What Is a Backup File and Why Should I Save It Regularly

If you've used Guarda for a while, chances are you have more than one backup file. Maybe considerably more than one. Your Guarda backup reflects your wallet at a particular point in time. When you add or import a wallet, remove one, or change your password, the backup changes too. Saving the updated version means you can restore the current setup rather than an older version of it.

So those extra backup files aren't there for no reason. Let's look at what they contain, why Guarda asks you to save new ones, and how to tell what you're actually looking at.

What Is a Guarda Backup?

A Guarda backup is an encrypted TXT file containing the recovery information for your Guarda Wallet. It includes the private keys for the supported wallets included in your Guarda setup.

The important word here is encrypted. Opening the TXT file itself won't give you a convenient list of your wallets and private keys. Guarda encrypts the backup, and your password acts as the key needed to decrypt it. That's also why you need both pieces when restoring Guarda from a backup:

Backup + password = access to the wallet stored in that backup.

Guarda doesn't store either for you. If you lose the information required to restore the wallet, Guarda Support can't recreate it.

Why Does My Guarda Backup Keep Changing?

Because your wallet changes. Suppose you create Guarda and save your first backup. Later, you import another wallet. The old backup still represents the setup you had before the import; it doesn't suddenly learn about the wallet you added afterward. The same principle applies when you create a new wallet or remove an existing one. A password change also produces an updated backup marked with the date you downloaded it.

That's why Guarda asks you to download a fresh backup after these changes. You aren't repeatedly saving the same file for the sake of it. You're saving the recovery information for the wallet setup you have now. An older backup isn't corrupted or broken but reflects the older version.

What Is Actually Inside My Backup?

You don't have to treat the backup as a mysterious TXT file forever. Guarda has a Backup Decoder that lets you decrypt a backup and inspect the information stored inside it. This is useful both for understanding how Guarda backups work and for figuring out what a particular backup contains.

The Decoder is particularly useful if your Downloads folder has reached the stage of:

2026-09-16-13-12-guarda-backup.txt
2026-09-16-20-27-guarda-backup.txt
2026-07-30-16-07-guarda-backup.txt
2026-07-22-16-16-guarda-backup.txt

As you can see, a filename contains the date and the time you downloaded your backup. But it doesn't tell you much about what is actually inside the file and what changed on September 16 between 1pm and 8pm. The contents do.

A decoded backup contains sensitive recovery information. Treat the information you reveal through the Decoder the same way you would treat private keys: don't share it, screenshot it, or leave it exposed.

Why Is a Backup Useful If I Already Have Recovery Phrases?

Guarda gives you several ways to recover access, and each works at a different level:

This is one of the useful things about Guarda's backup system. If you manage multiple wallets derived from multiple mnemonics (seed phrases), you don't necessarily have to restore every individual wallet one by one. An up-to-date Guarda backup keeps the wallet structure together and provides a way to restore the supported wallets included in it.

A private key is handy when you need one particular wallet. A recovery phrase restores wallets derived from that phrase. The Guarda backup is designed to restore your Guarda setup as a whole.

Which Guarda Backup Should I Keep?

Your current backup should reflect your current wallet setup.

Guarda prompts you to download an updated backup after actions that change the information stored in it, including when you:

• create a new wallet;
• import a wallet;
• delete a wallet;
• change your Guarda password.

You can skip downloading the new backup by confirming the action with your password, but we strongly recommend downloading it instead. Otherwise, the backup you already have may no longer reflect your current wallet setup.

If an updated backup is available but you haven’t downloaded it yet, Guarda will remind you. In Guarda Web, the Settings icon will be highlighted in red. In Guarda Mobile, the backup button in Settings will be highlighted in blue.

Can I Delete My Old Guarda Backups?

If you've accumulated several backups, don't delete the old ones until you're sure you have downloaded and securely stored the latest backup and that it contains all the wallets you need.

Old doesn't automatically mean useless, but old doesn't mean complete either. And yes, the backup is encrypted, but that doesn't make storage irrelevant. If you aren't sure which backup contains what you need, the Backup Decoder will help you inspect a backup and understand what it contains. Once you have confirmed that your latest backup contains everything you need and you have stored secure copies of it, you don't need to keep every previous backup just for the sake of it.

Keep your backup somewhere secure and don't share it with anyone. Guarda recommends keeping multiple secure copies in different locations, and your backup should not be stored together with its password since the two work together. The backup contains encrypted recovery information; the password decrypts it.

Guarda Support will never ask you to provide your backup. The same rule applies to private keys and recovery phrases: anyone asking you to hand over recovery information should be treated with extreme caution.