Start here: coins live on the chain, the phone only holds the key

Get the worst case straight first: when a phone goes missing, the coins don't go with it. Coins are recorded on the chain, and what the wallet app on the phone holds is the key that can move them — the seed phrase or the private key. An MPC wallet that doesn't use a seed phrase keeps one shard of the key on the phone. The thing you actually have to carry over to a new phone is that key.

Whether the new phone can restore anything depends only on what you still have: a seed phrase or private key, or a backup the wallet itself made, such as a cloud backup or a QR backup with its recovery password. An old phone that still opens is one extra way out, because it gives you a chance to make the backup you never made. With none of these, the wallet can't be restored, and anyone charging a fee to “get it back for you” is running a scam.

So the sections below aren't sorted by wallet brand. They're sorted by what is still in your hands.

What you still have Which section Outcome
The old phone still opens the wallet Situation one Make the backup first, then migrate; little can go wrong
The phone is gone, the seed phrase or private key is not Situation two Restorable, and not one word may be off
No seed phrase, but a backup the wallet made (cloud backup, QR backup and the like) Situation three Follow that wallet's restore flow
Phone and seed phrase both gone, and no wallet backup was ever made (or the backup needs a password you've forgotten) Situation four Not restorable; this is the end of the road
Think this through before you switch

For a seed-phrase wallet, importing it on a new phone isn't “moving” the wallet, it's cutting a second key. Trust Wallet's help pages state that the same wallet can be restored on several devices, and whoever holds the seed phrase can move the coins. The copy on the old phone is not cancelled automatically, so whoever ends up with that old phone may end up holding a key.

One boundary: this piece is only about self-custody wallets. Moving an exchange login or a 2FA authenticator app is a different job and is outside the scope of this article.

Situation one: the old phone still opens the wallet

This is the easiest case. The mistake to avoid: the new phone arrives, the old one is factory-reset and traded in the same afternoon, and only afterwards does it turn out the seed phrase was never written down. As long as the old phone still opens the wallet, leave it alone for now.

On the old phone, find the place in the wallet that shows the seed phrase or exports the private key. It is usually somewhere under settings or security, and it will ask for your wallet password first. Every wallet names it differently, so that wallet's own help pages decide.

The steps:

  1. Copy the seed phrase onto paper by hand, in order, then check it word by word once it's written. No screenshots, no photos, nothing in a notes app, and don't send it to yourself over chat or email. Trust Wallet's backup guide makes the same point: email, cloud storage and photo libraries can all be breached, and offline physical storage is safer.
  2. If the wallet holds accounts you imported with a separate private key, write those keys down separately as well; if a hardware wallet is connected, confirm that the hardware wallet's own backup still exists. MetaMask's restore article spells this out: before you go any further, back up your seed phrase and every private key, whether from a hardware wallet or an imported account.
  3. Install the wallet on the new phone. Type the official website's address yourself, follow the download button on that site through to the app store, and check the developer name before installing. For how to avoid counterfeit apps, see the fake wallet apps section of the phishing scams article.
  4. In the official app on the new phone, choose to import an existing wallet, and type the words from the paper one at a time.
  5. Put the two phones side by side and compare the receiving addresses. Only move on once they match; the checking method is in the last section.

If your wallet has no seed phrase (Binance Wallet, for example), what you confirm while the old phone still opens is that the backup still works: if you've forgotten the recovery password but can still access the wallet, back it up again now, then restore on the new phone through the entry point described in situation three.

If the wallet has its own device-to-device migration feature, you can also use that while the old phone still works. TokenPocket's data migration is one example; the steps are in the common questions at the end.

Stuck at the password step: you can't remember the wallet password that unlocks the seed phrase. Don't keep guessing at random; start with the question on forgotten wallet passwords in the FAQ. If the seed phrase is in your hands, a forgotten password isn't a disaster. But if the phrase was never written down, the old phone is the only key you have, so don't reset it before the password comes back to you.

Situation two: the old phone is lost or dead, but the seed phrase survives

Phone lost, dropped, stolen — if that sheet of paper with the seed phrase is still there, the wallet can be restored. Trust Wallet's help pages put it bluntly: when a device is lost, stolen or reset, the recovery phrase is the only way to restore the wallet.

Install the official app on the new phone (again, check the developer name), and during first-time setup choose the option for importing an existing wallet. Two examples checked against the official instructions:

  • Trust Wallet: open the app, choose “I already have a wallet”, then “Secret Phrase”, and enter the words. If you saved a private key separately at the time, you can import with that instead.
  • MetaMask: when setting up on the new device, choose to restore with the Secret Recovery Phrase. Afterwards you set a new password, and the networks and tokens you need have to be added again.

Other wallets follow the same logic: import with the seed phrase, and take the menu names from that wallet's own help pages.

What matters most while typing is accuracy. One wrong word, or the right words in the wrong order, and what you restore is a completely different wallet. So if the balance comes up as zero or the address looks unfamiliar, the first response should be to go back to the paper and check the words, not to conclude the coins are gone.

Restored but the coins aren't showing, four things to check:

  • The address isn't the one you remember: most likely a word or the order is off; go back to the paper and check them one by one.
  • The address is right, but accounts are missing: when MetaMask restores, it checks accounts in order and adds back the ones with a non-zero ETH balance on Ethereum mainnet, stopping at the first account whose ETH balance is zero. Later accounts have to be added manually until you reach the one you want, and accounts you imported with a private key or a different seed phrase have to be imported again by hand.
  • The address is right and the accounts are there, but one token doesn't show: check whether that token's network has been added and whether the token needs adding manually. After a MetaMask restore from the seed phrase, networks and tokens have to be added again, and Trust Wallet's guide also notes that some tokens have to be added by hand.
  • You imported into a different wallet app and the balance is blank: that usually comes down to differences between wallets; see the question in the FAQ on importing one seed phrase into different wallets.

MetaMask has one more trap: if the new phone already has MetaMask installed with other accounts in it, the official advice is to import the new seed phrase rather than reset the whole wallet. A reset clears every account on that device.

When to stop: if you've checked the words several times and the address still doesn't match, stop there. Don't go searching for a “seed phrase repair tool”, and don't type the words into any web page. The moment they go into a web page, you've handed the key over.

One more step if the phone was lost or stolen

If the phone was lost or stolen rather than simply broken, I'd suggest preparing as though the key may have leaked. If it had no lock screen or no wallet password, or you suspect someone has seen the paper with the seed phrase, then after restoring on the new phone, generate a fresh wallet, write down the new seed phrase by hand, move the assets across and treat the old wallet as abandoned. It costs a little in fees, and in return you don't have to bet on whose hands that phone ended up in. For the full emergency sequence, see the article on what to do when a private key or seed phrase leaks.

Situation three: no seed phrase, but a backup the wallet made

Never having written down a seed phrase doesn't always mean the wallet can't be restored. It depends on whether the wallet has a backup feature of its own and whether you set it up. Wallets differ here; below is what three of them say on their official pages. If the backup sits in the cloud and you can't sign in to the cloud account, go through the cloud provider's own account recovery first.

MetaMask: if you linked a Google or Apple account

MetaMask's restore article says you can sign in on a new device with a Google or Apple account plus a password. Restoring that way doesn't require resetting the password, and networks and tokens are imported automatically. This route requires the wallet to have been linked to a Google or Apple account earlier; the article doesn't expand on it, so go by MetaMask's help pages.

Trust Wallet: the official guide covers a manual seed phrase backup

Trust Wallet's backup and restore guide covers one method, writing the recovery phrase down by hand, and its restore route is likewise entering that phrase; it doesn't describe a cloud backup. If you made some other kind of backup in the app, go by the restore instructions in Trust Wallet's help center at the time.

Binance Wallet: no seed phrase, restored from a backup

Binance Wallet is the self-custody wallet inside the Binance app. It is built on MPC and doesn't support seed phrases in the first place: the key is split into three shards, kept in places that include your cloud storage and your device, and accessing the wallet takes at least two of them. Once the phone is gone, you restore from the backup you made earlier.

On the new phone, log in to the Binance app, go to [Asset] > [Wallet] > [Restore Wallet], then pick the backup method you used. The button names come from Binance's official English help pages; go by what your app shows at the time.

  • Cloud backup: the cloud account you connected at the time, plus the recovery password.
  • QR code backup: that backup QR code, plus the recovery password.
  • Quick Backup: you pass MFA verification and a liveness check yourself; no recovery password is needed, but the account's KYC details have to match you.

You set the recovery password yourself when you back up, and Binance doesn't store it. If you've forgotten it but the wallet still opens on the old phone, back up again straight away. If you've forgotten it and the old device is unusable too, the official FAQ says the wallet can't be restored, which puts you in situation four (a Quick Backup is the exception). The Binance app currently supports login on a single device only, so the old and new phones can't both be used at once.

Situation four: phone gone, no seed phrase, no wallet backup — stop here

The phone is gone, the seed phrase and private keys were never written down, and no wallet backup of any kind was ever made — or the backup that exists needs a recovery password you simply cannot recall. There is no way around this one: the wallet can't be restored.

Self-custody means nobody is holding the key on your behalf. Trust Wallet states that it doesn't store and cannot access your seed phrase or private keys, and that there is no reset option once they're lost; Binance likewise states that with a self-custody wallet, protecting the assets and the backup is the user's own responsibility. What the wallet makers can't do, a third party certainly can't.

Stop here, and don't do any of this:

  • Don't pay anyone for an “asset recovery” or “wallet repair” service. For how to recognize recovery services that charge up front, see the “we can get it back for you” section of the phishing scams article.
  • Don't hand whatever information you have left to anyone claiming to be support. Trust Wallet warns specifically that scammers pose as support to ask for the recovery phrase, and some claim they can “unlock” a view-only wallet for a fee, which is the same scam.
  • Don't download so-called recovery software from search results.

Only two things are still worth doing. One is to search again through the places you might once have copied the phrase to: an old notebook, the pouch where you keep ID documents, the drawer where important papers live. The other is to confirm the old phone is genuinely dead — if it's only a cracked screen and it can be repaired and powered on, you're back in situation one, and if you send it in for repair with the wallet still on it, pick a repair channel you trust. As for looking up the old address on a block explorer: seeing a balance there only proves the coins are still on the chain, not that you can still move them.

Restored isn't finished: address, small amount, old phone, in that order

Seeing a balance on the new phone doesn't mean the migration is done.

Compare the address character by character. Take the receiving address in the new wallet and hold it against the one shown on the old phone, or against an address you saved in an old withdrawal record, and check it from the first character to the last rather than glancing at the two ends. If it doesn't match, stop and go back to whichever situation applies.

Then a small amount. I'd suggest sending one small transfer as well: a matching address says the wallet you restored is the same one, and being able to sign and broadcast is what proves this phone can actually move the money. Send a small amount from the new wallet to another address of your own, watch it confirm on a block explorer, and only then move anything large. An on-chain transfer has no undo button, and the fee is what buys the certainty.

Deal with the old phone only after that.

  • Selling it, giving it away or recycling it: remove the wallet inside the app and uninstall the app first, then factory-reset the phone. As long as that data is still on the old device, there is one more key out there.
  • Keeping it as a spare: it is still a key. The lock screen and the wallet password both stay set, and it lives somewhere other people can't reach.
  • If you use Binance Wallet: the app supports a single device only, so the new phone is the one that counts, and the app on the old one should go.

Only at that point is the migration complete. When you deal with the old phone depends on whether that small transfer has landed, not on the day the new phone arrived.

Common questions

After importing the wallet on a new phone, can the old phone still be used?

It depends on the wallet type. Importing a seed-phrase wallet onto a new phone does not invalidate the copy on the old one; two devices then hold the same key, so if you're finished with the old phone, remove the wallet first and then reset it. Wallets that allow login on one device only, such as Binance Wallet, are different: the old and new phones can't both be used at once.

My phone is lost. Are the coins in the wallet still there?

The coins are on the chain, not on the phone, so losing the phone doesn't make them disappear. Whether you can take back control depends on whether you have the seed phrase or private key, or a backup the wallet made (for example a cloud backup or QR backup with its recovery password). If you're worried that the seed phrase or the old phone has ended up in someone else's hands, I'd suggest moving the assets into a freshly generated wallet after restoring.

Can I screenshot the seed phrase and send it to the new phone?

Don't. A screenshot goes into the photo library, the cloud photo library and the chat history, all of which can be browsed by someone else or breached; on the page that displays the phrase, Trust Wallet blocks screenshots and screen recording outright. Copy the phrase onto paper by hand and type it word by word into the official app on the new phone, and never into a web page.

Binance Wallet has no seed phrase, so how do I restore it on a new phone?

Log in to the Binance app on the new phone, go to [Asset] > [Wallet] > [Restore Wallet], and choose the backup method you used: a cloud backup means allowing the app to access your cloud storage and entering the recovery password, a QR backup means scanning the code and entering the recovery password, and Quick Backup goes through MFA verification and a liveness check. Binance doesn't store the recovery password, so if you forget it, Binance can't find it for you.

How do I move a TokenPocket wallet to a new phone?

There are two cases. If the old phone still works, TokenPocket's help page describes a data migration feature: on the old device go to Me > Security > Data Migration, set a migration password and start the migration, which displays a dynamic QR code; on the new device open the same screen, tap Import Data, scan the code and enter that password. The page lists the supported pairs as iOS to iOS, extension to extension and iOS to extension; for Android, go by what the page says at the time. If the old phone is gone, import with the seed phrase: tap the Add Wallet icon, choose the network, tap Import Wallet, then choose Recovery Phrase. Don't share the dynamic QR code, the migration password or the seed phrase with anyone; TokenPocket says its support will never ask for them.

Someone says they can recover an un-backed-up wallet for a fee. Is that credible?

No. Trust Wallet states that if the recovery phrase is lost it cannot help; Binance states that if you've forgotten the recovery password and can't access the device, it can't restore the wallet either. If the wallet makers can't do it, a third party certainly can't. Paid recovery, people posing as support to ask for a seed phrase, and claims of unlocking a view-only wallet are all common scams.

Official pages checked for this article

The pages below were checked in September 2026, and the two TokenPocket pages in October 2026. Wallet menus and restore options change from version to version, so before you act, go by what the page says at that moment.