Where to Store a Seed Phrase: Paper, Metal and What Never to Do

Where to store a seed phrase comes down to one routine: write the words by hand on paper, check the copy, and keep it offline. This routine keeps the words out of photos, files and cloud notes. Anyone who steals them can use them on another device, even while you still hold your own copy.

What you need before you start

• Your wallet open on its backup screen, or the phrase you already wrote down. If you have no wallet yet, see setting up a Bitcoin wallet app. If you are unsure what the words are, read what a seed phrase is.
• Pen and paper.
• A private place where nobody can see you write.
• Optional: a metal backup kit, a plate or capsule you record the words in.
• Whether your wallet uses a passphrase, an extra secret on top of the words (see the passphrase section).

Seed phrase storage options compared: paper, metal, password manager, photo

As of October 2026, this is what each maker says about each place you could keep the words:

On storing a seed phrase in a password manager, MetaMask and Trezor say no, while Trust Wallet allows only an encrypted copy. A written copy avoids the question.

Trezor says digital media is easier to access than physical media, and copies can be made without the owner noticing. It also counts encrypted folders as digital copies.

Some apps add their own option. Trust Wallet says it offers an optional Encrypted Cloud Backup, which is different from a photo or a note typed into a cloud app.

A metal copy follows the same rules as paper: offline, no photo, never typed anywhere except your wallet's own screen.

How to store your seed phrase step by step

1. Write the words by hand in a private place

   Number the words and write them in the order your wallet shows them. Copy the exact count your wallet shows.

   Trezor says (opens in a new tab) to run the backup alone, because there might be a camera or a microphone on your computer or phone. If the screen showing the words can be seen by others, stop and move first.

2. Check the copy against the wallet

   If your wallet has a backup check, pass it using your paper copy. For a device, see how to run your device's recovery check. Without one, compare the paper with the screen word by word, spelling and order.

   If one word differs, correct your copy while the wallet still shows the words, then compare again.

3. Make a metal copy if you want one

   A seed phrase metal plate is optional. Trezor's metal guide (opens in a new tab) records only the first four letters of each word and says the English BIP39 wordlist (the common 12 or 24 word backup format) and the SLIP39 wordlist (a format that lets you split a backup into shares) were built so that four letters identify a word with no ambiguity. If your wallet uses another format, follow its maker's guidance before you shorten any word.

   Check each recorded word before the marks become permanent. Trezor has you run the device's backup check from the marked letters, not from the paper card, because punching cannot be undone.

4. Put the copies in two separate places

   Trust Wallet advises (opens in a new tab) at least two written copies in different safe places, and gives a fireproof safe at home and a bank deposit box as examples. Choose with the trade-offs in where to keep your recovery phrase. Before you leave, check that you can name both places and reach each one.

5. Remove every other copy

   Delete any photo, screenshot or note of the words you already made, and destroy any draft or scrap paper. If a photo or note ever reached a cloud account or another device, deleting it may not remove every copy. Treat the phrase as possibly seen, and follow the risks. The same goes if someone else may have seen a copy.

Example: a made-up backup plan and its gap

This plan is invented, and no real wallet or amount is involved.

• You have a 12-word phrase and a passphrase.
• The paper copy sits in a desk drawer and the metal copy on a shelf in the same room.
• The passphrase is written on the same sheet as the words.
• One fire takes both copies. One burglar who finds the sheet gets the words and the passphrase, so the passphrase protects nothing.

The fixed plan moves the metal copy to a second place away from the house. It also puts the passphrase on its own paper, apart from both copies of the words.

A plan holds up if one bad day, such as a fire or a theft, still leaves you a copy to restore from and leaves a thief without the words. Your own copies and places will differ.

Where to keep your recovery phrase: home, bank box or a person

MetaMask says (opens in a new tab) to keep the phrase in a secure, physical location that only you have access to and that you will not forget. Each place has a trade-off:

• At home: Trezor says (opens in a new tab) a hidden home safe is one of the only ways to control who has access, but a visible safe draws thieves, so keep it out of view of guests, housemates and cleaners.
• In a bank deposit box: Trust Wallet names it (opens in a new tab) as an example. Check your bank's terms for who can open the box and when.
• With a person you trust: whoever holds a copy can take the funds from another device. Trust Wallet says (opens in a new tab) that if you must, do it only physically written and handed over, and never digitally through email, messaging apps or screenshots. Trezor's metal guide (opens in a new tab) says to keep a backup where only you, or people you trust completely, can reach it.

If nobody else knows where a copy is, your family may never find it. See a crypto inheritance plan for who can reach a copy later.

What to never do with a seed phrase

Three habits to avoid:

• Keep the words with the hardware wallet. Trezor says the backup's physical security matters even more than the device's, and its metal guide (opens in a new tab) says to keep them in different places so one theft or fire does not take both.
• Write the passphrase next to the words. Trezor recommends (opens in a new tab) keeping it apart from the backup and the device.
• Cut the phrase into halves. Trezor says (opens in a new tab) splitting a BIP39 backup by hand, with the first 12 words in one place and the last 12 in another, does not offer the same protection, because each half narrows an attacker's search.

Passphrase and Shamir backup: extra layers, extra lockout risk

The BIP39 standard (opens in a new tab) says every passphrase generates a valid wallet but only the correct one gives you yours, so a typo opens a different wallet.

Trezor says (opens in a new tab) funds secured by a passphrase cannot be recovered if you lose it. It also says not to keep any copy of the passphrase digitally, which includes a picture, a file or a password manager.

A Shamir backup (SLIP39) lets you split the backup into recovery shares, and the threshold is the minimum number of shares needed to recover the wallet. Trezor says that if you lose more shares than the threshold allows, access to your funds is permanently lost. As of October 2026, it lists the Safe 7, Safe 5, Safe 3 and Model T as supporting SLIP39. Check your wallet maker's help pages before you assume yours does.

Risks to understand

• Damage: Trezor says (opens in a new tab) sunlight, fire or water might damage a backup depending on its material, and has reports of backups lost when a house burned down, after hurricanes and when thrown out by accident.
• A lost copy: Trust Wallet says (opens in a new tab) it never stores your phrase, and if you lose it, your funds are permanently inaccessible. You could lose everything in the wallet.
• A copy someone has seen: a housemate, a guest or a helper may know your words. Trust Wallet says anyone who learns the phrase can access your funds, and to create a new wallet and transfer your assets right away. The steps, with the checks to run before you send anything, are in if someone may have seen it.
• A forgotten copy: write down where each copy is kept, never the words, and keep that note apart from the copies.

For the full wallet checklist, read how to store crypto safely next, and how to set up a hardware wallet if you are choosing a device.