How to add missing accounts after restoring with Secret Recovery Phrase

tip

Follow the steps listed here first to restore your wallet from Secret Recovery Phrase (SRP). If you have already done this, you can skip to the next section.

If you created your wallet using a Google/Apple account, you just need to login to MetaMask using your Google or Apple account and the password you initially set, and all of the associated accounts will be restored, including imported wallets (besides hardware wallets).

When restoring your MetaMask wallet using your Secret Recovery Phrase (SRP), only accounts that were originally created from the same SRP will be automatically synchronized and added. Accounts imported via private keys, JSON files, or connected hardware wallets (with different SRPs) will not sync automatically and must be manually re-added in the same manner as when they were initially imported (unless you created your wallet using a Google/Apple account).

DO NOT share your Secret Recovery Phrase with anyone! These words can be used to steal all your accounts. You cannot edit or change your Secret Recovery Phrase.

Automatic account restoration

If you created your wallet using a Google/Apple account, MetaMask will automatically restore all of the associated accounts created under that instance, including imported wallets (besides hardware wallets). You just need to login using your Google or Apple account and the password you initially set.

If the “Backup and sync” feature was enabled on an SRP-only wallet, MetaMask will automatically restore accounts created under the same SRP in ascending order (i.e., Account 2, then Account 3, etc.) provided they weren’t imported from private keys or JSON files. The automatic restoration process also adds accounts with non-zero ETH balances.

Manual account restoration

For any accounts that aren’t automatically re-added from an SRP, you can manually restore them by following the steps below. For example, if you have some tokens in Account 4 in Wallet 1, but Account 4 isn't automatically added because those tokens are not ETH on mainnet, all you need to do is manually add accounts until you get to Account 4. Your Account 4 before the restore corresponds to Account 4 after the restore, regardless of any name you previously applied.

If you do need to re-add accounts this way, don't worry that the account address will be different. The addresses are cryptographically derived deterministically from your private key, which means they will always be the same. And since an Ethereum account, once created, exists permanently, you can just pick up where you left off.

Please follow the steps below on how to restore your other accounts in the order they were originally created:

• Extension
• Mobile

1. Click on the account selector at the top of MetaMask, and select 'Add account or hardware wallet':

2. On the next screen, click 'Ethereum account' to restore your MetaMask accounts in the order they were created.

3. If the accounts were previously named, you can name them again in the step below, before clicking "Create":

1. Tap the name of the currently selected account, and then tap 'Add account or hardware wallet'.

2. Tap 'Ethereum account':

If you still do not see the addresses you were looking for, they were probably created with a different Secret Recovery Phrase, or you had an imported account that you still need to reimport using private keys or JSON.

Please see this article on how to import an account.

This is not applicable if you created your wallet using a Google/Apple account, as all of the associated accounts will be restored automatically.