If you lost or forgot your Ledger passphrase and look how to recover it, don’t worry—you are at the right place. In this guide, you’ll learn what a Ledger passphrase is, how it works, how to set it up, and most importantly—how to recover your Ledger wallet passphrase.
Read this guide or contact Crypto Recovers for fast Ledger optional passphrase recovery.
What Is the Ledger Passphrase & the Hidden Wallet?
A Ledger passphrase is an optional 25th word that you add to your standard 24-word recovery phrase. When you use it, it creates a brand new “hidden wallet” on your Ledger Nano S, Nano S Plus, or Nano X.
This hidden wallet is totally separate from your main one—even if you use the same device and recovery phrase. It’s a powerful privacy tool for advanced users who want extra security. Even if someone forces you to reveal your seed phrase, the passphrase-protected Ledger wallet remains hidden. Ledger doesn’t store your passphrase. You must remember it—if you lose it, the hidden wallet and its Bitcoins are gone forever.
Important to remember: You cannot access the Ledger hidden wallet without passphrase, even if you have your 24-word seed phrase.
How to Add a Passphrase to Ledger Wallet
When creating a hidden Ledger wallet, you can either attach the passphrase to your current Ledger PIN or create a new PIN just for your hidden wallet.
Follow these steps to add Passphrase to Ledger Nano S / Nano X:
- Connect your Ledger to Ledger Live
- Go to “Settings” > “Security” > “Passphrase”
- Choose “Attach to PIN” or “Set up secondary PIN”
- Enter your custom passphrase (case-sensitive, can be a word or phrase)
- Confirm the setup on your device
- Done! You now have a hidden wallet linked to the passphrase
Tip: Always write down the passphrase separately from your 24-word seed. If you lose it, recovery is almost impossible.
Ledger Password vs Ledger Passphrase – What’s the Difference?
Many people don’t get the difference between the password and the passphrase — but they serve totally different purposes.
You can think of the password as the PIN code used to unlock your account.
The passphrase, on the other hand, is an extra word (the 25th) that creates a hidden wallet on top of your existing seed.
They do two very different things:
One unlocks the device.
The other unlocks a new wallet.
How to Restore Ledger with a Passphrase (If You Still Remember It)
Have you already recovered your wallet with the seed phrase but found your Ledger balance missing?
It might be because of the hidden wallet feature.
To access your funds, you’ll need to use the 25th word — also known as the passphrase.
Restoring your hidden wallet is possible, but only if you have both: your original 24-word recovery phrase and the correct passphrase (25th word).
Step-by-step to Restore Ledger with Passphrase:
- Reset your Ledger (or use a new device)
- Choose “Restore from recovery phrase”
- Enter the 24 words of your recovery phrase
- In Ledger Live, go to “Settings” > “Security” > “Passphrase”
- Enter your known passphrase and attach it to a PIN
- Open your hidden wallet. Done!
Hidden Stones: The Ledger passphrase is case-sensitive and space-sensitive. “Secret123” is different from “secret123”. One wrong character = wrong wallet.
Lost or Forgot Ledger Optional Passphrase? Here’s What to Do
Unfortunately if you lost or forgot your Ledger passphrase, you will not be able to restore the hidden Ledger wallet—unless you remember the exact phrase or wrote it down.
Because the passphrase generates a completely different wallet, not remembering it is like forgetting a second seed phrase.
Still, you have a few options:
- Double-check notebooks, password managers, old files
- Try different combinations if you vaguely remember it
- Look for old transactions that might hint at the assets’ location
- Use a crypto recovery service like us, Crypto Recovers
Ledger won’t tell you if a passphrase is wrong, it just opens a different wallet.
First of all, we’ll ask you to create a list of possible passphrase combinations.
These could be old passwords, favorite characters or words you always use.
If the passphrase wasn’t completely random, there’s a real chance you can get access to your hidden wallet back with Crypto Recovers.
Ledger Passphrase Attach to PIN – What If You Forgot the PIN Too?
If you chose to attach your passphrase to a second PIN code on ledger and forgot that PIN, the situation is tricky—but not hopeless.
After three wrong attempts, the Ledger will reset. You can then restore the 24-word seed. Once your device is reset, you won’t be able to access the hidden wallet with that special PIN, but you can still manually enter the original passphrase to get back in.
That’s the key: the Ledger passphrase itself matters more than the linked PIN. As long as you remember the passphrase, you can recover.
What to Do When Ledger Passphrase Recovery Attempts Fail
In conclusion, if you forget the Ledger optional passphrase, there’s no “reset” option—your BTCs could be stuck forever. You can not reset ledger passphrase either.
If you’re reading this because you’ve already lost or forgotten it, know you’re not alone. Whether you’re trying to recall your Ledger passphrase or you’re locked out completely, don’t wait. The sooner you reach out for help to Crypto Recovers, the better your chances of passphrase recovery.
