Your Recovery Phrase
When you create your identity, DNA Connect gives you a Recovery Phrase: 24 ordinary words, in a specific order. Those words are the master key to everything — your identity, your messages, and your wallet.
Why it exists
Most apps keep your account on a company server, so the company can reset your password if you forget it. DNA Connect works differently: your account lives with you, not on someone's server. That is great for privacy — but it means there is no "Forgot password?" button and no support desk that can restore your account. The Recovery Phrase is the one and only backup.
The golden rules
- Write it on paper. Copy the 24 words in order, by hand. Paper cannot be hacked.
- Store it somewhere safe. A drawer at home, a safe, or with other important documents. Consider keeping a second copy in a different place.
- Never share it. Not with friends, not with "support staff", not with anyone. No one from CPUNK will ever ask for your Recovery Phrase — anyone who does is trying to rob you.
- Never type it into websites or other apps. The only place your phrase belongs is the official DNA Connect app, when restoring your account.
Anyone who has your 24 words has your account — they can read your messages, use your name, and spend what is in your wallet. And if you lose both your device and your phrase, your account cannot be recovered by anyone, including us.
It protects your money, too
The same 24 words also back your wallet — DNAC and the addresses derived for other blockchains. Restoring the phrase on a new device restores your funds along with your identity. That makes the phrase worth exactly as much as everything in your wallet: treat it like cash.
Viewing your phrase later
Didn't write it down when you created your account? You can still see it: open Settings in DNA Connect and choose Export Seed Phrase. Do it now, while you still have your device — and put the paper somewhere safe.
Restoring your account
On a new device, install DNA Connect from cpunk.io, choose the restore option, and enter your 24 words in order. Your identity and name come back, your contacts sync from the network, and the app checks for an encrypted message backup — you'll have one if you turned backup on in Settings on your old device.