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How to Recover Your Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase Wallet is one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets.

You can securely store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and more.

When you create a Coinbase Wallet account, you’ll be given a 12-word recovery phrase.

The phrase can be used to recover your wallet if you happen to lose access to it.

Hence, it’s important that you write down the 12-word recovery phrase and store it in a secure location.

The wallet also has an encrypted Google Drive and iCloud feature.

If you lost your recovery phrase, you can restore it using Google Drive or iCloud.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to recover your Coinbase Wallet, where is the recovery phase, what happens if you lose your recovery phrase, and more.

How to Recover Your Coinbase Wallet

To recover your Coinbase Wallet, you need to sign in with your 12-digit recovery phrase.

After you’ve entered your recovery phrase, your Coinbase Wallet will be restored.

If you forgot your recovery phrase, you can either use iCloud or Google Drive to recover it.

Unfortunately, if you didn’t back up your recovery phrase, you won’t be able to recover your Coinbase Wallet.

Coinbase will not be able to recover your recovery phrase for you as well because they do not have access to it.

Here’s how to recover your Coinbase Wallet:

1. Open the Coinbase Wallet app and tap on “I already have a wallet”

Restore your Coinbase Wallet

Firstly, you need to open the Coinbase Wallet app on your mobile device.

After you’ve opened the app, you’ll see a couple of options.

This includes “Create a new wallet” and “I already have a wallet”.

Since you’re looking to recover your Coinbase Wallet, tap on “I already have a wallet”.

2. Restore your Coinbase Wallet with Google Drive, iCloud, or your recovery phrase

How to recover your Coinbase Wallet without recovery phrase

After you’ve tapped on “I already have a wallet”, you’ll land on the “Restore Wallet” page.

On the page, you’ll see the “Restore with recovery phrase” option.

If you’ve backed up your recovery phrase using iCloud, you’ll also see the “Restore with iCloud” option.

On the other hand, if you’ve backed up your recovery phrase using Google Drive, you’ll see the “Restore with Google Drive” option.

You can use one of the options to recover your Coinbase Wallet.

In this guide, we’ll use the “Restore with recovery phrase” option instead.

Tap on “Restore with recovery phrase” to start recovering your Coinbase Wallet using your 12-digit recovery phrase.

3. Enter your 12-word recovery phrase

How to recover your Coinbase Wallet

After you’ve tapped on “Restore with recovery phrase”, you’ll land on the “Sign in with a recovery phrase” page.

Now, you need to enter your 12-word recovery phrase in the “Recovery phrase…” field.

Keep in mind that you need to know your recovery phrase to sign in.

You should have previously saved it in a secure location.

If you lost access to your recovery phrase, you won’t be able to recover your Coinbase Wallet.

Once you’ve entered your 12-word recovery phrase, tap on “Next” to recover your wallet.

4. Use Touch ID or set up a passcode

Touch ID Coinbase Wallet

After you’ve entered your 12-digit recovery phrase, you’ll land on the “Protect Your Wallet” page.

Now, you need to add an extra layer of security to keep your wallet safe.

Each time you sign in to your Coinbase Wallet after signing out, you need to go through this procedure again.

If you’re using an iOS device, there will be a couple of security options including “Use Touch ID” and “Set up Passcode”.

Since Touch ID is recommended, tap on “Use Touch ID”.

5. Back up your wallet

Back up your Coinbase Wallet

After you’ve tapped on “Use Touch ID”, you’ll land on the “Back up your Wallet” page.

The page states that you will be shown a secret recovery phrase on the next screen.

This is the same recovery phrase that you used to recover your Coinbase Wallet.

Tap on the checkbox to agree that you won’t be able to access your account if you lose your recovery phrase.

If you haven’t backed up your recovery phrase to iCloud or Google Drive, tap on “Back up now” to do so.

Otherwise, tap on “Later” to do it later.

6. You’ve successfully recovered your Coinbase Wallet

After you’ve tapped on “Later”, you’ll land on your Coinbase Wallet.

Now, the app will start scanning your cryptocurrencies.

Wait until the scan is completed to see all of your cryptocurrencies.

You’ve successfully recovered your Coinbase Wallet!

Where is the Coinbase Wallet recovery phrase?

Your Coinbase Wallet recovery phrase is located in your Coinbase Wallet settings.

Firstly, open the Coinbase Wallet app and tap on the gear icon.

Under “Security”, tap on “Recovery Phrase” and enter your passcode or use Touch ID.

After you’ve entered your passcode or used Touch ID, you’ll be able to see your 12-digit recovery phrase.

What if you lose your Coinbase recovery phrase?

If you lose your Coinbase recovery phrase, you won’t be able to recover your Coinbase Wallet.

Coinbase will not be able to recover your wallet for you as well because they don’t have access to your recovery phrase.

However, if you’ve backed up your recovery phrase using iCloud or Google Drive, you can still restore it.

To do so, open the Coinbase Wallet app, tap on “I already have a wallet”, and restore your wallet using iCloud or Google Drive.

What happens to your Coinbase Wallet if you lose your phone?

If you lose your phone, you can recover your Coinbase Wallet on another phone if you’ve saved your recovery phrase.

To do so, open the Coinbase Wallet app and tap on “I already have a wallet”.

Next, tap on “Restore with recovery phrase”.

Lastly, enter your 12-digit recovery phrase to recover your Coinbase Wallet!

Conclusion

Keep in mind that Coinbase will not have access to your recovery phrase.

Hence, if you lose it, Coinbase will not be able to recover it for you.

The only way that you can recover your wallet is to use Google Drive or iCloud.

That is if you’ve backed up your recovery phrase using them.

In other words, Coinbase Wallet is like having your own bank.

You’re responsible for the security of your own wallet.

If you’re unable to recover your Coinbase Wallet, you need to create a new account.

When you create a new account, make sure to write down your recovery phrase and store it in a secure location.

In addition, make sure that you back up your recovery phrase using Google Drive or iCloud.

This will prevent you from losing your funds.

Further reading

How to Connect Coinbase Wallet to Coinbase

How to Withdraw Money From Coinbase to Bank Account

Coinbase Quiz Answers (Dec 2021)

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About the author

Lim How Wei

Lim How Wei is the founder of followchain.org, with 8+ years of experience in Social Media Marketing and 4+ years of experience as an active investor in stocks and cryptocurrencies. He has researched, tested, and written thousands of articles ranging from social media platforms to messaging apps.

Lim has been quoted and referenced by major publications and media companies like WikiHow, Fast Company, HuffPost, Vice, New York Post, The Conversation, and many others. One of his articles about the gig economy was quoted by Joe Rogan who hosts The Joe Rogan Experience (arguably the most popular podcast in the world), in the This Past Weekend podcast by Theo Von.

In his free time, Lim plays multiple games like Genshin Impact, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Hearthstone, RuneScape, and many others. He creates guides, walkthroughs, solutions, and more on games that he plays to help other players with their progression.