# I have no device and no recovery phrase

Every signed-in device is gone and the 24 words are nowhere to be found. What is still worth trying, what a reset means, and how to ask us for one.

**The situation.** You can sign in, but every device that could unlock your account is lost, wiped or revoked, and you do not have your recovery phrase. This is the one situation Databeamer cannot talk you out of with a button: your keys exist only on your devices and in that phrase, and we never had a copy. That is what keeps your data private, and it is also why this page ends with a request to us rather than a fix.

**What you will use.** Your memory first, then [contact us](https://databeamer.eu/en/contact?topic=support).

## 1. Make sure it is really gone

Before asking for a reset, which destroys your personal data, rule out the places people usually find a way back:

- **A browser that is still unlocked.** Any laptop, phone or tablet where you ever opened Databeamer and chose **Stay unlocked on reload** or set up a passkey. Also check other browsers on the same computer, and a work computer. If one still opens Databeamer, go straight to **Settings › Security › Recovery phrase**, choose **Generate** or **Regenerate**, and save the phrase. Then add a second device: [Set up a second device](https://databeamer.eu/en/docs/account/set-up-a-second-device).
- **Where the phrase might be.** The **Download PDF** from setup in your downloads folder, a password manager entry, a note, a photo of the screen, a printout. The phrase is 24 English words. If you find it, sign in on any device, choose **Use your recovery phrase** on the **Unlock Your Account** screen and enter the words.
- **A pending device approval.** If you set up a new device recently and left the approval open, an old device that is still unlocked may still be able to approve it.

If any of these works, you are in. Create a new recovery phrase and store it somewhere that survives losing your devices.

## 2. Understand what a reset does

If nothing worked, the only way to use your account again is a **reset** of your keys, which only Databeamer can perform. It is drastic, and it is final:

- Your encryption keys are removed. **Everything in your personal Drive, your private contact notes and your personal transfers and requests becomes permanently unreadable**, to you and to everyone else. Nobody can undo this.
- Your login, email address and name stay. After the reset you go through setup again: a new PIN, new keys and a new recovery phrase.
- Your memberships of organisations and groups do not carry over by themselves. An administrator of each group has to add you again, after which that group's files, chat and journals are readable to you once more.
- If you were the only owner of a group or organisation, that has to be resolved first, so the reset may take a little longer.

## 3. Ask us for a reset

[Contact us](https://databeamer.eu/en/contact?topic=support) from the email address of your Databeamer account. Mention that you want a **key reset** and tell us:

- that you have no device that unlocks and no recovery phrase;
- the organisation you belong to, if any, and who your organisation administrator is;
- whether you are the only owner of any group or organisation.

If you are part of an organisation, inform your organisation administrator as well; they may need to request the reset on your behalf and will have to re-add you to your groups afterwards. We verify that the request really comes from you before anything happens.

## 4. Afterwards

Sign in, go through setup, and this time:

- save the recovery phrase in a password manager or print it and store it safely, not on the device you are setting up;
- add a second device right away, so one lost device is never an emergency again;
- ask your group administrators to add you back.

> **Security details**
> A reset removes the user's shares and public keys on the server; the old master key can no longer be rebuilt by anyone, so content encrypted for it is gone for good. The user then onboards with a fresh master key and key pairs, and group keys are wrapped to the new exchange key when an administrator re-adds them. The reset is recorded as a security event in the account's audit log.