Have you lost your Mycelium Wallet? Being a non-custodial platform, Mycelium puts you in charge of securing your wallet. It’s a big responsibility that involves everything from setting a PIN to managing your private keys. It will be up to you to restore your Mycelium Wallet if you lose access.
This isn’t as daunting as it sounds, though. Mycelium gives you the tools to back up and restore your wallet. There are also professionals you can turn to in case things don’t go as planned. Here is a detailed guide on how to restore your lost Mycelium wallet.
Mycelium Wallet Overview
Mycelium is available on Android and iOS. Designed for fast, on-the-go crypto management, the wallet empowers users to handle Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other ERC-20 tokens from the convenience of their phones. It generates and stores keys locally, so you’re in control of your assets.
You don’t have to download the full blockchain to use Mycelium. It connects to the project remote “super nodes” for fast network access, allowing for a lightweight application that is easy to install and use. This app can be found on the project’s website, the Play Store, and the Apple App Store.
Security
Mycelium is open-source and reproducible. This means that:
- Users are free to look at the app code and verify that it has no vulnerabilities between releases.
- Anyone can independently build the app from its source code and get the same binary (byte-for-byte) as the one distributed by the developers.
Being open source greatly contributes to the application’s security. But once downloaded, that becomes your responsibility. It begins with setting a PIN that will be used to prevent unauthorized spending by anyone else with access to your phone.
Under the hood, this PIN encrypts the wallet’s key database, making it necessary whenever you want to access or utilize assets in your accounts. You can also randomize the PIN keypad layout to make pattern sniffing harder.
Privacy
Privacy is a big focus of Myclium. For one thing, there is no Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure. The wallet doesn’t require you to provide any personal information, nor does it collect any during daily usage.
Mycelium also supports network-level privacy by allowing users to route their queries over Tor. You do this by connecting to Mycelium’s .onion gateway, which safeguards your privacy by hiding your real IP address.
Backup & Recovery
Like many non-custodial wallets, Mycelium’s primary backup is a BIP-39 seed phrase. The wallet gives you a series of 12 random words that can recreate all your accounts on a supported application. It is up to you to store this phrase securely until it is needed.
Note that not every Mycelium wallet uses a 12-word recovery phrase. In the past, Mycelium would allow users to create a Single Address Account. This is a wallet tied to a single fixed Bitcoin address with a corresponding private key.
Such accounts are not generated from a seed phrase like in HD wallets. Instead, they are based on a standalone private key and use a different backup technique: the Single-Address PDF backup.
Mycelium allowed users to create a printable, password-protected PDF that contained the public key, corresponding private key, an optional label or account name, and a QR code for easy import.
How to Restore Your Lost Mycelium Wallet
There are several ways you can lose your Mycelium Wallet.
- You lose your phone
- You accidentally delete the app
- You forget your PIN
In all these, you will lose access to your Mycelium Wallet and/or any assets it contains. This wouldn’t be a problem if Mycelium were a custodial wallet. Custodial platforms manage your keys and have procedures in place to help you recover a lost wallet using your email or phone number.
But being non-custodial, Mycelium doesn’t have anything like that. It places full custody, and therefore full responsibility for backup and recovery, on the user. This is why your wallet gives you a 12-word phrase when you are setting it up.
Using the Recovery Phrase to Recover Mycelium
If you’ve lost your Mycelium wallet, find your seed phrase and:
- Download and install Mycelium: Make sure you do it from the official app stores only (Play Store on Android, App Store on iOS)
- Select Restore from Backup: Launch the app. You’ll be presented with two options: create a new wallet or restore an existing one. We’re doing the latter, so select Restore from backup.
- Enter your Seed Phrase: Mycelium requires you to provide your seed phrase, which it will use to restore your accounts. Make sure to enter the 12 words in the correct order and spelled correctly.
- Access your assets: Tap Next to proceed. You should now have full access to your wallet and assets. You’re advised to set up a new PIN to safeguard the wallet from unauthorized access.
This is the best-case scenario. Often, people lose their Mycelium wallet, along with part or all of their seed phrase. This complicates recovery and comes with a significant risk of losing your assets.
Recovering Single-Address Accounts
Single-address Mycelium accounts have a PDF backup. This file contains the account’s public and private keys. To restore the account, you have to load the private keys into Mycelium, which then gives you access to any funds associated with the public address.
The process very much resembles using a paper wallet. What differs, however, is that the wallet isn’t automatically swept. Mycelium treats it like a normal account that you can send from and receive to multiple times.
If you don’t have this PDF, your assets are lost forever, even if you have the wallet’s seed phrase. This is because single-address accounts can only be recovered using the standalone private key on which they are based. Losing this key is effectively losing your wallet forever.
Mycelium Wallet Recovery Issues
1. Your seed phrase doesn’t bring up any accounts
Sometimes, users provide the correct, complete seed phrase only to be met with missing accounts. In this case, only one or none of your accounts is visible, leading to a wallet balance that is zero or less than what you expected.
This issue arises because Mycelium tends to restore the first HD account by default. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean that assets in your missing accounts are lost.
If you previously used a second or third account, its funds won’t appear unless the derivation path/account index is specifically restored. Mycelium doesn’t provide an option to do this so you’ll need a different wallet, like Electrum.
Try importing the seed phrase on Electrum. If your missing accounts aren’t displayed automatically, the wallet lets you manually iterate through account indexes to detect secondary HD accounts.
2. You have an invalid seed phrase
If you have the complete 12-word recovery phrase but Mycelium keeps rejecting it, the phrase is invalid. This results from providing words in the wrong order or including the wrong words.
Even one wrong word or one word in the wrong place is enough to render your recovery phrase invalid. You’ll want to go over your seed phrase and check for any spelling errors.
You can also try recovery tools like Ian Coleman’s BIP39 and BTCRecover if you suspect misarranged words. These require an airgapped computer to eliminate the risk of your private keys leaking.
3. You don’t have the seed phrase and have forgotten your PIN
If you forget your PIN, you’ll be unable to access your Mycelium accounts. If you have your seed phrase, solving this is easy. Just restore your wallet and set a new PIN. But if you don’t, you’ll have to recover your PIN.
- Try remembering your PIN. What inspired it? Is it your birthday, graduation date, or some other important event?
- Write down all possible PIN ideas and try them one by one.
If the app cannot be accessed, you’ll have to recover your seed phrase to save your funds.
4. You have an incomplete or no seed phrase at all
Losing part or all of your seed phrase isn’t a big deal if you can still access your Mycelium application. In this case, all you need to do is open the app, create a new HD account, record the new seed, and transfer your funds there.
But what if you’ve also lost access to the app?
Your only hope lies in recovering the seed phrase. This is easier said than done. And while there are some tools you can find on the internet to aid you, it’s a process that’s best left to the experts. Therefore, you’re going to need professional crypto recovery services.
Professional Mycelium Wallet Recovery
Mycelium warns that losing your seed phrase means losing assets forever. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Depending on your situation, recovery is possible with expert help.
Professional Crypto Recovery has an excellent track record in recovering crypto wallets. For years, we have been helping crypto owners recover lost wallets and access their assets. Our services are quick, effective, and affordable.
If you’ve lost your Mycelium wallet, our resident crypto recovery expert will work with you to give you the best chances of recovering your assets. Contact us today to schedule a call and start your recovery.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I recover my Mycelium Wallet?
You can recover your lost Mycelium wallet using your seed phrase. Mycelium gives users a 12-word phrase that backs up a wallet’s accounts and addresses, allowing you to restore them in case you lose access.
I have lost my Mycelium seed phrase. What do I do?
Your Mycelium seed phrase backs up your wallet. If you’ve lost it but can still access your wallet, transfer your assets to another wallet. If you are unable to access your wallet, recovery is impossible.
How much does professional Mycelium Wallet recovery cost?
That depends on how much can be recovered. Professional Crypto Recovery doesn’t charge you upfront. We charge a percentage of the amount in the wallet, and this fee is only applied after a successful recovery.