How sane is it to use a pictogram or pictography to keep seed phrases?

[Dex_master25]

‎The idea of using pictogram or pictography to keep or save key phrases or seed phrases seems like a genuine way besides inscribing these phrases on metal plates or writing them on paper and hiding it somewhere safe.
‎Although using pictograms or pictography to secure a very important information like a seed phrase may be a more creative approach for me because it aims to provide security through obscurity, I wonder what others may think of this approach to saving their seed phrases while saving Bitcoin on a hardware wallet or air gapped wallet.

‎That is, an individual holder or investor decides that instead of writing down the actual words, it would be better to use hand-drawn symbols or images that only them can decode.
‎
‎What do you think?
‎

[nakamura12]

I think there's aso a flaw when using it. What if there's two meaning or what it means in one or two of the pictogram that a person is using then the words will be different. It is indeed secured when they don't even know what you are storing since what they will see are bunch of symbols. Well, there are other ways to store seed phrase that is also secured.

[(BTC)]

I think the variety of ways you can obfuscate your private key into a variety of different methods is awesome. It can be fun and you can personalize your backup in any creative way you like.

The only downside is - the further you stray from the 24 word format, the more you are relying on your own memory or knowledge of your backup method. Dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment can onset onto anyone.

Sometimes it's best to keep it simple. If satoshi-era wallets can remain untouched for 15+ years, they must be doing something right.

A relevant excerpt from the Glacier Protocol document page: https://glacierprotocol.org/docs/overview/

"There is no such thing as perfect security. There are only degrees of security, and those degrees come at a cost (in time, money, convenience, etc.) So the first question is: How much security are you willing to invest in?"

[ultrloa]

‎The idea of using pictogram or pictography to keep or save key phrases or seed phrases seems like a genuine way besides inscribing these phrases on metal plates or writing them on paper and hiding it somewhere safe.
‎Although using pictograms or pictography to secure a very important information like a seed phrase may be a more creative approach for me because it aims to provide security through obscurity, I wonder what others may think of this approach to saving their seed phrases while saving Bitcoin on a hardware wallet or air gapped wallet.

‎That is, an individual holder or investor decides that instead of writing down the actual words, it would be better to use hand-drawn symbols or images that only them can decode.
‎
‎What do you think?
‎

If you are good with that then you can use those thing to secure your seed phrases. But if you are forgetful and still learning those things maybe there's huge risk for you to lose your funds especially if you will not remember the meaning of those symbols you input.

So much better don't put to much technical things that might cause you a problem. Since I think writing your seed phrase or engraving it on metal sheet still one of the safest option to do. What you need is to get a safe place to hide it to make sure that your wallet is safe from those people have evil plans towards what you are hiding on your wallets.

[Catenaccio]

‎The idea of using pictogram or pictography to keep or save key phrases or seed phrases seems like a genuine way besides inscribing these phrases on metal plates or writing them on paper and hiding it somewhere safe.
‎
‎What do you think?

I don't know about pictogram or pictography but if it is your creative idea, I am very skeptical that it is good to use. Because Bitcoin was created since 2009 and Bitcoin mnemonic seed was created some years later, and since then many wallet backup methods were created and used. The principle of making wallet backups is don't complicate it too much as you might get big troubles later.

That is, an individual holder or investor decides that instead of writing down the actual words, it would be better to use hand-drawn symbols or images that only them can decode.

The vital principle is the wallet backups must be able to used for wallet recovery later, and if you try to make too unique wallet backup methods, perhaps in the future you will forget what you did and how to recover your wallet.

Generally I don't think you backup idea is good.

Seed Backup Threat Model

Loss due to complexity / not being able to restore from backup

[nc50lc]

That is, an individual holder or investor decides that instead of writing down the actual words, it would be better to use hand-drawn symbols or images that only them can decode.
‎What do you think?

There's no standard to it so if you ever forgot how you encoded your words into pictogram, you're screwed.
On the other hand, if it's too simple, it wont do anything because a thief will still think that it's important and will most likely get that it's representing a seed phrase.

So, stick to the standards like using words and a separate "BIP39 passphrase",
Even if you forgot, the words may not be useful on its own but once you seek technical advise why it's empty, someone will likely say that "it might have a passphrase"
which can lead you to seek for your separate backup or even from faint memory, there may be a chance to bruteforce the correct passphrase.

[Catenaccio]

So, stick to the standards like using words and a separate "BIP39 passphrase",
Even if you forgot, the words may not be useful on its own but once you seek technical advise why it's empty, someone will likely say that "it might have a passphrase"
which can lead you to seek for your separate backup or even from faint memory, there may be a chance to bruteforce the correct passphrase.

I agree that using a wallet passphrase to add extra security for a wallet is better than trying to do something untested about security for wallet backups. Dex_master25 does not need to invent anything and use his fund for testing while there are enough available good options to choose and use that have been created by developers, tested by tech gurus in community and millions of users over many years.

What is wallet passphrase
Recovery code passphrases

[qwertyup23]

There are tons of security measures in order to keep your seed phrases at least secured and hidden. The problem is, with tons of security measures being introduced, it becomes relatively difficult to remember each and every combination especially if you consider the time invovled.

For example, if you happen to use pictograms as a security measure for your seed phrase, you may remember the correct combination let's say 3-5 years from now. The problem now lies with extended years given that there will always be that possibility of you missing that combination.

I remember a few years ago, there was this FaceBook account that I wanted to keep private. I changed its password and put different combination and numbers and I made it sure to really remember it. A few months passed and I totally forgot about my password, thus ultimately losing my FB account all-throughout.

[rat03gopoh]

Such a backup method lacks a standard interpretation. Besides relying on memory, you're required to rely on the consistency of your brain. For example, if you use a picture of a damaged red car to represent the word "crash," if your perspective isn't consistent 10 years from now, you might interpret the same photo as "red."

It's like remembering the answer to an account recovery question, like what your favorite food was as a child. I've repeatedly failed to remember that over the years.

[Amphenomenon]

‎What do you think?
‎

There are so many security measures and I bet you know you might not be the first to think about this, but the truth is while there are many security methods, many are flawed and through scrutiny this is found.

It might sound so good and secure at first until verified by many and this why standards exist also.

Regarding security it's better to stick with what has been tested and trusted.