How to Rekey an Algorand Account with Pera Mobile?

Updated October 28, 2026

Rekeying Your Algorand Account — When and Why

What is Rekeying?

Rekeying is a feature unique to Algorand that lets you assign a new private key to an existing account — without transferring your assets. Your address stays the same, your balances stay the same, but the key that authorizes transactions changes.

Think of it like changing the locks on your house. Same house, same address, new key.

When Should You Rekey?

Your passphrase may be compromised

If you think someone else has seen or accessed your recovery passphrase — even if you’re not sure — rekeying lets you secure the account immediately without having to move everything to a new address.

You want hardware wallet security on an existing account

You can rekey a standard Pera account to a Ledger device. After rekeying, all transactions must be approved on the Ledger — adding hardware-level security to an address you’ve been using.

You have locked or committed assets

If you have assets in smart contracts, liquidity pools, or other positions tied to your current address, moving them might be costly, time-consuming, or impossible. Rekeying secures the account without touching the assets.

You’re upgrading your security setup

Moving from a standard account to a hardware-secured one, or from one Ledger to a newer model — rekeying handles it cleanly.

How Rekeying Works

You initiate a rekey transaction from your current account
You select the new “authorized account” — this is the account whose key will now control the original
The transaction is signed and confirmed on-chain
From this point forward, all transactions from the original account must be signed by the new authorized account’s key

Your original address doesn’t change. Anyone sending you assets still uses the same address. The only thing that changes is which key is needed to sign outgoing transactions.

How to Rekey on Pera Mobile

Rekey to a Standard Account

Available for: Standard accounts (not Ledger or already-rekeyed accounts)

Make sure the account you want to rekey to is already in your Pera Wallet
Open the account you want to rekey
Tap the three-dot More menu
Select Rekey Account, then To a standard account

Home screen, account Overview with the More button, and the More menu with Rekey to Ledger Account and Rekey to Standard Account

Select the target account
Review the summary and tap Confirm
Your account is now rekeyed — the new account is the “authorized account”

Select Account list, Confirm Rekeying screen with the Finalize Rekeying button, and the Account successfully rekeyed screen

Rekey to a Ledger Account

Available for: Standard accounts, Ledger accounts, and already-rekeyed accounts

Make sure your Ledger account is imported into Pera (pair via Import an account → Pair Ledger via Bluetooth or Pair Ledger via USB)
Open the account you want to rekey
Tap the three-dot More menu
Select Rekey Account, then To a Ledger account

Rekey Account screen with the Start Process button, the Looking for devices list of Ledgers, and the Ledger account picker

Tap Start Process — make sure your Ledger is on, Algorand app open, Bluetooth enabled
Select your Ledger device when it appears
Choose the Ledger account to rekey to
Review and tap Confirm
Authorize the transaction on your Ledger

Ledger account details, Confirm Rekeying screen with old and new Ledger, and the Ledger Approval prompt

Done — your account is now controlled by the Ledger

Account successfully rekeyed screen with the Go to Home button

Rekey to a Quantum Account

You can rekey an account to a Quantum account in your wallet. Back up the Quantum account’s 25-word recovery passphrase first. Future transactions can only be signed by its post-quantum key, they pay a higher minimum network fee, and rekeying back to a standard account requires a quantum-signed transaction.

Open the account you want to rekey and tap More
Select Rekey Account, then To a quantum account
Tap Start process, choose the Quantum account and tap Confirm

Important Things to Know After Rekeying

Keep both accounts in your wallet. After rekeying, you need the rekeyed (original) account and the authorized (new) account in your Pera Wallet. Removing either will cause issues.

The original passphrase no longer authorizes transactions. Only the new authorized account’s key can sign transactions. But the original passphrase still identifies the account on the blockchain — it just can’t spend from it anymore.

Rekeying is on-chain and visible. Anyone looking at your account on Pera Explorer can see that it’s been rekeyed and to which authorized account.

Be careful with dApps. Some dApps may not fully support rekeyed accounts. Test with a small transaction before committing large amounts through a dApp with a rekeyed account.

Can I Undo a Rekey?

In the account’s options, tap Undo Rekey. You need access to the authorized account to sign it, and you can also rekey to a different account instead. If the account was rekeyed to a Quantum account, rekeying back needs a quantum-signed transaction. If you’ve lost access to the authorized account, the rekeyed account is effectively locked — no one can sign transactions from it.

Rekeying vs. Moving Assets

	Rekeying	Moving Assets
Address stays the same	✅	❌ — new address
Assets stay in place	✅	❌ — must transfer everything
Works with locked/committed assets	✅	❌ — may not be possible
Transaction cost	One small fee	One fee per asset transferred
Complexity	Simple	Can be tedious with many assets

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