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For keyholders and witnesses

They asked to leave early. What can I do?

Updated September 2026

You can keep the lock, from anywhere, in one tap, and that is the whole remote decision. You cannot let them out remotely at all, from the page, the pass, or by replying to the email, because approving only ever happens face to face: they scan the code on your Wallet pass with the app on their phone while you are standing together. If you keep the lock they are told, with no reason attached, and they can ask again after 48 hours. Nothing about their phone changes while you are deciding.

How the request reaches you

An early exit request is one of the four events that are guaranteed to reach your inbox, so you get an email whatever else happens. At the same time your Wallet pass changes: the middle of the card reads that they asked to end early, the facts row gains a Decide by date, and a code appears on the front of the card. A short line banners your lock screen.

Both routes land on the same page, and that page confirms it is you before it shows you a decision. Face ID proves the person deciding is the keyholder and not whoever happens to hold the link, which matters because the link travels by email and email forwards.

The road out of a term, when you have a keyholder You ask to leave early on the Shield tab. Your keyholder has seven days to decide, and can keep the lock or approve in person by scanning your pass. On an approval a wait of at least 72 hours starts from the moment they say yes. A second arm leaves the same decision: seven days of silence approves the request as if you had no keyholder, and the wait that follows is fourteen days, not 72 hours. Both arms end at the same place, where the server marks the release ready and the phone holds every shield until you take it, for up to seven days. The two sevens are different: seven days to decide, seven days for the release to wait for you. LEAVING EARLY You ask on the Shield tab Maria decides 7 days to decide Keep the lock APPROVED 72 h at least 72 hoursfrom the yes SILENCE, 7 DAYS 14 d fourteen daysnot 72 hours The release is ready the server says so Held 7 days for you every shield stays up Two sevens: 7 days to decide, 7 days to take it.
With a keyholder, an early exit runs: you ask, they have seven days to keep the lock or approve in person, then at least 72 hours count from that approval, then the release waits seven days for you to take it. Seven days of silence approves it instead, and the wait becomes fourteen days.

The two answers, and their consequences

Keeping the lock is the easy one, on purpose. It is one tap on the page, from anywhere, and it takes effect immediately. They are told, with no reason attached and no message from you, because an exit request carries no text field in either direction. A refusal is not permanent: after 48 hours they can ask again, and you can consider it again then. That throttle is enforced by the server, so a second request inside those two days closes itself.

Approving happens in person only. There is no approve button on the page, in the email, or on the pass, and replying to the email does nothing. The code on the front of your card is what an approval is made of: they open Fold'em on their own phone and scan it while you are with them. The code is bound to that one request, is redeemed exactly once, and is valid for the day it names.

The card states the same limit in words on its back: only a scan of the code on the front ends this early, with them in the room, and there is no approve button on any page or email.

What an approval starts

Approving does not unlock anything that day. It starts a wait of at least 72 hours, counted by the server from the moment you approved. The apps stay sealed, the sites stay blocked, and their Home screen counts the wait down.

The wait can be longer than 72 hours, and never shorter. If the key changed hands recently, or a keyholder stepped away or was removed, a floor was written on their account at that moment and the wait cannot end sooner than fourteen days after it. That is what stops a change in the circle being a faster way out than going solo.

During the wait only they can call it off. You cannot take an approval back, and support cannot shorten it or extend it. When it ends, the server marks a release available and their app tells them; the apps still do not open until they take it, and that offer stands for seven days.

Deciding, step by step

  1. Open the link and confirm it is you

    The page opens on the ask, with a masthead pill reading Exit requested, and states plainly that nothing unlocks at this step and nothing unlocks today. Confirm with Face ID is the only control until you use it.

    The exit decision page: a pill reading Exit requested, the line "This is the moment they asked you to be here for," a panel headed "Only you can answer this," and a Confirm with Face ID button.

    The decision page, before the gate

  2. Talk to them first if you can

    Nothing on the page presses you. The clock the request runs on is seven days, so there is room for a conversation before a decision, and the request stays open and unchanged while you have it.

  3. Keep the lock, or arrange to meet

    Keeping the lock is the tap on this page. Letting them out means being in the same room, opening your pass, and letting them scan the code with their app. There is no third route.

If the page says the ask is closed

The page checks the request before it shows you anything. If they withdrew it while you were on your way, you read that nothing is needed from you rather than a decision form. If it was already decided, including by an approval that has already started its wait, the page says so before the ceremony rather than failing after it.

What this does not do

Keeping the lock does not end their ability to ask; it delays it by 48 hours. Approving does not end their term on its own, does not remove you as keyholder, and does not unlock anything from your phone. Nothing you do here reaches a second device or a desktop.

Silence is not a third answer that leaves things as they are. Seven days without an answer approves the request on its own, and the wait that follows is fourteen days rather than 72 hours.

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