Most sign-in problems come down to the email address or the password. This article goes through each message the sign-in page can show, and what to try next. If it is your child who cannot get in, see Your child cannot sign in instead, because readers sign in with a PIN or pictures rather than a password.
"That email address and password do not match."
This means we could not match the two together. We never say which of them was wrong, so that nobody can use the sign-in page to find out whether an address has an account with us.
- Check the email address for a typing mistake, and try any other address you might have used when you signed up.
- Type the password again, and watch for capital letters or a password manager filling in an old password.
- If it still does not work, choose "Forgotten your password?" on the sign-in page and ask for a link to set a new one. Resetting your password walks through it.
"Too many attempts. Please wait and try again."
After 10 tries with the same email address within 15 minutes, we stop accepting more for a while. This protects your account from somebody guessing the password. The same limit covers asking for a password link for that address, so wait up to 15 minutes before you try either again.
When we ask for a code
If you have turned on two-step sign-in, the page says "One more step" after your password and asks you to "Enter the six-digit code". The page calls this two-factor authentication, which is the same thing.
- Type the six numbers your authenticator app is showing now, then choose "Continue". The numbers change every thirty seconds.
- If you do not have your phone, type one of your backup codes instead, exactly as it was shown to you. Each backup code works once.
- The code step allows five tries and lasts ten minutes. If a code you are sure of keeps being refused with "That code was not correct, so please try the next one.", reload the sign-in page and start again with your password.
- After ten wrong codes in a row, no code is accepted for 15 minutes, even if you start again, so wait before you try once more.
If you have lost both your phone and your backup codes, write to us at support@taletykes.com and tell us the email address on the account. We can remove the second step, and when we do, we send you an email called "Two-step sign-in is off on your account".
If your account is closing or suspended
- Closing. If you closed your account in the last 30 days, it is waiting to be deleted and the rest of it does not open: signing in takes you to "Close your account" and nowhere else. That page is where you keep it, with "Keep my account". Closing your account explains what happens.
- Suspended. If the page says "This account has been suspended, so it cannot be signed in to right now.", we have paused the account. We only show this once the password is right. If your account has been suspended explains what that means and how to ask us about it.
How long you stay signed in
A sign-in lasts 30 days on each device and browser, and it is renewed while you use TaleTykes, so we ask again only on a device you have not used for 30 days. Changing your password in Settings signs every other device out, so after a change you need to sign in again on your other devices.
Signed in, but not where you expected
- Your child's Home opens instead. While a reader is signed in on a device, the grown-ups' pages take you to your child's Home. Choose "Grown-ups" at the bottom of the screen, type your password under "Your password" and choose "Go to the grown-up bit". Who is reading, and the Grown-ups button has more.
- A staff account. An address set up for a member of the TaleTykes team opens our own pages and never a family's, so a member of our team who is also a parent needs a separate account with a different email address.
Still stuck
If none of this helps, write to us at support@taletykes.com or use Contact, and tell us the email address you are trying to sign in with and the message you see. Never send us your password.