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For keyholders and witnesses

What am I agreeing to as a keyholder?

Updated September 2026

Almost always one thing: if the person you hold for asks to end their term early, the request reaches you and you answer it. There is one other case, and it is rare, because a handover to a new keyholder needs your approval too. Nothing else is asked of you, and nothing at all is asked unless one of those two happens. You cannot let them out from your own phone, and you cannot shorten, cancel or extend anything.

The whole job is two events, and both are rare

Someone installed Fold'em on their own iPhone, chose a length of time, and asked you to hold the key to it. For the whole of that time the gambling apps they sealed do not open on that phone, and the betting sites Fold'em carries do not load in its browsers. They cannot simply switch it back off, and that is the point of asking you.

Two things ever reach you. The first is an early exit request: if they want out before their term ends, you are the person who answers. The second is a handover: if they want to give the key to somebody else, the change does not happen unless you approve it. Between those two moments there is nothing to do, nothing to check daily, and no schedule you are on.

The accept page states the same three facts before you agree to anything: what the term is, what is asked of you, and what is never shown to you.

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.

What answering actually means

When an exit request opens, you get an email, and your Wallet pass carries the ask on its face with a Decide by date. Two answers exist.

Keeping the lock is one tap, from anywhere, on the page the email links to. Your phone confirms it is you with Face ID first, so a forwarded link cannot decide in your name. If you keep the lock, they are told, with no reason attached, and they can ask again after 48 hours.

Letting them out is only ever done in person. There is no approve button on any page, in any email, or on the pass. Approving means they scan the code carried on your Wallet pass with the Fold'em app on their phone, while you are standing together. The card says so in as many words: only a scan of the code on the front ends this early, with them in the room.

Answering is not the only outcome. If seven days pass with no answer from you, the server approves the request on its own and marks it as if they had no keyholder at all, which starts a wait of fourteen days rather than 72 hours.

What you cannot do

The limits are built into the server, not into a policy anyone can waive.

You cannot unlock their phone, remotely or otherwise. You cannot shorten the wait that follows an approval, and you cannot cancel it once it has started: only the person you hold for can call their own request off. You cannot change their term, their blocked apps or their sites, and there is no control anywhere that would let you. You cannot choose which updates reach you either, because which alerts fire is the user's setting inside their own app.

Before you accept

  1. Read the three rows

    The invite page opens with what Fold'em did to their phone, then three rows: the term, what is asked of you, and what is never shown to you. The third row names it outright: their browsing, their location, the apps or sites involved, and any amount of money.

    The keyholder invite page, headed "Alex wants you to hold the key," with three rows below it: The term, Asked of you, and Never shown to you.

    The invite page, before you accept

  2. Say yes, or say you cannot

    Yes, I will hold it takes you to the next step. Under it sits I cannot do this, which declines the invite and tells them. Declining is a real answer and it is better than accepting a role you will not answer.

  3. Know that you can leave later

    Accepting is not permanent. You can step away from your status page at any time. Their protection continues without a keyholder, and their early exit wait becomes fourteen days from that moment.

What this does not do

Holding a key does not make you responsible for whether they gamble. Fold'em blocks one iPhone, and a second phone, a desktop, a betting shop and cash are all outside what any app can reach. It does not make you a monitor: you are never shown what they browse, what they typed, or any amount of money, and no spend figure is sent to a partner anywhere in Fold'em. It is not a treatment service and nothing here is medical advice.

Accepting also gives you no control over their phone. There is no setting of theirs you can change, no block you can add, and no timer you can move.

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