Account & Recovery Key

Your WitnessWork account is anonymous: there's no email, phone number, or password. Your phone makes a secret account key the first time you use Buddies, Scribe AI, or Backup, or view your recovery key, and WitnessWork's server knows you only by a random account number. Find it in Settings → Account. If the status there says Offline, this device has no internet connection; if it says Not responding, WitnessWork's server didn't answer, so tap Try Again in a few minutes. Either way, everything on this device still works, and the status checks again when the connection comes back. Each device proves it's the genuine WitnessWork app when it connects to your account (see "Why does WitnessWork say it can't verify this device?"). The key stays on your devices: in iCloud Keychain on iPhone and iPad, and in Google's Block Store backup on Android. Buddies uses it for your identity, and the server never sees your name or anything you share with buddies. Your service records, contacts, and notes stay on your device; if you turn on Backup in Settings → Account, the server also keeps an end-to-end encrypted copy that only your devices can read.

Use Set Up Another Device. It works between any two phones, including from iPhone to Android and back. On your old phone, go to Settings → Account → Set Up Another Device to show a QR code. On the new phone, install WitnessWork and choose Sign In with QR Code: during setup, tap "I already use WitnessWork", then From your other phone; after setup, it's in Settings → Account. Both phones show the same six-digit code. Check that they match, then tap Allow on the old phone. Both phones need the internet, and a code expires after 10 minutes. Your account and your buddies move to the new phone, and your old phone stays signed in. If the new phone used Buddies with another account, it asks first: that account's buddies stay on its other signed-in devices, or are removed for good if this was its last one. To bring your service records, contacts, and notes too, use Cloud Sync, which works between iPhone and Android: once it's on for the new phone, your records arrive without a restore step. Or turn on Backup in Settings → Account on the old phone first: the new phone then offers to restore them. iCloud Sync and Google Drive Sync work between phones of the same kind, and a backup file from Settings → Backup & Restore works between any two. The account travels end-to-end encrypted, so the server can't read it, and it keeps nothing once the new phone has it.

Make a new code on your old phone (Make a New Code) and scan it again. Each code works once and only for 10 minutes. Check that both phones are connected to the internet. If the connection drops after you tap Allow, keep both phones on the screen: the new phone shows Try Again and also continues by itself when it's back online. If the old phone says your account wasn't sent, check its connection and tap Allow again. Both phones need WitnessWork from the App Store or Google Play: a device that can't be verified can't use your account (see "Why does WitnessWork say it can't verify this device?"). If the codes on the two phones don't match, tap Don't Allow and start over, since another phone may have scanned your code. If the new phone can't scan, check that WitnessWork may use its camera in your phone's settings. If you no longer have your old phone, use your recovery key instead: on the new phone, go to Settings → Account → Use a Recovery Key. If it still doesn't work, contact support from the Help Center; never send your recovery key.

Your account, Buddies, Backup, Set Up Another Device, and Scribe AI work only in the genuine WitnessWork app. When a device first connects to your account, and again about every 90 days, WitnessWork asks Apple (App Attest, on iPhone and iPad) or Google (Play Integrity, on Android) to confirm the app and device are genuine. Apple and Google receive only that check, never your records, your account number, or your account key. Simulators, emulators, rooted devices, custom system software, and modified or unofficial copies of the app can't be verified; on Android the device also needs the Google Play Store and Google Play services, up to date. If Settings → Account says Not verified yet, Apple or Google couldn't be reached just then: wait a few minutes and tap Try Again. If it says Can't verify this device, reinstall WitnessWork from the App Store or Google Play and update the device's system software, then tap Try Again. Everything else in WitnessWork works on that device as usual, and your data stays on it. If a genuine device still can't be verified, contact support from the Help Center.

Your recovery key is your account key written out as WW1- and eleven groups of five letters and numbers. To see it, go to Settings → Account → Show Recovery Key; your phone asks for Face ID, Touch ID, your passcode, or your screen lock first when one is set. Copy it into a password manager, or share it to a private note or print it, and keep it somewhere only you can reach. Anyone who has it has your account, including your Buddies, so don't send it to other people or post it. If you lose it, view it again on any phone that still uses your account. If you think someone else has it, delete your Buddies data (Buddies Settings → Delete My Buddies Data): that removes your buddies and gives you a new account and recovery key. If you lose every phone and the key, no one can recover the account, including us.

If you still have your old phone, Set Up Another Device is easier: see "How do I move to a new phone or switch between iPhone and Android?". Otherwise, install WitnessWork on the new phone, go to Settings → Account → Use a Recovery Key, and enter your key. It works between iPhone and Android. Case, spaces, and dashes don't matter, and the app tells you when a character is mistyped. If that phone already used Buddies with a different account, the app asks you first, and its Buddies data is deleted from the phone. While other devices are still signed in to that account, its buddies stay on them; on the account's last device, its buddies are removed for good. On iPhone and iPad, the key also replaces the account on your other Apple devices that use the same iCloud Keychain. The recovery key brings your account and Buddies identity. If your account has a backup (Settings → Account → Backup), the app then offers to restore your service records, contacts, and notes; otherwise Cloud Sync brings them over once it's on for the new phone (Settings → Device Sync), or you can move them with iCloud Sync, Google Drive Sync, or Settings → Backup & Restore.

Go to Settings → Account → Signed-In Devices. It lists every device signed in to your WitnessWork account and when each was last active, with "This device" marked. Tap another device to sign it out, for example a phone you sold or lost. Signing out ends that device's connection, but if WitnessWork on it still has your account, it signs back in the next time it's used. If you think someone else has your account, delete your Buddies data (Buddies Settings → Delete My Buddies Data) to get a new account and recovery key, then set up your other devices again. Settings → Account → Account Activity shows your account's history for the last 400 days: sign-ins and sign-outs, devices signed out from another device, your account sent to a new phone, backups deleted or downloaded, Buddies set up or its data deleted, and suspensions. "Signed out … to protect your account" means a device's sign-in was used again after it had been replaced, which can mean someone copied it; check Signed-In Devices for anything you don't recognize. Device names are encrypted so only your devices can read them, and WitnessWork's server doesn't keep locations, IP addresses, or anything you share. Both need the internet, and they appear once your account is set up.