Set up a Recovery Group on mobile

Your PreVeil account can only be accessed on computers, tablets, or phones that have your private key installed. To reduce the possibility that a hacker could gain access to your private key, PreVeil does not keep a copy of it. Therefore, if you lose your iPhone or iPad that contains your PreVeil private key, and you only have the key on that device, the only way to recover your account is if you have set up a Recovery Group.

TIP: If your private key is on more than one computer, tablet, or phone, and you lose only one of those devices, you can copy the key from one of your remaining devices to your new computer, tablet, or phone.

What is a Recovery Group?

PreVeil allows you to recover your account by setting up a Recovery Group – a group of individuals you trust who will let you regain access to your account in case you lose your devices. Recovery Groups use PreVeil's Approval Group Technology, a patented method for recovering your private key without giving anybody (including members of your recovery group) access to your account or your data.

Set up a Recovery Group on your mobile device

Before you set up your PreVeil Recovery Group on your device, ensure that the people that you plan to add to your Recovery Group are PreVeil members.

To set up a recovery group for your PreVeil account while you are on a mobile device, follow the steps below:

NOTE: The illustrations are from an iPhone, but the process is the same and can also be done from any mobile device or tablet.

1 . Tap the PreVeil icon in your apps.

2. When the PreVeil app opens, tap the Settings icon at the bottom right of the screen. If you have not yet set up your Recovery Group, there will be a red notification badge visible. On the Settings screen, tap Recovery Group.

3. On the Recovery Group screen, tap Set up your Recovery Group.

4. Your (currently empty) Recovery Group page will show. Tap "Add Approver..." to continue setup.

5. From here, start typing the email address of the PreVeil contact you'd like to add to your Recovery Group. A list of possible Contacts from your device will show up as you type, which you can select if you'd like. If the intended user's email address is not in your Contacts list, you can select the address once you've finished typing.

6. On the next screen, to add another Approver, tap the Add Approver button below the name of the person you just added to your Recovery Group.

7. Repeat these steps for all the people from your Contacts list that you want to add to your Recovery Group. We recommend that you add at least 3 members.

Once you have added all the members to your Recovery Group, use the Required Approvals button to designate the number of member responses you need to recover your account. We recommend setting this to at least 2.

8. Tap Required Approvals, and the following screen appears (an abbreviated version of the screen is shown here). Tap the number of Required Approvals for your Recovery Group. This number cannot exceed the number of members you have in the group, minus one.

9. When you return to the Recovery Group screen, your Required Approvals number is populated. Tap Save in the upper right corner of the screen to save your Recovery Group.

You can set your initial recovery group at any time. Keep in mind, however, that you will be required to get approval from the selected number of members of your recovery group before you make any future changes to it.

You’re all set! Now if you ever lose your devices, you’ll be able to reach out to your recovery group to get your account back. Read about the recovery process for a mobile device.