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Your recovery seed phrase is the master key to your entire wallet. If your Trezor is lost, stolen, or damaged, your seed phrase is the only thing that can restore access to your funds — on a new device or any compatible wallet application. No Trezor employee, no support team, and no recovery service can help you access your funds without it. Treat your seed phrase with the same care you would give to a physical asset worth everything stored in your wallet.

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Writing Down Your Seed

Your Trezor displays your seed phrase word by word on its screen during the wallet creation process. Follow these steps carefully to record it accurately.
  1. Use the recovery seed card included in your Trezor box. It is sized and formatted specifically for this purpose.
  2. Write each word clearly and legibly using a pen with permanent ink. Avoid pencil — it fades and smudges over time.
  3. Record words in the exact order shown. Seed phrases are order-sensitive. A single word out of place means the seed will not restore your wallet.
  4. Double-check every word against the device screen before moving on. Trezor Suite will quiz you on a few random words at the end — this catches transcription errors before you rely on the backup.
  5. Do not abbreviate or paraphrase. Write the complete word exactly as displayed, paying close attention to similar-looking words in the BIP-39 word list (for example, “act” vs. “acid”).
Once written, confirm the card is complete and readable, then store it immediately — do not leave it sitting on a desk.

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Where to Store Your Backup

The goal is to protect your seed from three threats: theft, physical destruction, and accidental discovery. A single backup in a single location addresses none of these adequately on its own.
  • Fireproof and waterproof safe — a home or office safe rated for document protection is a strong first layer. Ensure only you have the combination.
  • Metal backup plate — products like Trezor Keep Metal or Cryptotag Zeus protect against fire, flood, and physical wear that would destroy paper over time. This is the most durable long-term storage option.
  • Second secure location — consider keeping a second copy in a separate physical location, such as a bank safe deposit box or a trusted secure facility, to protect against localized disasters.
Avoid storing your seed anywhere that other people have regular, unsupervised access.
Never photograph, type, scan, email, or store your seed phrase in any digital form. This includes notes apps, cloud storage, password managers, messaging apps, and text files. Any digital copy of your seed phrase is a potential attack surface. Anyone who obtains your seed phrase — by any means — has complete and irrevocable access to every fund in your wallet.

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Shamir Backup

For users with advanced security requirements, Trezor Model T supports Shamir Backup, a scheme that splits your seed into multiple independent shares. You define the total number of shares created and the minimum number required to recover the wallet. For example, in a 2-of-3 scheme, you create three shares and store each in a different location. Any two of the three shares are sufficient to restore your wallet — meaning you can lose one share entirely without losing access to your funds. A thief would need to obtain two separate shares to compromise your wallet. Shamir Backup significantly reduces single-point-of-failure risk, but it requires storing multiple physical backups securely. Review the wallet creation guide for instructions on selecting Shamir Backup during setup.
Before you send any funds to your new wallet, use the dry-run recovery check in Trezor Suite to verify that your written seed phrase is correct. Go to Settings → Device → Check backup and follow the prompts. This test never exposes your seed to software — it only confirms the words you enter match what is stored on the device.

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you lose your seed phrase and your Trezor device is also lost, damaged, or reset, your funds are permanently unrecoverable. There is no central authority, no account recovery process, and no support ticket that can restore access without the seed. This is why creating a durable, secure backup before funding your wallet is non-negotiable.If you still have your Trezor device but have lost the seed backup, your funds remain accessible as long as the device is functional and you know your PIN. In this situation, transfer your funds to a new wallet immediately, generate a fresh seed phrase, and store the new backup securely.
No. Your seed phrase is generated once at wallet creation and is permanently tied to that set of accounts. It cannot be changed, rotated, or updated on the same wallet.If you want a new seed phrase, you must create a brand new wallet — which generates a completely fresh set of keys. Before doing so, transfer all funds from the old wallet to the new one, and store the new seed phrase securely. The old seed phrase will continue to control the old accounts for as long as funds remain there.
Your seed phrase is either 12 words or 24 words, depending on the backup type you selected during wallet creation. Both lengths are supported by the BIP-39 standard and provide strong cryptographic security — 24 words offers a larger entropy pool.If you used a Standard Backup, Trezor Suite gives you the option to choose between 12 and 24 words. If you used Shamir Backup, each individual share consists of 20 words. Check the recovery seed card you wrote on during setup to confirm the length of your specific backup.