PIN & Account Access

Q. What is the device PIN for? A. It unlocks the app (and your Drive) on this device. It's a local gate only — it doesn't encrypt anything, isn't synced, and is never sent to the server.

Q. I forgot my device PIN. Did I lose my files? A. No. Set the app up again on that device and restore with your User Recovery Key. The PIN protects the device, not the data.

Q. What's the difference between the PIN and a vault password? A. The PIN gates the app on one device. A vault password is cryptographic — it's part of what actually unlocks a vault's files (and selects which Shadow Layer opens). See PIN, Password & Panic.

Q. Do I sign in with an account too? A. Yes — you sign in with your Oten account (Oten IDP) for cloud sync, sharing, and workspace features. It's the same identity used across the Oten suite.

Q. Can I use Face ID? A. On iOS you can enable Face ID to unlock. On macOS the app uses your device PIN and vault passwords.

Q. What happens when I switch workspaces? A. The app asks you to confirm, then immediately locks all unlocked vaults so nothing carries over unlocked into another workspace.

Q. Is the PIN synced to my other devices? A. No. The PIN is per-device by design. Each device has its own.