# Where to save the seed phrase

Here's a list of most popular places to save your seed phrase:

## Hardware wallets

Hardware wallets are the most secure way to store your seed phrase. They are physical
devices that store your seed phrase offline, and can't be accessed by hackers. Even if
someone steals your hardware wallet, they can't access your funds without knowing your
PIN code. The phrase is never shared with your PC, and instead, transaction data is sent
to the hardware wallet, signed there, and then sent back to the PC. The most popular and
supported by the NEAR ecosystem hardware wallet is [Ledger](https://www.ledger.com/).

## Paper

You can write your seed phrase on a piece of paper and store it in a safe place. It's
important to keep it safe from fire, water, theft, and your family that might throw it
away because it's just a paper.

## Not save it at all

This is the most theft-proof way to store your seed phrase. If you don't have it, no one
can steal it from you. But if you lose your wallet, or it gets stolen, or your PC gets
broken, you won't be able to restore access your funds. That's why it's not recommended
to use this method. But if it's a temporary throwaway account that doesn't hold any funds,
it's completely fine to not save the seed phrase.

## Telegram "saved messages"

You can save your seed phrase in a private chat with yourself. This is definitely one
of the most popular ways to store your seed phrase, it's not the most secure way
to store it, but *maybe* it's better than nothing. If you use this method, make sure that
your Telegram account is secured with 2FA, and that you have a strong password. But I
don't recommend using this method, because:
- If your account is hacked, the hacker will have access to your seed phrase
- If Telegram is hacked, the hacker will have access to your seed phrase
- If some Telegram employee who has access to the database wants to steal your seed phrase,
  they can do it (they will probably be fired and sued, but this fact won't make you feel
  better)
- No one knows who else has access to the database.
- If you forget your password, or somehow lose your phone number, you won't be able to
  restore access to your seed phrase

## In a .txt file on your PC

This is also a popular way to store your seed phrase, but it's not secure, too. If your
PC gets hacked, the hacker will easily get access to your seed phrase. If your PC gets
broken, you won't be able to restore access to your seed phrase. If you still decide
to use this method, make sure to do that in a password-protected file, password-protected
folder, or password-protected archive.

## In a password manager

The security of this method is the same as the security of your password manager.

## On google drive, dropbox, etc.

This is the least secure way to store your seed phrase. If the cloud storage is hacked,
the hacker will have access to your seed phrase. If the cloud storage is down, you won't
be able to restore access to your seed phrase. Its security is also limited by the
security of your account on the cloud storage service.

# How to choose a password

If you decide to store your seed phrase in a password-protected file, folder, or archive,
you need to choose a strong password. You can check the security of your password [here](https://www.passwordmonster.com),
but don't input your real password there, just input something similar. For example, if
my password is "IAmAGreenSlime123!100%", I can input "IAmABlackCat555!Really." to check
it. If you know a language other than English, you can use a phrase from that language,
because most password crackers are trained on English phrases and check only alphanumeric
symbols to make it faster to crack the password.