Your face or fingerprint key, explained

When you sign up, your phone makes a key, called a passkey, inside its secure chip. Your face or fingerprint unlocks it, and only that key can approve your payments.

What it means for you

• No password and no seed phrase. There is nothing to write down, remember or lose.
• Every payment needs your face or fingerprint. Nothing leaves your account without you.
• Nomapay never sees the private part of the key. It stays on your phone, and syncs only through your own Apple or Google account.
• Nomapay has no key to your account. That is why Nomapay cannot move or freeze your money.

New phone? The key comes with you

Because the key syncs through your Apple or Google account, a new phone signed in to the same Apple or Google account already has it. You sign in with your number, the sign-in code and your face or fingerprint. See I lost my phone.

Keep it safe

• Keep two-step sign-in turned on for your Apple or Google account. Your key is as safe as that account.
• Adding a second factor (your key on another device, or an authenticator app) also shortens the new-phone safety window from 24 hours to 1 hour.

If you lose your phone and your Apple or Google account, your two guardians can still help you get back in. See guardians and recovery.