Can My Mnemonic Phrase and Passphrase Be Recovered If Lost?
If both the mnemonic phrase and the passphrase are lost, your assets cannot be recovered. If only one of them is missing, there is still some room for action. The following sections provide operations based on the information you actually still have.
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First, it's essential to understand a key concept: the passphrase is not the wallet password.
The wallet password is a temporary password you enter every time you open the app or initiate a transaction; if forgotten, it can be reset using the mnemonic phrase (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-07-05). However, the passphrase is a custom set of characters that participates in generating the wallet address—the same mnemonic phrase paired with different passphrases will generate completely different wallet addresses (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
So you need to first confirm what exactly you have lost.
1. Confirm What Information You Still Have
Open all your backup records and check them one by one:
Whether you have a complete mnemonic phrase (12/15/18/21/24 English words)
Whether you remember the passphrase you set (if any)
Whether you have the private key of a wallet address (64-digit hexadecimal string)
If you have completely forgotten both the mnemonic phrase and passphrase, please skip directly to Step 5. The following steps only apply if you still have one of them.
What counts as completion: You can clearly state which situation you are in: "Have mnemonic but no passphrase", "Have mnemonic and remember passphrase", "No mnemonic but have private key".
2. Scenario A: You Have the Mnemonic Phrase, but the Passphrase Is Unclear or Lost
The passphrase is not part of the mnemonic phrase, but it participates in generating the wallet address. If the mnemonic is correct but the passphrase is wrong, the restored wallet will be a different empty address, not your main wallet (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
Steps:
Open any wallet that supports the BIP39 standard (e.g., imToken, TokenPocket, OneKey)
Select "Import Wallet" → "Mnemonic Phrase"
Enter your mnemonic phrase (all lowercase words, separated by a single space)
If the page has an "Advanced Options" or "Passphrase" input field, try entering your remembered passphrase
After importing, check whether the recovered address matches your wallet address
Passphrase characteristics:
Case-sensitive, includes spaces and special characters (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26)
Can be any length, not necessarily a single word
If unsure about the complete content, you can try your most commonly used versions
What counts as completion: The recovered address matches your wallet address, and you can see your assets.
⚠️ Risk reminder: If you completely don't remember the passphrase, do not blindly try repeatedly. Most wallets do not limit the number of attempts, but wrong inputs will generate new addresses you cannot control and will not "unlock" the original wallet (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
Common causes of failure: A space in the passphrase that you forgot to add, or a capitalization error—these are the most common failure scenarios (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
3. Scenario B: You Have the Mnemonic Phrase and Remember the Complete Passphrase
This is the smoothest situation; just proceed directly.
Steps:
Download the corresponding wallet app (the same one used for creation or any wallet supporting BIP39 standard)
Select "Import Wallet" → "Mnemonic Phrase"
Enter the mnemonic words in order (all lowercase, separated by a single space)
Locate the Passphrase input field and enter the complete passphrase
Set a new wallet password (this is a local device password, not the passphrase)
After importing, verify the address
What counts as completion: Assets are visible, and transfer function is available.
Prerequisite: Ensure that the mnemonic words are spelled correctly and in exact order. The BIP39 wordlist has a fixed set of 2048 words; entering a word not in the list will prompt "invalid mnemonic" (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-07-12).
4. Scenario C: No Mnemonic Phrase, but You Have the Private Key of a Certain Address
The private key is the "key" to a single wallet address and can be imported directly, bypassing the mnemonic phrase—but it can only recover that corresponding address. Other chain addresses (e.g., assets on multiple chains) generated by the same mnemonic cannot be recovered via this private key (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-06-27).
Steps:
In the wallet app, select "Import Wallet" → "Private Key"
Paste or enter your private key (usually a 64-digit hexadecimal string starting with 0x)
Select the corresponding network (e.g., if the private key is for an Ethereum address, choose Ethereum)
After importing, check the assets on that address
What counts as completion: The assets on that address are recovered and can be transferred.
If the wallet has assets on multiple chains: You need to find the corresponding private key for each chain individually to recover them one by one. One private key only manages the address on one chain.
5. Scenario D: Both Mnemonic Phrase and Passphrase Are Lost
Direct conclusion: Assets cannot be recovered.
Decentralized wallets do not store any user mnemonic information (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-07-05). There is no customer service, no technical means that can help you "retrieve" or "crack" the mnemonic phrase (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-07-05).
⚠️ Risk reminder: If anyone claims they can crack your mnemonic phrase or recover your passphrase, it is definitely a scam. BIP39 mnemonics are generated from a 2048-word list; the combination space for 12 words is 2048¹², which cannot be brute-forced with current computing power (source: Binance Square, 2024-07-16). They will only deceive you and take your money.
6. Supplementary: "Partial Loss of Mnemonic Phrase"
If you remember most of the words but are missing only a few, there are some technical methods to attempt recovery. Theoretically, you can recover up to 4 missing words (source: Binance Square, 2024-07-16).
But this process requires significant computational resources, and no wallet official provides such a service. Even if you want to try, absolutely do not enter the mnemonic into any third-party website or online tool—these tools may steal your remaining mnemonic words (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-06-27).
Confirmation method: If you successfully recover the wallet, verify correctness with:
Check that the recovered wallet address matches the original address exactly
Initiate a small test transaction (e.g., 0.001 coin) to confirm the complete flow works
Handwrite the new mnemonic phrase (if you regenerated a wallet) in two copies and store them separately
Next step: After this incident is resolved, it is recommended to perform a complete cross-verification of the wallet immediately—when creating a wallet, record the address, then remove the wallet and re-import with the mnemonic phrase to check if the address matches. Only after confirming correctness should you transfer large amounts of assets (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-06-04).
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FAQ
Q: What is the difference between passphrase and wallet password?
The wallet password is only valid locally on your device; if forgotten, it can be reset using the mnemonic phrase. The passphrase participates in address generation—the same mnemonic with different passphrases equals different wallets. Forgetting the password is salvageable; forgetting the passphrase is not (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
Q: If my wallet does not support passphrase, can I still recover the hidden wallet?
Yes. You can recover the corresponding hidden wallet address by importing the private key, or switch to a wallet that supports passphrase (like TokenPocket, OneKey) and import using mnemonic phrase + passphrase (source: TokenPocket Help Center, 2026-07-26).
Q: Are there uppercase/lowercase requirements for mnemonic words?
No, BIP39 standard mnemonic words are all lowercase English words (source: imToken Help Center, 2026-07-12). If you enter capitals, the system will prompt "invalid mnemonic".
