Ledger Recovery Phrase: How to Restore or Check It Safely

A Ledger that's lost, broken, or forgotten-PIN'd feels like a locked vault. It isn't. The 24 words you wrote down at setup are a standard BIP39 recovery phrase — not a Ledger-proprietary secret — so your crypto is recoverable independently of the device. The trick is doing it safely.

Important: your recovery phrase restores full spending control of your wallet. Treat it like the keys to a vault. Never type it into a website that transmits it, and never share it — Ledger support will never ask for it.

Your phrase isn't locked to Ledger

Ledger generates a normal BIP39 phrase (usually 24 words; some setups use 12 or 18). Because BIP39 is an open standard, those words restore:

• onto another Ledger (the simplest, safest path), or
• onto another hardware wallet (Trezor, etc.), or
• into software — but only with care (see below).

So a dead device does not mean lost funds, as long as you have the words.

The safe ways to recover

In order of safety:

1. Restore onto a new hardware wallet. Your phrase never touches an internet-connected computer. Best for any meaningful balance.
2. Recover offline, then move funds. If you must use software, do it on an offline device, then send everything to a freshly generated wallet whose phrase has only ever existed offline.

Avoid simply typing 24 words into a hot wallet on your everyday laptop and leaving the funds there — that turns cold storage into hot storage.

If the phrase itself is the problem

Sometimes the device is fine but the backup is the issue — a smudged word, an uncertain one, or a phrase that won't validate. Because it's standard BIP39:

• A checksum error means a typo, a swap, or a missing/extra word — see the checksum-error guide.
• A missing word in a 24-word phrase has only 8 valid last-word options (and a small set elsewhere) — see missing a word.
• An uncertain order can be searched if only a few positions are in doubt — see wrong order.

Our recovery tool handles all of these locally in your browser; run it offline for a setup as close to air-gapped as a browser gets.

You don't need Ledger Recover

Ledger Recover is an optional, paid subscription. It is not required to get your crypto back: the 24-word phrase already restores your wallet anywhere, for free. No legitimate recovery ever depends on a paid service when you hold the phrase.

Don't show wrong addresses scare you

After restoring, a Ledger can show Bitcoin under several address types (1…, 3…, bc1…) and many accounts. An "empty" wallet is usually the wrong address type, account, or a passphrase you set — not lost funds.

Have your words? You're in control. Start with the recovery guide.

Check or recover your Ledger phrase →