Recovery & sign-in
The hardest part of a no-seed-phrase wallet is recovery: if there’s no twelve words, how do you get back in on a new phone? Here’s exactly how Vela handles it.
How it works
When you create a wallet, two things are published to Vela’s passkey index:
- Your passkey’s public key (never the private key).
- The name you chose for the wallet.
The public key is stored on the Gnosis blockchain via a smart contract, so it’s publicly readable and not dependent on Vela’s servers staying up.
Your private key, meanwhile, is a passkey synced by your platform keychain — iCloud Keychain on Apple devices, Google Password Manager on Android.
To sign in on a new device:
- Sign in to the same iCloud or Google account, with keychain sync enabled.
- Open Vela and choose to sign in.
- Authenticate with your passkey. Your platform provides the synced passkey; the index provides the matching account. Your wallet is back.
The honest limits
Self-custody means the responsibility is real. Here’s what to understand.
Practical guidance:
- Keep keychain sync on. It’s what carries your passkey between devices.
- Secure your Apple / Google account with a strong password and its own recovery methods. That account is now part of your wallet’s safety.
- Have more than one device signed in where you can, so a single lost phone is an inconvenience, not a crisis.
What Vela can and cannot do
- Can: help you find your account again via the public index.
- Cannot: move your funds, freeze your wallet, or recover a private key. Vela never holds it. That’s the whole point of self-custody — and the trade you’re making for it.