When something does not work

A message sits there with a clock

The clock means nothing could carry it yet. It is on this phone, sealed, and nothing has been handed to anyone. There is no need to resend it.

CHANNEL tries again every 30 seconds while the app is open, when you bring the app forward, when you tap Check Now, and when you open the chat. If the contact's lights are all dark, nothing has changed yet at their end. If a radio light is lit and the message still waits, that contact's Internet Fallback time has not run out yet: the message is holding out for the radio. Set that contact to At Once on their page if you would rather it went by the internet straight away.

The other phone does not see this one over Bluetooth

On Android, Settings › Reach shows a line under the Bluetooth switch:

• Visible means other phones can find this one. If they still do not, the problem is at their end.
• This phone cannot advertise means this phone's Bluetooth will not announce itself. It can still hear other phones, and a phone that connects to it can still reach it. Pair by QR code, or let the other phone find you.
• No Bluetooth permission means CHANNEL has not been allowed to use Bluetooth. Grant it in the phone's own settings for CHANNEL, then open Reach again.
• Off means the switch above it is off, or Bluetooth is off on the phone.
• Failed, with a reason, means the phone refused. Turn Bluetooth off and on again.

The iPhone does not show this line. If one phone shows B and the other does not, wait a few seconds and look again: a light goes dark five minutes after the other phone was last heard from.

The code never arrived

• Check the country code and the digits shown under the number.
• Some numbers cannot receive texts: a landline, a number that lives only in another app, a number a carrier is filtering. Choose Phone call instead and the code is read aloud, twice.
• The code can arrive on any device that has the number. It does not have to be this phone.
• Codes expire in ten minutes; ask for a new one.

A request stays at Waiting for them

You accepted, and the other phone has not been reachable since. Pairing finishes when both phones are next reachable, whether nearby or both able to reach our server. You can leave the screen; it is not stuck. Cancel it if you no longer want it.

Safety numbers do not match

Compare them in person. If they differ, do not send anything sensitive: one side's key has changed, or something sits between you. Pair again by QR code, in person.

The invitation went out, and nothing happens

Writing to someone at a number leaves an invitation in a slot only that number's owner can collect. Nothing tells you whether anyone will. If they have not verified that number in CHANNEL, they will never see it. Try another value, or pair in person.

The same person twice

If a request arrives from a number you already have, accepting it attaches the key to the existing contact rather than making a second one. A second key for the same name that you did not expect is worth a question.

I forgot my app PIN

There is no way in. The PIN is never stored, so nobody, us included, can reset it. Delete and reinstall CHANNEL, then restore from a backup if you made one.

The AI says my key is wrong

Check that the key was pasted whole and belongs to the provider chosen above it. Settings › AI › Get a key at … opens that provider's own key page. A key from one provider never works on another.

The banner is the wrong colour, the keyboard covers a field

Tell us. Include the phone model and what you were doing; leave out anything you would not want in an email.

English is the reference text; any translation is a convenience. Help is stored on this phone and never contacts anyone.