If you have access to your Argent wallet, you are able to prepare and perform the offchain recovery without involving your guardians or paying network fees. If you do not have your latest Encrypted Recovery Kit saved, you will be prompted to save it.
IMPORTANT!
Argent zkSync Era wallet has no onchain recovery option available as of now, which means the only way to recover them is with the Encrypted Recovery Kit (offchain). If you do not save the Kit, you will lose access to your Era wallet.
When you see “Please secure your account” popup:
iOS
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Ensure that your device has iCloud Drive set up. You can check the status by visiting device Settings → [your name]. For further support, please see this article from Apple.
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Ensure that you have given permission to the Argent app to communicate with your iCloud. To do this, please go to device "Settings" > "iCloud" > "Apps using iCloud" and enable Argent app. For further information, please see this article from Apple.
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If you have tried all of the above but cannot proceed successfully, please contact support@argent.xyz
Android
- In order to create and interact with your Encrypted Recovery Kit, your device needs to support Google Services. You need to be logged in to a Google account on your phone and have Google Drive support. Note that certain Android devices (Huawei, Redmi, Xiaomi) do not have Google Drive support. If this the case, you have no way to update your Encrypted Recovery Kit and create a valid Starknet account on Argent. We’re currently working on adding a wider support for these devices.
- If you wish to create an Encrypted Recover Kit, please ensure that the Google account you select is the correct one. If have previously backed up your Encrypted Recovery Kit, you must select the same Google account that you used before.
- If the above do not work, try re-linking your Google account with the Argent app and retry. You can re-link your account in the Google Account portal (reference). Please remove access for Argent app, and then revisit the above 2 steps (select the correct Google account in the Argent app & agree to Drive access permissions) to link back your account with the Argent app again.
- If you have tried all of the above but cannot proceed successfully, please contact support@argent.xyz
- You may learn about how the recovery mechanism works here.
How to secure your recovery data?
1. On your Argent home page, tap Settings button.
3. Go to Wallet recovery.
4. Under Recovery with iCloud (iOS) or Recovery with Google Drive (Android) you can see option to Enable this recovery.
5. Tap Enable. On Android you will also be presented with Google drive accounts on device that you can choose from. Then you will be prompted to allow access to your cloud account. Argent only asks for the permission to store the specific file, this does not grant Argent app full access to your Google or Apple data.
6. Allow the app a couple minutes to save the Encrypted Recovery Kit.
What is being saved and how?
The offchain recovery process uses encryption and cloud storage to ensure that your private keys are protected. It works as follows.
When you enable ‘Recovery with iCloud / Google Drive’, the Argent app generates a random “key-encryption-key” (KEK) that is unique to you. (A KEK is a cryptographic key that is used for the encryption or decryption of other keys).
Your KEK will encrypt your private keys (plural because it applies to both Layer 1 and Layer 2 private keys, even if you only have one type of wallet).
The Encrypted Recovery Kit is then stored in your iCloud / Google Drive under your control. Your KEK, meanwhile, is sent to Argent (meaning the company’s infrastructure, not the app).
This split gives you added protection. If anyone gets access to your iCloud or Google Drive, they can’t decrypt your Encrypted Recovery Kit without the KEK that Argent has. And if a malicious actor gets access to our infrastructure, they won’t be able to access your wallet as they won’t have your Encrypted Recovery Kit.
When you need to recover your wallet, the first thing that will happen is that the Argent app will try to detect your Encrypted Recovery Kit stored on iCloud / Google Drive. If it is detected, two-factor authentication is used to verify that you’re the legitimate wallet owner.
Once this is complete, a 48 hour recovery window starts. This is an additional security layer that gives you time to cancel it if you wish via your Argent security centre (security.argent.xyz).
After 48 hours, your KEK is securely transferred to your device, which will decrypt and recover your private keys. This gives you back access to your wallet.
At no point will Argent have access to your funds or your private keys, and we will never ask for them.
Important notes
Upon the offchain recovery Argent app will look into Drive or iCloud storage for specific file in a specific folder. Please do not delete, edit or rename the folder or file in it.
If you have deleted/edited/renamed the folder or file, you will see the message under the recovery option saying Encrypted Recovery Kit not found.
As long as you have access to your wallet, you can re-download the Encrypted Recovery Kit.
If you don't have access to your wallet and your Encrypted Recovery Kit was modified, you will have to recover your wallet with guardians.
What does 'Encrypted Recovery Kit not found' mean?
It means that:
1. Folder or file saved to your cloud storage has been modified, moved or deleted.
2. After saving the Encrypted Recovery Kit you have since recovered your wallet with guardians, where private key changes for the wallet.
In such case, please proceed with the recovery with guardians instead.