BitBox01:
- All passwords are entered on Computer via BitBoxApp.
- The "device password" is needed each time you unlock your BitBox01. The device password can be changed.
- Has a mandatory "recovery password" (aka "wallet passphrase") which is needed when you want to restore your wallet from your backup. The recovery password cannot be changed after wallet creation.
- It is called "recovery password" instead of "passphrase" because the BitBox01 stores it. That's why you only need it when recovering/restoring your wallet from your backup, not each time you want to access the protected wallet.
- If you need to restore your BitBox01 wallet on a new device, you need the microSD card backup plus your recovery password.
BitBox02:
- All passwords are entered on the BitBox02 itself.
- The "device password" is needed each time you unlock your BitBox02.
- Optionally you can set a passphrase for your wallet.
- The passphrase is not stored on the BitBox02 and needs to be entered each time you want to access that passphrase protected wallet.
- If you need to restore your BitBox02 and you are not using a passphrase then you just need the microSD card wallet backup (or 24 word recovery seed).
- If you need to restore your BitBox02 and you are using a passphrase then you need the microSD card wallet backup (or 24 word recovery seed) plus your passphrase.
The main difference between BitBox01 and BitBox02 in this regard is that the BitBox01 always uses a passphrase (called "recovery password"), whereas on the BitBox02 this is optional. The reason for that is that the most common reason for loss of coins is users forgetting their passphrase, therefore we decided to make it optional (with lots of warnings) on the BitBox02.