You own your vault. Oath cannot move, freeze, or access your funds. You can export your full private key at any time and use it independently.
Your Oath vault belongs entirely to you. Only you can move your money. And if you ever want to leave, you can export your complete private key and take your funds anywhere.
How does Oath keep my money safe?
Your personal vault. You own the wallet. Oath serves as a second layer of security (like a bank requiring two signatures on a check) to protect you from hackers or stolen devices. But Oath alone cannot transfer your funds. Every transaction requires your explicit approval. You can export your full private key at any time from Settings > Backup & Recovery, giving you complete independent access without Oath.
Escrow vaults (for oaths). Control splits three ways: you, your partner, and Oath. Any two of the three can release funds. You and your partner can settle instantly without Oath. Only in a dispute does Oath step in as a tiebreaker. No single party ever has unilateral control.
You'll probably never need this article
Your passkey handles everything. It's synced across your devices by Apple, Google, or Microsoft and follows you everywhere. If you get a new device, your passkey comes with you and your vault is instantly accessible. No recovery needed.
That covers virtually every situation. You never have to think about it.
The absolute worst case
For this to matter, all of the following would need to happen at the same time:
- Oath's servers go permanently offline
- You lose your passkey from every device and cloud backup
- Apple/Google/Microsoft can't restore your passkey
This is extraordinarily unlikely. But even then, you're covered.
Before anything goes wrong, download a recovery file from Settings > Backup & Recovery. This file contains your vault key, encrypted with a password you choose. Oath never sees the password.
To recover independently:
- Visit our open-source recovery tool (github.com/oath-protocol/recovery-tool)
- Upload your recovery file and enter your password
- Import the resulting key into any wallet app (Phantom, Backpack, etc.)
The tool runs in your browser, works offline, and requires zero connection to Oath. It will work forever.
Summary
Oath is built so you never lose access to your money. Your passkey keeps everything working automatically. Your recovery file is insurance for a scenario that will almost certainly never happen. Download it from Settings > Backup & Recovery and forget about it.