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Making a Backup

Step by step

  1. Tap the logo at the top left and choose Backup (or, on the Info page, Back Up Accounts).
  2. Face ID or Touch ID asks to confirm. This is the one moment the app reads all your setup keys, and it happens on your phone only.
  3. Save Your Recovery Key. The screen shows a key of 30 letters and digits in six groups. Save it now, before anything else:
    • Copy puts it on the clipboard for two minutes, so you can switch to a password manager and paste it. (On a Mac signed into the same Apple ID and nearby, Universal Clipboard lets you paste it there too.)
    • Share Key offers the iOS share sheet, for a password manager's extension, Notes, AirDrop, Mail, Messages or printing.
    • Or write it down. It only uses letters and digits that can't be confused with each other, so your handwriting is safe.
  4. Turn on the two switches to confirm you have saved the key and understand that it can't be recovered, then tap Continue.
  5. Creating Backup takes a few seconds. The app also checks every image it makes by reading it back and restoring it, so a backup you can't restore can't happen.
  6. Save Your Backup. Tap Save to Photos, Save to Files, or both. The first time you save to Photos, iOS asks whether the app may add photos; that is the only Photos access the app ever has. Save to Files opens the folder picker; choose a folder and tap Move.
  7. Tap Done.

[Screenshot: the Save Your Recovery Key screen with the key in six groups, the Copy and Share Key buttons and the two switches]

The images are named like PrivAuth Backup 2026-09-26 (1 of 2).png. Each holds up to 20 accounts, so most people get one or two.

Good to know

  • You can leave the app in the middle. Switching to a password manager to paste the key doesn't cancel the backup; it's still on the same screen when you come back (after Face ID, if the launch lock is on). If iOS closes the app in the meantime, which can happen after a long time away, the backup is discarded. Start again and save the new key instead of the old one.
  • New Key makes a fresh key if you think the first one was seen by someone, or you copied it somewhere you shouldn't have. The old key then unlocks nothing.
  • Don't screenshot the key. A screenshot lands in Photos, where the backup images may also be. The app warns you if you do. If you're recording or mirroring your screen, the key is hidden until you stop.
  • Some accounts can be left out. An account whose code settings the app can't handle, or whose name or description is very long, is listed on the first screen as one that will be skipped. Everything else is backed up.
  • Done without saving asks whether you really want to close and discard the images.

Checking it worked

Nothing beats a rehearsal. On the same phone, go to Import → Recovery Backup, pick the images you just saved, and enter the key. When the review screen lists all your accounts, tap Cancel: you've proved the backup and the key are good without changing anything. See Restoring a Backup.

Continue to Your Recovery Key.