# Account Recovery

Social Recovery allows users to regain control of their accounts by replacing the owner key through a set of trusted Guardians, with a built-in time delay so owners can cancel unauthorized attempts.

The Candide Social Recovery Module accepts any Ethereum address as a guardian: family and friends' wallets, hardware wallets, institutions, or email/SMS cloud wallets.

## Recovery Methods[​](#recovery-methods "Direct link to Recovery Methods")

Both recovery methods can be used independently or combined. For maximum security, use both. For example, a 2-of-3 setup with two personal guardians and email/SMS recovery as the third.

|                    | Personal Guardians                    | Email / SMS Recovery                      |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| **Guardian type**  | Users add their own guardians         | Candide signs after email/SMS OTP         |
| **Key management** | Required (guardian private keys)      | Not required                              |
| **Best for**       | Trusted contacts, hardware wallets    | Consumer apps, users who prefer email/SMS |
| **Setup guides**   | Add Guardian → Recovery Flow → Alerts | Enable Email/SMS → Recovery Flow          |

## Getting Started[​](#getting-started "Direct link to Getting Started")

### Personal Guardians[​](#personal-guardians "Direct link to Personal Guardians")

Start with [Add a Guardian](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/how-to-add-a-guardian.md), then follow the [Recovery Flow Guide](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/recovery-flow-guide.md) and [Recovery Alerts Guide](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/recovery-alerts-guide.md).

### Email / SMS Recovery[​](#email--sms-recovery "Direct link to Email / SMS Recovery")

Start with [Enable Email / SMS Recovery](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/add-candide-guardian.md), then follow the [Recovery Flow](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/recover-account-candide-guardian.md) guide.

## Resources[​](#resources "Direct link to Resources")

* **How it works**: [Making Accounts Recoverable](https://docs.candide.dev/blog/making-accounts-recoverable)
* **Contracts, audits & formal verification**: [candide-contracts](https://github.com/candidelabs/candide-contracts)
* **Deployment addresses**: [Social Recovery Module](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/technical-reference/deployments/.md#social-recovery-module)
* **Recovery frontend (SafeCover)**: [recovery.candide.dev](https://recovery.candide.dev) ([source](https://github.com/candidelabs/safecover))
* **Recovery Service API**: [Safe Recovery Services](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/recovery/overview.md)
* **SDK Reference**: [SocialRecoveryModule](https://docs.candide.dev/wallet/plugins/recovery-module-reference.md)