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Hardware · Discontinued devices
My device is discontinued: can I recover with another brand?
The company closing, the model being discontinued or the app no longer being updated does not affect your money. Your recovery phrase is a public standard: type it into another device or another app and you recover exactly the same wallet.
Why it works across brands
Almost all wallets use the same word system and the same way of deriving accounts from it. That isn’t a courtesy between companies: it is an open standard adopted across the industry precisely so nobody gets trapped with one brand. Your phrase from a discontinued device works on a new one from another brand.
What to do
- Pick a current, maintained wallet, bought new from the official site if it is a device.
- Restore with your words.
- If an account doesn’t appear, add it by hand from the accounts menu.
- If you use Bitcoin and see no balance, try the different address types: it is the most frequent reason and it is in the phrase works but I can’t see my funds.
The exceptions
- Devices without a phrase, using cards as the backup. Some models are set up without a phrase and use several cards backing each other up. There is no phrase to take to another brand: you depend on the cards.
- Wallets with their own word system, such as older Electrum versions. They are solvable, but must be restored in an app that understands that system.
- An extra password enabled back then: it travels with you and must be typed on the new device too. Without it, the wallet will appear empty.
- Wallets for one very specific coin, where the standard may vary. There are few, but they exist.
The third exception causes the most panic when switching brands: you restore on the new device, everything works, and there is no balance. It is almost always the extra password, not an incompatibility. See the «25th word».
Always buy the device new and from the manufacturer’s official site. A second-hand device can come configured with someone else’s phrase, and they will empty your wallet whenever they like. I explain it in I bought a second-hand hardware wallet.
Keep reading
- I lost the device but I have the phrase: you have lost nothing
- I bought a second-hand hardware wallet: why that is extremely dangerous
- The «25th word» (passphrase): the detail that sinks many recoveries
- Jaxx and Jaxx Liberty: abandoned wallets and lost access
- SafePal and Tangem: what can be done if you lose access