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How to regain access if you forget your PIN

This guide shows you how to reset a forgotten PIN and get back into your vault. You can do this with either your passphrase or your recovery shares — no photos are lost either way.

Before you start

You’ll need one of these:

  • Your passphrase, or
  • Enough of your recovery shares to reach your recovery threshold (by default, any 3 of your 5 shares).

If you have neither, this reset can’t help you. Don’t keep guessing the PIN — see If you keep guessing below.

Open the reset

  1. On the PIN screen, enter a wrong PIN once if you haven’t already — this makes the Forgot PIN? option appear.
  2. Tap Forgot PIN?.
  3. Choose your method: Use My Passphrase or Use Recovery Shares.

Reset with your passphrase

  1. Tap Use My Passphrase.
  2. Enter your passphrase and continue.
  3. Go to Set a new PIN.

Reset with your recovery shares

  1. Tap Use Recovery Shares.
  2. For each share, set its share number, then type its words or tap to scan its QR code from your printout.
  3. Enter shares until you’ve reached your threshold (by default, 3 shares).
  4. Go to Set a new PIN.

Set a new PIN

  1. Enter a new PIN of 4 to 12 digits.
  2. Enter it again to confirm.

Your passphrase and your existing recovery shares don’t change — only the PIN does. When the reset finishes, unlock the vault with your new PIN.

If you keep guessing

Entering the wrong PIN repeatedly has consequences, so use the reset above instead of guessing:

  • After 5 wrong PINs, Fixative makes you wait longer and longer between attempts.
  • After 11 wrong PINs in total, Fixative erases the vault from this device to protect your photos.

If that happens, the photos aren’t gone everywhere — you can restore the vault from your recovery shares, or from another device you’ve already set up. Setting up your recovery shares before you ever need them is what makes this recoverable: see How to set up your recovery key.

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