Every screen in Takeback, step by step, and the Bitcoin rules that make it possible.
One screen explains what the app does. Tap Cancel a payment to begin, or How it works for a short walkthrough. There’s no sign-up and no account.
Paste or type the recovery phrase or private key of the wallet the payment came from. One smart field detects the format as you type, and a status line tells you what it found, such as “Recovery phrase · 12 words”.
If your key is stored as a QR code, such as a paper wallet, scan it with the camera. You can also choose a photo or paste. The scanner shows what it read before you continue.
A key can pay from more than one kind of address, so Takeback checks them all at once. For a recovery phrase it scans the first 20 addresses of each type, plus any custom paths you added. A single private key has one address per type.
Lookups go to public Electrum servers in batches, with mempool.space as a fallback. Only addresses are sent, never your key. You can point the app at your own Electrum server in Settings.
Every unconfirmed payment from the key appears in one list, with its amount, recipient, how long it has been waiting and its current fee rate. Payments that can’t be changed are clearly marked, with the reason.
Speeding up keeps the payment exactly the same, with the same recipient and amount, and pays a higher fee so miners include it sooner. The extra fee comes from your change. The original is replaced, and only one version can ever confirm.
Canceling replaces the payment with a new transaction that spends the same coins back to an address you own, derived from the same key. The big number is exactly what comes back to you after the new fee.
A replacement must pay more than the original, so Takeback suggests rates from the current network: Next block, Fast and Medium, or set your own. The minimum allowed is shown, and Fast is selected by default.
After you approve with Face ID, Takeback broadcasts the replacement and follows it live, from pending to confirmed, without any action from you. Your key is wiped from memory as soon as the replacement is sent.
A Bitcoin payment isn’t final until it’s in a block. Until then it waits in the mempool, and it can be replaced by a new transaction that spends the same coins and pays a higher fee.
Two transactions can’t spend the same coins, so only one will ever confirm. Nodes keep the one that pays more and drop the other. Speed up and Cancel are both replacements; they only differ in where the coins go.
A replacement must pay a higher total fee than the original, and enough extra to cover its own size at the minimum relay rate. Takeback checks this before you approve.
Since Bitcoin Core 28 (October 2024), full replace-by-fee is on by default. Nodes accept a replacement even when the original didn’t signal RBF, so most payments can be replaced.
Until a block is found, either version could confirm. A higher fee and acting early improve your chances. Once one confirms, the other becomes invalid forever.
Same recipient, same amount. The extra fee comes out of your change output. If a payment has no change, the fee is taken from the amount and you’re told before approving.
Spend the same coins to your own address, from the same key, with a higher fee. If it confirms, the original recipient receives nothing and the coins are back in your wallet.
| Situation | Speed up | Cancel | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unconfirmed, paid only from your key | Yes | Yes | You can sign a replacement for every coin it spent. |
| Didn’t signal RBF | Usually | Usually | Full RBF is the default in Bitcoin Core 28+, but a few nodes or miners may still keep the original. |
| Confirmed (1 or more confirmations) | No | No | It’s in a block. Bitcoin payments can’t be reversed after that. |
| Some coins came from another wallet | No | No | A replacement must be signed for every coin. This key can’t sign the others. |
| A replacement is already pending | Once more | Shown as Canceling | You can raise the fee again, but you won’t start a second cancel. |
| The payment was spent again before confirming | Yes | With warning | Canceling it also cancels the later payment that depends on it. |
| Too little left for a higher fee | No | No | The replacement must pay more than the original and still leave a valid output. |
| Received payments (not sent by you) | No | No | Takeback replaces payments you sent. It doesn’t use child-pays-for-parent. |
| Key | Example | What Takeback checks |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery phrase | 12, 15, 18, 21 or 24 words | First 20 addresses of Taproot, Native SegWit, Nested SegWit and Legacy, plus custom paths. Optional BIP39 passphrase. |
| WIF private key | Starts with K, L or 5 | The single address of each type the key can use. |
| Hex private key | 64 characters | The same as WIF. |
| Mini private key | Starts with S, 22 or 30 characters | The Legacy address it maps to. |
| Extended private key | xprv, yprv, zprv | Addresses under the key, using its standard or a type you choose. |
| Custom derivation paths | e.g. m/84'/0'/1' | Extra accounts, indexes or address types you add to the search. |
Only the owner of the coins can sign a replacement. Takeback uses your key, held in memory on your iPhone, to sign the new transaction locally. The key itself never leaves the device.
Finding payments takes a few seconds. After you approve, a replacement at the Fast rate usually confirms within about 10 minutes, depending on network demand.
If you speed up, they receive the same payment, just sooner. If you cancel and it confirms, they receive nothing. Some wallets show the original as pending until it’s dropped.
Yes. In Settings you can enter your own Electrum server, so address lookups and broadcasts don’t touch public servers.
The key is wiped from memory. Nothing is saved, so you’d enter it again next time. A replacement that was already broadcast continues on the network as normal.
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