What it is
A magic link unlocks your family file. Open it on a new device (or scan its QR code with the phone’s camera) and you go straight to your own PIN entry — no recovery kit, no passwords. Anyone already signed in can make one from the profile menu, Sign In Another Device, or from Settings → Security & Recovery → Magic Links. It asks who is signing in, then your PIN, and shows the link and QR code. The pod owner and admins can make one for any family member; everyone else can make one for themselves.
Keep it somewhere you trust
Anyone who has the link can open your family’s information until it expires. It is not limited to one person, and the PIN afterwards does not change that — the link is what unlocks the file. Send it straight to the person signing in, or let them scan the QR code from your screen. Do not post it in a group chat.
It lasts 15 minutes
A magic link works for 15 minutes from the moment you create it. After that it stops working and you need a new one. This is deliberate: a link that unlocks your family file should not sit in an old message. There is nothing to save — make one when you need it.
If your link has expired or stopped working
Create a new one from a device where you are already signed in — the profile menu → Sign In Another Device, or Settings → Security & Recovery → Create a Magic Link. You cannot create one from the device you are locked out of, because making a link requires your family file to be open.
- If you have another device signed in, create a new link there and open it on the new device.
- If you do not, ask a grown-up in your family who is signed in to make one for you, or tap Show my approval code instead on the new device and have them scan it.
- If nobody in your family is signed in anywhere, use your recovery kit or the family passphrase.
- If a link opens your browser instead of the app, open beanies and use “Have a link? Paste it here” on the first screen.
A link that went somewhere it should not have
Making a new link does not cancel an earlier one; each link simply runs out on its own after 15 minutes. If a link has gone somewhere it should not have, the fix is time: it is useless a quarter of an hour after it was made, and whoever opens it still needs a family member’s PIN. beanies never shows you an existing link again; it can only make you a new one.
Magic link, recovery kit, or invite?
- Magic link — the everyday way onto another device, made by someone already signed in. Lasts 15 minutes.
- Recovery kit — the family’s break-glass. It does not expire, and it gets you in when nobody is signed in anywhere.
- Joining link — for someone who is not in the family yet.