Your child signs in with a short PIN or a few pictures. That is safe only because it works just on a device a grown-up has set up with their own account. On any other device, your child's PIN opens nothing. So before your child can sign in anywhere, you sign in to your own account on that device and mark it as trusted.
Set a device up
- On the tablet, phone or computer your child will use, sign in to your own TaleTykes account.
- On your Home page, find "Reading on this device" and press "Trust this device". While you are still getting started, the same button is in the "Getting started" list, under "Set this device up for reading".
- When you see "This device is ready", press "Who is reading?" and hand the device over.
You can also set a device up from any of these places:
- On a phone, "More", then "Trust this device" under "This device".
- The "Start" button on a reader's card or page, for example "Start Mia reading", which sets the device up on the way and opens that reader's sign-in screen.
- The "Who is reading today?" screen, which shows "Set this device up" on a device that is not set up.
- The Safety page, which has the same "Reading on this device" card as Home.
You need to have finished the card check before you can set a device up for your own readers. If you have not, pressing the button shows "Please finish verifying your account first." Why we ask for a card explains the check.
How long it lasts
A device stays trusted for 180 days from the day you set it up. After that, your readers cannot sign in on it until you set it up again, and the "Trust this device" button comes back.
The trust is kept by the browser you used. A different browser on the same device, or a private window, is not trusted, and clearing the browser's data removes the trust.
Signing out of your own account does not remove the trust, but "Who is reading today?" only opens while you are signed in on that device. If your own sign-in there has ended, you will be asked to sign in again before anyone can pick a reader.
One account per device
A device is set up for one account at a time. If another account set it up, for example the other parent's own TaleTykes account, "Reading on this device" says so. Pressing "Trust this device" moves the device to your account. The "Start" button on a reader asks first, with "Use this device for your readers?". Either way, the other account's readers cannot sign in on that device until a grown-up from that account sets it up again.
Forget a device
We keep no list of the devices you have set up. Each device holds its own trust, so you can only forget the one you are holding.
- On that device, go to "Reading on this device" on your Home page, or "This device" under "More" on a phone.
- Press "Forget this device".
- On "Forget this device?", press "Forget this device" again.
Your readers can no longer sign in on it until you set it up again, and anyone reading on it is signed out. Books kept on it for reading without the internet are removed from the device. Every book stays in your account. Keeping books on a tablet to read offline explains kept books.
If a device is lost or stolen, you cannot forget it from somewhere else. Sign a reader out everywhere explains what to do instead.
Shared and borrowed devices
- Before you hand back, pass on or sell a device, press "Forget this device" and then sign out of your account.
- On a device the whole household uses, each reader signs in with their own PIN or pictures, and "Someone else is reading" hands it to the next one. See Who is reading, and the Grown-ups button.
A guardian's device
A grown-up you made a guardian can set up a device with their own account, and they do not need the card check to do it for your readers. On that device, "Who is reading today?" shows their own readers, if they have any, and yours.
If you remove them, or change them to "Can look", their device stops signing your readers in the next time it is used, and a reader signed in on it is signed out. A grown-up who can only look cannot sign your readers in on any device. Share your readers with another grown-up explains the two roles.
Where to go next
- Setting up a device for your child covers the first time through.
- If your child still cannot sign in, see Your child cannot sign in, or ask us through Help in your dashboard.