Keep your anonymous identity
An anonymous identity disappears with the storage it lives in. A password keeps the handle, chats and contacts, and adds email and sign-in anywhere.
An identity created through the no-sign-up entrance has no password. That is what makes it instant, and it is also its one weakness: it lives in the storage of the browser or app that created it, and clearing that storage ends it. Saving it — setting a password — turns it into an ordinary Private.Ki account without losing anything.
Saving keeps the same handle and the same keys; your existing chats are not re-created or re-sent, and the people you are talking to see no change. No email address is required.
Where the app offers it
You will meet the offer in three or four places. They all lead to the same screen, Keep this identity:
- The banner at the bottom of your chat list — Clear this browser and this identity is gone. Keep it ›
- The pill after your first message — Sent your first message · Keep this identity?
- The locked-feature sheet, whenever you touch email, an invitation link, or signing in elsewhere: Set a password
- Your identity card on the anonymous home, which also offers Pair a phone instead — a second device that carries the identity, still with no password
Set a password
- Open Keep this identity from any of the places above.
- Read what you get. The screen lists it: sign in on any device, an email address at your handle, higher sending limits, and all chats and contacts kept. Your handle stays yours, with one free rename later.Web & desktop screenshotKeep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.
Keep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.Web & desktop iPhone screenshotKeep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.Keep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.iPhone Android screenshotKeep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.Keep this identity: what saving gives you, the two password fields, and Save identity.Android - Type a password twice — at least 8 characters with upper case, lower case and a digit, the same rule as any account. The password never leaves the device in readable form; it is used to re-lock the keys you already have.
- Press Save identity. When it is done the screen says Identity saved — You can now sign in anywhere with your handle and password.
From here the account behaves like any other: the Email side of the app unlocks, invitation links work, and you can sign in on a second device with the handle and the password.
If you forget the password, nobody — including us — can restore this identity. That is the same rule as for every Private.Ki account: we hold no copy. The fix is the next step.
Then add a recovery address
A password you can forget is one accident away from the same outcome as clearing the browser. Adding a recovery email address gives you a way to reset the password. It is optional, it can be done at any time afterwards, and we store only a hash of the address — see Set up a recovery email.
Two-factor authentication is worth the minute it takes as well: Set up two-factor authentication.
Pair a phone instead
If you do not want a password yet, Pair a phone instead puts the same identity on a second device. That protects you against losing one device, but not against losing both, and it still cannot sign you in somewhere new by password. It is a stopgap, not a substitute for saving.
See Pair a second device.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- Your password — sign-in uses OPAQUE, so the password itself never reaches us
- Your chats, before or after saving
Can see
- That this account now has a password, which is what unlocks email and sign-in elsewhere
- Your handle, unchanged by saving
Common questions
Do my existing chats survive?
Yes. Saving re-locks the keys you already have under your new password; the chats, the contacts and the handle are untouched.
Can I change the handle afterwards?
The Keep this identity screen says your handle stays yours with one free rename later. Renaming is otherwise restricted — see Change your username.
What if the save half-finished?
If the app says your password is set but re-locking the keys did not finish, sign in once more; that completes it. If it keeps happening, contact support.
I saved it on my phone. Is the browser one still anonymous?
An identity is one account, not one per device. Once it is saved it is saved everywhere you sign in with it. What does not carry over is a different identity created separately in another browser — that one is its own account.