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For keyholders and witnesses

How do I accept, and why the six digit code?

Updated September 2026

Open the link they sent you, read the three rows, and tap Yes, I will hold it. Then you give an email address and type the six digit code sent to it, which is the step that proves the address reaches you. The code matters because every alert about the person you hold for arrives by email, so a wrong address would silently break the one channel that has to work. When the code is confirmed, your Wallet pass and a spare link are emailed to that address.

There is no invite email. The person who wants you to hold their key mints a link inside the Fold'em app and sends it to you themselves, by whatever channel they already use. The link lives 72 hours from the moment it was made, and the app refreshes it for them if it has less than a day left. If it has expired by the time you open it, ask them to send a fresh one.

Opening the link does nothing on its own. Nothing is accepted, nothing is stored, and they are not told you looked.

Inviting a keyholder, from their name to their first status Five steps down the page. You type their first name. You share a link, which lives 72 hours. They open it and enter the six digit code. The pass lands in their Wallet. The card shows its first status, Setting up, and reads Protected once you seal. INVITING A KEYHOLDER Maria Type a name their first name only Share the link it lives 72 hours 4 8 2 9 1 7 Maria accepts with the six digit code A pass in Wallet their one artefact Setting up The first status Protected once you seal
You type a first name and share a link that lives 72 hours. They accept with the six digit code, the pass lands in their Wallet, and its first status is on the card itself.

Why the six digit code

The email address you give is not a contact detail. It is the channel: an early exit request, a phone that stopped confirming its blocks, protection going off and a lapsed subscription all reach you by email, and that email is guaranteed even when nothing else is. An address with a typo in it would leave that channel pointing at nobody, and nothing on the page could tell.

So the address is proved rather than assumed. Fold'em mails a six digit code to it and the link only becomes a real keyholder link once you type the code back. The code is valid for 10 minutes and burns itself after five wrong tries. The phone number on the same step is optional, is shown only to the person you hold for so they can reach you quickly, and is never used to send you a text: Fold'em sends no text messages to anyone, ever.

The two steps, end to end

  1. Read what you are agreeing to

    The page names the person, says what Fold'em did to their phone, and lists three rows: the term they chose, what is asked of you, and what is never shown to you. Under the confirm button sits I cannot do this, which declines and tells them.

    The invite page headed "Alex wants you to hold the key," with a What Alex did card and three rows: The term, Asked of you, Never shown to you.

    Step 1, what you are agreeing to

  2. Give an address and confirm the code

    Step 2 of 2 asks for an email, marked required, and a phone number, marked optional. Six boxes take the code. On an iPhone the code appears above the keyboard and one tap fills all six. If it has not arrived, Send it again sits in the Not seeing it panel, under the boxes.

    Step 2 of 2 of the accept page: an email field marked required, an optional phone field, and six empty code boxes.

    Step 2, proving the address

  3. Add the pass, and secure it with Face ID

    Once the code is confirmed you hold the key. Add to Apple Wallet puts your pass on your phone, and the same pass and a spare link are emailed to the address you just proved. Secure with Face ID sets up the check that stands in front of every decision you will ever make, so a forwarded link cannot answer in your name. Do this later leaves it for another time.

    The accepted page: "You hold Alex's key now," an Add to Apple Wallet button, a line confirming the pass was emailed, and a Secure your key with Face ID card.

    Accepted

What happens right after

Their app shows you as accepted, and your pass begins reporting. If they are still setting up, the card can read Setting up or Not confirmed for a while; it goes live the moment they seal their term. The accept page says so on the way in, so a quiet first card is expected rather than a fault.

Nothing else is scheduled. There is no login, no password, and no account for you: your Wallet pass and your emailed link are the whole of what you hold.

What this does not do

Accepting does not create a Fold'em account for you and does not give you access to their app. It does not let you change the address later on your own: links are tied to the address they nominated, and a new address is an identity change that only they can start, from inside their app. The code proves that an address reaches you; it does not prove who you are, which is what the Face ID step exists for.

Accepting also does not lock you in. You can step away later from your status page, and their protection carries on without you.

Still stuck? Email support@foldem.app and we answer within two working days.