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Troubleshooting

Reinstalling Fold'em

Updated September 2026

Reinstalling does not end anything. Your term, the day you started, your keyholder and the lock itself are held on the server, so signing in on the fresh install brings all of it back exactly as it was, and never as anything weaker. Two things have to be done again on the phone: granting Screen Time, and picking your apps, because those picks are sealed to the device and never left it. Until both are done your keyholder's card reads Checking in.

What comes back on its own

Deleting Fold'em deletes an app, not a commitment. The state that matters is not on the phone: your term and its end date, the day your run started, whether a keyholder holds your key and who they are, and any exit already in motion all live on the server. Sign in on the fresh install and it is handed back, unbroken. A day count does not restart at one, and a reinstall can never produce a weaker lock than the one you had.

A damaged or contradictory record does not walk you out either. If the server's answer cannot be read cleanly the app parks rather than treating the silence as an ending and sending you toward a fresh start, because a phone cannot tell over apart from unreadable.

What has to be done again, and why

Two things do not come back, and it is worth knowing that this is a privacy property rather than a gap. When you pick apps in Apple's picker, what the app receives is a set of sealed tokens that are bound to that installation of the app on that phone. They are never uploaded, because only the count of them ever goes up, so there is no copy anywhere for the server to return. The same is true of the Screen Time permission: it is granted to an install, and a fresh install has not been granted anything.

So the fresh install asks for both. Until it has them the phone tells the server that its picks are still pending, and your keyholder's card reads Checking in rather than Protected, which is the honest word for a phone that is signed in and not yet holding.

A new phone, or a reinstall: what comes back and what is done again You sign in on the new phone and foldem.app sends the lock back exactly as it was: the lock and never a weaker one, the term and its end date, the day count unbroken at Day 12, and Maria still holding the key. Two things are done again on the new phone: granting Screen Time, and picking the apps, because Apple's app tokens never leave the phone they were made on. Until both are done, your keyholder's card reads Checking in. A NEW PHONE, OR A REINSTALL Sign in foldem.app sends it back exactly as it was The lock, and never a weaker one The term, and its end date The day count, Day 12, unbroken Maria, still holding the key DONE AGAIN, HERE Grant Screen Time Pick the apps again Apple's app tokens never leave the phone they were made on. Until both are done, Maria's card reads Checking in.
Sign in on a new phone and the lock comes back from the server: the term, the day count and your keyholder need nothing redone. Screen Time is granted and the apps are picked again on the new phone, because Apple's app tokens never leave the phone they were made on.

Putting the phone back together

  1. Sign in with the same Apple Account

    Signing in is what finds your record. There is no code to keep and nothing to have written down: the account is the key, and buying again is not part of this. If you reach a paywall on a phone with a live term, sign in first.

  2. Open Restore protection on Home

    Home carries a card that names what this phone still needs, and it lists only what is genuinely missing rather than a standard checklist. It is a sheet on Home and not a wall in front of it: SOS, your circle and Settings all stay reachable while you repair.

    The Restore protection sheet over Home, reading This phone needs one thing back, with Pick your apps listed and Continue at the foot.

    Restore protection

  3. Allow Screen Time

    The Allow button is Apple's own request, so the sheet that follows is Apple's. Granting it hands the shield back the authority it stands on. The step closes itself the moment the permission lands, including if you grant it over in iOS Settings.

    The Allow Screen Time step, with the line iOS will ask you to confirm and an Allow button.

    Allow Screen Time

  4. Pick your apps again

    This step mounts the same card the Shield tab uses, starting empty at 0 of 50, and the add well opens Apple's picker. At least one app has to be picked before it will finish. Pick everything you had, and anything else you have thought of since: adding is always allowed, and the picks you make here hold for the rest of the term.

    The step for choosing your betting apps again, with a Blocked apps card reading 0 of 50 and an empty add well.

    Picking the apps again

If the deletion lock was on

If you had turned the app deletion lock on, deleting Fold'em was not simply available: turning that lock off opens a 72 hour window on the server first, and your keyholder is told the reason you gave. The lock is the answer to deleting the app as an escape route, and it is why the honest way out of a term is the exit process rather than the home screen.

What this does not do

Reinstalling does not end your term, restart your day count, remove your keyholder, cancel an exit that is already running or change any wait that is counting down. It does not restore your picks, and nothing in a device backup restores them either. It does not hide itself: the gap between the reinstall and the moment you finish shows on your keyholder's card as Checking in, and that record stands afterwards. And it does not ask you to buy anything again: a signed in session is checked against your live record before the paywall would ever charge, which is exactly why signing in first is the first step above.

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