When the browser is gone but your money is not
It usually happens without warning. A laptop dies overnight. A work machine is wiped and reimaged by IT. You switch to a new computer and the old browser profile — extensions, settings, saved logins — does not come along. For most browser-extension wallets, that moment starts a stressful evening: dig out the seed phrase, find a quiet room, and retype twelve or twenty-four words while hoping nobody is looking over your shoulder.
SSP is built so that this moment is far less dramatic. Your SSP wallet is a 2-of-2 setup: one key lives in the browser extension, the other lives in SSP Key on your phone. Losing the browser means losing one of two keys — not the wallet itself. Since SSP v1.38, the wallet-recovery feature lets your phone restore the browser side of the wallet directly, without you ever opening the drawer where the seed phrase lives.
This guide walks through that recovery, step by step, at an intermediate level. It also explains why the process is safe — because understanding the security model is what turns a tense evening into a routine ten-minute task. If you have not already, the companion article what you actually need to restore a wallet is worth reading first; it sets out the difference between keys, seeds, and metadata that the rest of this guide assumes.
What you need before you start
Recovery via SSP Key is deliberately lightweight. To restore your wallet on a new computer you need three things:
- Your phone with SSP Key installed and unlocked. This is the device that still holds a valid key. If SSP Key is on the same phone you have used all along, you are ready.
- A fresh install of the SSP browser extension on the new computer or new browser profile. Install it the same way you did originally — from the official extension store for your browser.
- A few minutes in a place where you can scan a QR code. The phone and the computer need to be near each other.
Notice what is not on this list: your BIP39 seed phrase. You do not need to find it, type it, or expose it for this scenario. The seed is your last-resort backup for the worst case — both devices lost — and that scenario is covered separately in the series. Here, the phone is intact, so the phone does the work.
Step 1: Install SSP on the new computer
Open the official extension store for your browser and install the SSP Wallet extension. When it launches for the first time it offers two paths: create a new wallet, or restore an existing one. Choose restore.
If you have never set up SSP from scratch, the walkthrough in setting up your first SSP wallet shows the create flow; recovery follows the same screens in reverse.
Step 2: Start the recovery on your phone
Open SSP Key on your phone and unlock it with your usual PIN or biometric. SSP Key still holds its half of the wallet — nothing was lost on the phone side — so it can act as the anchor for restoring the browser.
In SSP Key, choose the wallet-recovery option. The phone will generate a recovery handshake: a short-lived, encrypted exchange that re-establishes the pairing between the two keys. This is the v1.38 feature doing its job — instead of reconstructing the wallet from a written seed, it reconnects the two halves of a wallet that was never fully broken.
Step 3: Pair the new browser with your phone
Back on the new computer, the SSP extension shows a QR code (or asks you to scan one). Point your phone's SSP Key at it. The two devices exchange the recovery handshake: the browser receives what it needs to rebuild its key, and the phone confirms that the request came from a device you are physically holding.
Because the pairing is confirmed on the phone, an attacker cannot complete this step remotely. They would need your unlocked phone in hand — not just your old laptop, and not just a screenshot.
Step 4: Confirm and verify
Once pairing completes, the extension finishes rebuilding the browser key and reloads your wallet. Your addresses, balances, and transaction history reappear. Two checks before you call it done:
- Confirm your receiving addresses match. Compare a receiving address on the restored extension against one you know — a past invoice, a contact's saved copy, or the address shown in SSP Key. They must be identical.
- Send a test transaction. Move a small amount and approve it on both devices. A successful 2-of-2 signature is the definitive proof that recovery worked: both keys are present and cooperating again.
Why this is safe: the 2-of-2 is re-established, not bypassed
This is the part worth slowing down for, because it is the difference between SSP recovery and a shortcut that quietly weakens your security.
Recovery via SSP Key does not bypass the 2-of-2. It re-establishes it. Before recovery, you had two keys and lost access to one. After recovery, you again have two keys, each on its own device, and a transaction still requires both to sign. The security model is unchanged — you have simply rebuilt the half that went missing.
This is why losing only your laptop is not a financial emergency. Consider what a thief who steals your old computer actually has: a browser key, and only one. To move funds they would also need SSP Key on your phone, unlocked. One stolen device in a 2-of-2 wallet is a locked door with one of two locks picked — the money does not move. (The companion guide on what you actually need to restore a wallet walks through this key-vs-seed distinction in more depth.)
It is also why the recovery handshake is confirmed on the phone and not on the computer. The phone is the device you still trust and still control. Requiring its explicit approval means recovery can only be driven by someone holding your unlocked phone — which is the same bar required to spend in the first place. Recovery is not a weaker side door; it sits behind the same lock as everyday signing.
Industry security guidance has long held that the strength of multi-key custody is precisely this: no single lost or stolen device should be able to move funds on its own. The principle is documented in established multisignature and key-management literature, including the public BIP67 multisignature specification. SSP's recovery flow is that principle applied to the day a device goes missing.
When to reach for the seed phrase instead
SSP Key recovery covers the common case — a lost or wiped browser while the phone survives. It does not cover every case, and it is honest to say so.
If your phone is also gone, or SSP Key itself was uninstalled or its data cleared, the phone can no longer anchor the recovery. That is the genuine worst case, and it is exactly what your BIP39 seed phrase backup exists for: a full restore from the mnemonic. That scenario gets its own walkthrough later in this series. The takeaway for now: SSP Key recovery is the easy path, but it does not replace backing up your seed.
For background on how the v1.38 wallet-recovery feature was designed, see the newsroom write-up: wallet recovery via SSP Key — no more seed out of the drawer.
A calm checklist for the moment it happens
If you are reading this because your browser is already gone, here is the short version:
- Find your phone and confirm SSP Key opens and unlocks.
- Install the SSP extension on the new computer.
- Choose restore, not create.
- Start wallet recovery in SSP Key and scan the QR code.
- Confirm an address you recognize, then send a small test transaction.
Your funds were never at risk during any of this. The blockchain holds the coins; your two keys hold the authority to move them; and one of those keys was always safe on your phone. Losing the browser was losing a tool, not losing the wallet — and now you have the tool back.
