---
title: Your vault passphrase | Relic Help
description: The vault passphrase seals your data. The account password signs you in. How to pick a good one, how to change it, and what a change affects.
canonical: https://relic.space/help/vault-passphrase
source: https://relic.space/llms.txt
---
Privacy and security

# Your vault passphrase

The vault passphrase seals your data. The account password signs you in. How to pick a good one, how to change it, and what a change affects.

Updated 10 September 2026 · Every platform

## [Two different secrets](#two-secrets)

A Relic account has two secrets, both set up during [your first run](https://relic.space/help/first-run), and they do different jobs. Mixing them up is the most common confusion people have, so it is worth thirty seconds.

**Account password**

Signs you in to your Relic account, the same way any website does. You can reset it by email if you forget it.

**Vault passphrase**

Seals the things you save. It never leaves your device, so it cannot be reset. Your recovery kit is the way back if you forget it.

The sign-in screen says the same thing under the Forgot password? button:

This resets your account password only. Your vault passphrase is separate; if you lost that, use your recovery kit.

Signing in gets your sealed items onto a device. The vault passphrase is what opens them once they are there. [How encryption works](https://relic.space/help/how-encryption-works) explains why they have to be separate.

## [Choosing a good one](#choosing-one)

As you type, a bar under the field fills up and a small word next to it rates what you have so far: **Weak**, **Okay**, **Strong** or **Excellent**. Nothing is blocked, whatever the meter says. It is advice, not a gate.

While the rating is Weak, a line appears under the bar:

Short passphrases are the weakest link in your vault. Try the suggestion.

The **Suggest a passphrase** button next to the meter writes five ordinary words into the field for you, drawn at random. A phrase like that is easy to write down and hard to guess. Pressing it also reveals the text, so you can read it and save it somewhere, and it clears the repeat field so you have to type the phrase yourself once before it is accepted. The eye button at the right of the field hides or shows what you typed.

The vault passphrase field. A masked text box with an eye button at its right. Under it, a strength bar about a third full with the word Okay beside it, and a Suggest a passphrase button at the right of the row. The passphrase field with its meter. The rating changes as you type.

Whatever you pick, write it down somewhere safe, and save your [recovery kit](https://relic.space/help/recovery-kit) as well. They are the only two ways into your vault.

## [Changing your vault passphrase](#change-it)

You can change it whenever you like, from any device that is already unlocked. Relic never asks for the old passphrase, because the device already holds the key it wraps.

Security

Change your vault passphrase or view your recovery kit.

Settings › Sync and account › Security: button: Open.

1. Open Security
Go to [Settings › Sync and account › Security](https://relic.space/help/settings-sync-and-account#security). On a phone the same Security screen sits in the settings sheet.
2. Open Change vault passphrase
The row reads **Change vault passphrase**, with the line _Re-wraps your key. Your recovery kit stays valid._ Tap it and the fields drop down underneath.
3. Type the new one twice
The first field is **New vault passphrase** and carries the strength meter and **Suggest a passphrase**. The second is **Repeat the vault passphrase**. If they do not match Relic says _Passphrases don't match._ and nothing happens.
4. Press Change passphrase
Relic answers _Passphrase changed._ Nothing is re-uploaded and nothing is re-encrypted, so it finishes right away.

## [What a change affects](#what-a-change-affects)

What changes:

* Your other devices need the new passphrase the next time they ask you to unlock.
* Anywhere you unlock by typing the passphrase, including the vault in a web browser, wants the new one.

What does not change:

* Your recovery kit. It stays valid, because it holds the vault key itself and that key is not replaced.
* Your items. Not one of them is re-sealed, so there is no upload and no wait.
* Sessions that are already running. A device that is signed in and unlocked keeps working until it next locks.
* Your account password, which is a separate thing on a separate screen.

To push every device out of your account instead, that is a different button. See [sign out everywhere](https://relic.space/help/sign-out-everywhere). The rest of that pane is covered in [Settings: Sync and account](https://relic.space/help/settings-sync-and-account), and the path to it is Settings›Sync and account›Security.

Related

[Your recovery kitPrivacy and security](https://relic.space/help/recovery-kit)[How encryption worksPrivacy and security](https://relic.space/help/how-encryption-works)[Your first runGet started](https://relic.space/help/first-run)[Settings: Sync and accountSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-sync-and-account)