Your child signs in with either a PIN or a row of pictures that they tap in order. This only works on a device that you, or a grown-up you made a guardian, have set up, so the PIN or pictures do not need to be a closely guarded secret. They are there to stop a brother or sister opening the wrong books. You choose which kind when you add a reader, and you can change it at any time.
The two kinds
- A number. A PIN of four to six digits, tapped on a keypad.
- Pictures. For a child who does not know their numbers yet. You pick at least three pictures and at most six, in the order your child will tap them, from a set of nine: apple, star, moon, boat, tree, ball, cake, key and drum. A picture can appear more than once.
Your child has no email address, so there is no link to reset a forgotten PIN from their side. Everything that fixes a sign-in problem is on your side, in the card on their Safety page called "How ... signs in", with your child's name in it.
To find it, go to Readers, choose your child and open "Safety".
Changing the PIN or pictures
- On the "How ... signs in" card, press "Change how they sign in".
- Choose "A number" or "Pictures".
- Type the new PIN, or tap the pictures in order. "Start again" clears the pictures if you make a mistake.
- Press "Save how they sign in".
Saving signs your child out on every device, so that anyone who knew the old PIN or pictures cannot carry on using it. The next time they sign in, they use the new one. Changing it also lifts any lock.
Too many wrong tries
Each wrong try shows "That is not quite right. Try again." After five wrong tries in a row, your child is locked out for 15 minutes and sees "Too many tries. Ask a grown-up to help."
While the lock is on, the top of their pages shows when it ends, "Needs your attention" on your Home page says they are locked out, and their Safety page shows a "Locked for now" note.
To let them in straight away, press the "Let ... try again" button with your child's name in it, on their Safety page or on Home. It also clears the count of tries kept for the devices they read on.
If they keep getting it wrong, change the PIN or pictures to something they can remember.
Signing them out everywhere
Under "Signed-in devices", the card says how many devices your child is signed in on at the moment. If a tablet has gone missing, or you want a fresh start:
- Press "Sign ... out everywhere", with your child's name in it.
- Confirm with "Sign them out".
They are signed out on every device, including any that has gone missing. They can sign in again on a device you have set up, with the same PIN or pictures. The button cannot be pressed when they are not signed in anywhere.
Signing a reader out does not undo the setting-up of a device. Sign a reader out everywhere covers what else to do about a missing device, and Trusted devices explains how a device is set up and forgotten.
How we keep it
We store a scrambled form of the PIN or picture order that cannot be turned back into the original, never the PIN itself. When you change it, our records note which kind you chose, but never the PIN, the pictures or how long it is.
If your child still cannot sign in, Your child cannot sign in goes through the other causes.