App unlock & recovery keys

Unlocking the app

Selv's optional app password controls access to the app. Setup offers it near the end, using a native password form on macOS. You can also add one later in Settings › Account. If you explicitly continue without a password, stored memories remain encrypted with macOS-protected keys, but anyone using your unlocked Mac can open Selv. Touch ID can also unlock it when enabled and available. These unlock methods are separate from the passphrase used to protect an exported recovery file.

If you cannot unlock Selv, use Touch ID if the app offers it, or contact support@selv.io before resetting or erasing anything. Forgetting an app password does not, by itself, establish that the local encryption keys or captured data have been lost.

Exporting a recovery key

Open Settings › Account › Recovery and choose Export recovery key. Selv asks you to choose and confirm an export passphrase, then creates an encrypted recovery file containing the available keys that protect your local data.

Keep that passphrase in a password manager and store the recovery file separately from the Mac. The passphrase protects this file; changing an app password does not replace it or unlock an existing export.

A recovery file is not a data backup. It needs to be kept alongside a separate backup of the data you want to recover. See Backups & moving to a new Mac.

If you lose the export passphrase

The original passphrase is needed to open that encrypted recovery file. Support cannot recover it or reset the passphrase on an existing export.

If the original Mac still has the working keys and you can open Selv, you may be able to make a new recovery export with a new passphrase. That does not change the passphrase on older recovery files. If the original keys are gone as well, an unreadable recovery file may leave the encrypted data unrecoverable.

Importing a recovery key

Settings › Account › Recovery › Import recovery key opens the import flow. It fills in missing keys without overwriting different keys already on the Mac; conflicts are reported. Importing keys does not itself restore your captured data.

Contact support before a migration if you are unsure which backup and recovery file belong together. Never send your recovery file, passphrase or private memory to support.