How do I recover my badges?

Your Nostr identity is the key your PeerBadge badges are tied to. If you change devices, reinstall the Fedi app, or reset PeerBadge, you can get your badges back by recovering your Nostr identity. 

How you recover your Nostr identity & associated badges depends on how you backed them up initially: with your Fedi account, with a PeerBadge recovery phrase, or with a Nostr private key (nsec).

To start, open the PeerBadge mini app in your Fedi app and tap I already use PeerBadge – restore it. If you don't have the mini app yet, you can add it by following the steps in What is the PeerBadge app?

With Your Fedi Backup

Use this if you chose Continue with Fedi when you initially set up PeerBadge. If you're on a new device, recover your Fedi account first, as this option uses your Fedi account's personal backup phrase.

1. Tap Restore with Fedi.

2. Fedi asks if you want to share a private key with PeerBadge. Tap Approve. If you have set a PIN in Fedi, you will be asked to enter it first.

   

3. PeerBadge restores your identity & associated badges and takes you to its main screen.

With Your Recovery Phrase

Use this if you chose Create a recovery phrase instead when you set up PeerBadge.

1. Under Recovery phrase, type your 12 words in order, with a space between each one.

2. Tap Restore with phrase.

   

3. PeerBadge restores your identity & associated badges and takes you to its main screen.

Note that if you restore with a phrase inside the Fedi app, PeerBadge offers the Use Fedi recovery option so you have one less recovery phrase to keep. 

If you saved a 32-character code from an older version of PeerBadge, tap Have a 32-character code from an older version? on the same screen and enter it there instead.

With a Nostr Private Key (nsec)

If you imported a Nostr key into PeerBadge, such as the key linked to your Fedi chat profile, you usually don't need it to recover. Imported identities are part of your PeerBadge backup, so restoring with your Fedi backup or recovery phrase brings them back along with their badges.

Use your nsec on its own only if you don't have either of these backups. Keep in mind that an nsec alone brings back the identity but not its badges. If you had previously used the identity to sign badges for others, those will stop being successfully verified as PeerBadge gives the identity a new signing key.

To recover an identity with your nsec, set up or restore PeerBadge first using one of the options above. Then:

1. Tap the identity menu next to your active identity > Import an identity.

   

2. Give it a Private label so you can recognize it, paste your key into Nostr private key (nsec) or recovery phrase, and tap Import identity.

If it's your Fedi chat key, you can copy it in the Fedi app from Settings > Nostr Details > the Copy icon next to Nostr Secret Key.

To get the identity's badges and signing key back too, you need the backup file you saved with Export all data. Tap the identity menu > Import backup file and choose that file.

Keep in mind that your nsec gives full control of that identity, so never share it. The backup file isn't encrypted, so store it as safely as your nsec.

Checking Your Recovery

To confirm your recovery worked, tap the Gear icon at the top right. Under App recovery and backup, PeerBadge shows that it recovered from a relay backup, and from then on your changes are backed up automatically.

Note that PeerBadge is meant to be used on one device at a time. If you used the same backup on two devices, PeerBadge may say that different device histories are backed up. Nothing is lost, but the next time you restore, PeerBadge asks you to choose a backup – pick the most recent one with the most badges.