices → "Link a device" and scan that code.

Let it sync

Your phone exports an encrypted provisioning bundle, registers the new device, and triggers a fresh export so the new device can bootstrap your history.

Revoking a linked device

From Settings → Linked Devices, revoke any device you no longer use or don't recognize. Revoking tombstones that device's registration and rotates your keys so a revoked device cannot decrypt anything sent after the revocation, even if it still has the app installed and appears "signed in."

If you lose your recovery phrase

⚠There is no recovery. The 24 words are the only way back into your identity and your wallet. DChat cannot reset them, restore them, or issue new ones, that is deliberate, and it is also why losing them is unrecoverable. Anyone who obtains your phrase controls your account and your funds; treat it accordingly.

If you lose your phone but still have the phrase

You are not locked out. Install DChat on a new device, choose to sign in with your recovery phrase, and follow restoring from your recovery phrase. Then run the backup restore step to try to bring your message history back via cloud search or a local .dmbackup file, if one exists.

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