How to restore a wallet in Cake Wallet
Tap Restore Wallet, choose Recovery Phrase or Keys, pick the coin, enter the words and, for Monero, select the matching seed type and a restore height or date. Cake Wallet can also restore from its own encrypted backup file, from a hardware wallet or Cupcake, and from view keys as a view-only wallet.
Quick steps
- Install and set a PIN. Install Cake Wallet from an official source and set a PIN. The PIN is new; it does not need to match the old device.
- Choose Restore Wallet. On a fresh install tap Restore Wallet; later you find it in the Wallets tab. Pick Recovery Phrase or Keys, Backup file, Hardware wallet or Cupcake App.
- Select the coin. Choose the coin the phrase belongs to, such as Monero or Bitcoin, and name the wallet.
- Enter the phrase or keys. Type or paste the words, or switch to the keys tab. For Monero, set the seed type to Polyseed (16 words), Legacy (25 words) or BIP39 (12 words).
- Set the restore point. For Monero and other scanning coins, enter the block height or use Restore from date and pick a date a few days before the wallet's first transaction.
- Restore and stay in the app. Tap Restore and keep the app open with the screen on until syncing finishes and the balance appears.
Restoring rebuilds a wallet from information you saved earlier. Your coins never lived on your phone: they are on the blockchain, and the phrase or keys let any compatible app find and spend them. That also means anyone else with your phrase can do the same, so restore only on a device you trust and only in a genuine copy of the app (check it with our download checker).
Restore options at a glance
Cake Wallet's docs list these restore methods, all under Restore Wallet (Cake Wallet docs, 2026):
| Method | Use it when | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery Phrase or Keys | You have the words, or private keys | The phrase or keys, the coin, and for Monero the seed type and ideally a restore height |
| Backup file | Moving all Cake wallets and settings to a new install | The cake_wallet_backup_ .zip file and its backup password |
| Hardware wallet | Your keys live on a Ledger, Trezor, BitBox or COLDCARD | The device; see Ledger and Trezor guide |
| Cupcake App | Your keys live in Cake's air-gapped signer on a second phone | The Cupcake phone; see Cupcake |
| QR code | Restoring a paper or cold wallet shown as a QR code | The QR code |
Restoring from a recovery phrase
Pick the coin first. Many coins offer two tabs, one for the phrase and one for keys. Some accept only a phrase.
Monero
Monero is where most restores go wrong, because the app must know which seed type you have. The selector offers Polyseed (16 words), Legacy (25 words) and BIP39 (12 words). The source code switches automatically for a valid Polyseed or 12-word phrase, but if you paste 25 words, check the selector says Legacy. A wrong type or a typo gives errors such as "Seed verification failed, please make sure you entered the correct seed with the correct words order" (25 words) or one mentioning ChecksumMismatchException (Polyseed), as quoted in Cake's docs.
Then set where scanning starts. Polyseed carries its own date. For other seeds enter the block height you saved, or use Restore from date; the app's own hint says to "enter a date a few days before you created this wallet". Too late a date hides older transactions; too early only means a longer sync. Our restore height guide and restore height tool help you choose.
Bitcoin and Litecoin
Enter a 12- or 24-word BIP39 phrase or an Electrum-style phrase. According to the source code, Cake Wallet checks several standard derivation paths when restoring a BIP39 Bitcoin seed, including native SegWit (BIP84), Taproot (BIP86), nested SegWit (BIP49) and legacy (BIP44), and if more than one has history it lets you choose. That is why seeds from many other Bitcoin wallets restore without extra settings. If you used a passphrase, enter it under advanced settings or you will open an empty wallet. After restoring, turn on Multiple Accounts if you used extra Bitcoin accounts so they are found again.
Ethereum, EVM chains and other coins
Most other coins use BIP39 phrases. One phrase can unlock the same address on Ethereum and other EVM chains, but each chain is its own wallet in the app. Tokens you held may need to be added again; see Ethereum and tokens.
Seeds from other wallet apps
| Coming from | What to enter in Cake Wallet |
|---|---|
| Monero GUI, CLI, Feather, Monerujo (25 words) | Monero, Legacy (25 words), plus restore height |
| Polyseed from Feather or another Polyseed wallet | Monero, Polyseed (16 words) |
| Exodus Monero | See migrating from Exodus |
| MyMonero (25 words) | See migrating from MyMonero |
| Electrum (Bitcoin) | Bitcoin, Electrum-style phrase |
| Most BIP39 Bitcoin, Litecoin or EVM wallets | The same coin, 12 or 24 words, plus any passphrase |
Seeds with an unusual word count, such as 13-word phrases from very old MyMonero wallets, are not among the Monero seed types the app offers, and in the current source code the Monero restore form does not accept them; ask Cake support through the app before trying anything else. Never paste a seed into a website that promises to convert it.
Restoring from keys and view-only wallets
For Monero you can restore with the primary address, the private view key and the private spend key. Leave the spend key empty to create a view-only wallet: it shows incoming transactions but cannot send. Cake's docs warn that a view-only Monero balance is not reliable, because some outgoing transactions do not appear. Sending from one fails with errors such as "rejected by daemon", which is expected.
For Bitcoin, watch-only wallets come from an extended public key or from a hardware wallet or Cupcake pairing. They can show balances and build transactions for an external signer, but features that need a private key, such as Payjoin, Lightning and message signing, are hidden (Cake Wallet release notes, 2026).
Restoring from a backup file
On a fresh install with no wallets, tap Restore Wallet, choose Backup file, enter the backup password, select the file and tap Import. Use the original .zip without unzipping it. Common errors from Cake's docs: FailedDecryption means the password is wrong (use the backup password, not your PIN), and "checksum mismatch" or BadChecksum means the file is damaged, so try a fresh copy. If it still fails, restore each wallet from its phrase.
After the restore
- Keep the app open until syncing finishes. An older Monero wallet can take a long time on the first sync.
- If the balance shows 0 after syncing, the restore point was probably too late. Use Rescan from an earlier date. See balance zero or missing.
- Transaction notes, saved recipient addresses and Monero transaction keys are stored only on the old device; a seed restore cannot bring them back.
Frequently asked questions
Can I restore my Cake Wallet on a new phone without the old one?
Yes, as long as you have the recovery phrase (and any passphrase) for each wallet. The old PIN and device are not needed.
Why does my restored Monero wallet show a zero balance?
Usually the restore height or date was after your first transaction, or syncing has not finished. Let it sync, then rescan from about a week before your first deposit.
Can I restore a 25-word Monero GUI seed in Cake Wallet?
Yes. Choose Monero, switch the seed type to Legacy (25 words) and enter the restore height if you have it.
Does restoring a wallet on two devices cause problems?
Both devices control the same funds. That works, but each device keeps its own notes and history cache, so they can look different. Treat both as equally sensitive.
Can I restore a wallet without the recovery phrase?
Only with private keys, a Cake backup file and its password, or a hardware wallet that holds the keys. Nobody, including Cake, can restore a wallet otherwise.