Because there is no email address to reset from and no name to verify you by, the second factor is the account. Choose it carefully.
A six-digit code from Aegis, Raivo, 1Password or any TOTP app. The secret is generated in your browser and never leaves your device in a readable form. Works with no signal and no network.
A physical YubiKey, SoloKey or passkey. Cannot be phished, cannot be copied off a screen, and cannot be intercepted in transit. Add it alongside an authenticator so losing the key is not fatal.
A code sent to your inbox. The only method that puts a contact detail on file with us, which is a real trade against everything else on this site. Choose it knowingly, and move off it whenever you like.
On an ordinary site, losing your password is survivable: you click a link in your email and start again. Here there is no email to send that link to, because we did not ask for one. The second factor is the only thing that proves a returning visitor is the same person who created the handle.
That cuts both ways, and we would rather say so plainly than surprise you later. Lose both your factor and your recovery codes and the handle is gone. No one at the desk can restore it, and there is nothing about you on file that would let us try.
Eight codes are issued once, at the moment you create the handle. They are shown on screen and offered as a download; we do not keep a copy. Each works exactly once.
Store them somewhere that is not the device holding your authenticator. A safe, a paper wallet, a second phone that lives at home — anywhere the two cannot be lost in the same event.
The address sits with your handle and is used for nothing else: no marketing, no product updates, no third party. When you switch to an authenticator or a key, it is deleted rather than archived, and the settings screen says so at the moment you switch.
Any method can be added or removed from your security settings, provided one remains. Adding a hardware key to an existing authenticator takes about ten seconds and is the single best thing you can do for a handle that trades size.
No. A phone number is both a contact detail we do not want to hold and the weakest widely deployed second factor — SIM swapping is routine. We would rather refuse the feature than offer a false floor.
Use a recovery code to sign in, then enrol a new device immediately. This is exactly what the codes are for, which is why they are issued before you can finish creating the handle.
It can, but keep both if you can. A key you leave in a drawer in another country is a strong factor you cannot reach.
It is generated in your browser and stored on our side only in the form needed to verify a code. It is never displayed back to you and never sent anywhere else.
Creating a handle walks you through a method, verifies it, and issues eight recovery codes.
Get a handle →