General information, not financial advice. Test any setup with a small amount first. Status 23 October 2026.
A seed phrase can restore your wallet in another app or device. Usually it just works. When it does not, the coins are almost always still there; the wallet is looking in the wrong place.
Before you start
- Use trusted, verified software or a hardware wallet. Never type the seed into a website.
- Do it offline if possible, and beware of "recovery services" that ask for your seed.
Zero balance? Check in this order
- Passphrase: was there one? Exact spelling and case matter. A wrong passphrase silently opens a different, empty wallet.
- Script type: legacy (addresses starting with 1), nested SegWit (3), native SegWit (bc1q) or Taproot (bc1p). The wallet must search the right type.
- derivation path: standards such as BIP84 (m/84'/0'/0') and BIP86 (m/86'/0'/0') are common; some older wallets used their own paths.
- Account number: coins may be in account 1 or 2, not 0.
- Gap limit: if you generated many unused addresses, raise how far the wallet looks ahead.
- Sync: let the wallet finish scanning.
Multisig
You need the descriptor or all xpubs plus enough seeds. That is why the configuration backup matters.
The best recovery is a rehearsed one
Write down the wallet name, script type and path next to your backup, and practise a restore with a small amount before you need it.