In short
Open the site, choose to sign in with LinxyPass, and answer on your phone — by scanning the Mark, pressing and holding it if you are on the same phone, typing the six-digit code, or responding to a prompt that arrives on its own. The page moves on by itself once you have answered.
Two habits make this reliable. Start the sign-in and answer it in one go, because an attempt lasts five minutes and cannot be extended by anyone. And treat any prompt you did not cause as an alarm rather than an inconvenience — you will be asked to pick a matching number, your first pick is final, and a wrong pick cancels the sign-in rather than letting it through, which is exactly how it is meant to behave.
On this page
- Before you start
- Signing in on another screen
- Signing in on the phone itself
- Using the six-digit code
- When the prompt comes to you
- The number you have to match
- Denying, and when to
- What happens to an attempt you never answer
- Starting the sign-in from the App instead
- Symptoms, causes and fixes
- Things people commonly get wrong
Before you start
You need the Linxy App on a phone that has been enrolled, and the site has to have been enrolled too. If either is missing, see Enrolling a site first — the first time at any given site is a slightly different, slightly longer path.
After that, every sign-in at that site is the short version described here.
Signing in on another screen
This is the ordinary case: you are at a laptop or a desktop and your phone is in your pocket.
- Choose LinxyPass on the site’s sign-in page. A Mark appears, with a two-digit number above it labeled Confirm this number in the Linxy App
- Open the Linxy App and scan the Mark
- Your phone shows three numbers. Tap the one displayed on the laptop
- The laptop moves on by itself. You do not need to refresh it or return to it first
The page is watching for your answer, so there is no button to press afterwards and nothing to copy back.
On lnxy.me itself, and on some other sites, there is usually no number at all. Each sign-in there is shown its own image, so scanning it already tells Linxy which screen you are looking at: scan, confirm with your face or fingerprint, and you are in. If a number does appear on one of those pages, match it as described below.
Signing in on the phone itself
When the site and the App are on the same phone, scanning is impossible — a camera cannot photograph its own screen. Press and hold the Mark instead.
The image you pressed is checked to confirm it is a real Mark rather than a saved picture of one, so this route is not a shortcut around anything. It is the same proof by a different gesture.
Using the six-digit code
Every attempt also carries a six-digit code, and typing it into the App does the same job as scanning. Reach for it when the camera is struggling — poor light, glare on a glossy screen, a Mark rendered very small, or a camera the site has not been given permission to use.
The code belongs to the attempt, not to you, and it stops working when the attempt does.
When the prompt comes to you
Where the site already knows which account is signing in, the request can be sent straight to your phone without you scanning anything. That happens in two ways: you type your username or email into the sign-in box (it reads Enter your username or email to sign in), or the browser remembers you from an earlier LinxyPass sign-in and greets you with Welcome back. Either way the browser shows a match number and the prompt reaches every device you have enrolled.
Your watch only joins in for the second kind. A sign-in from a browser that remembers you can be approved on your wrist; a sign-in where somebody typed your username or email has to be confirmed on your phone, where you pick the number. See Approving from your watch.
Prompts only arrive if notifications are allowed for the Linxy App. The App asks for that permission right after your first approval on the phone; if you said no, turn notifications back on in your phone’s settings.
Before you answer, read what it tells you: the browser and operating system the request came from, and roughly where. Those details are only ever shown when they are actually known — nothing is filled in speculatively — so what you can see is worth reading.
The number you have to match
Approval is not a yes-or-no button. The signing-in screen shows one two-digit number; your phone offers three. Only one is right.
If you cannot see the other screen, you cannot answer correctly, and that is intentional. It is what makes an unexpected prompt safe: an attacker can send you the question but cannot show you the answer.
Your first pick is final. Linxy, not your phone, checks the number you chose. A wrong pick cancels that sign-in on the spot: the browser says The number you picked didn’t match this screen, so this sign-in was cancelled and offers Start over, which opens a fresh sign-in with a new number. There is no second try on the same number.
Three wrong numbers for the same account at the same site within 15 minutes pause sign-in there for 15 minutes. The page says so, and adds that if it was not you, no one got in. If you see that and you were not signing in, somebody else was trying — nothing of yours was given away, but it is worth reviewing your enrolled devices.
Denying, and when to
You can deny a request outright, and you should whenever you did not cause it. Denying is a positive act rather than simply ignoring it, and it is the right response to a prompt that arrives out of nowhere.
If that happens more than once, treat it as a sign that somebody knows your email address at that site and is trying. Nothing of yours has been given away by the attempts themselves, but it is worth reviewing your enrolled devices.
What happens to an attempt you never answer
It expires quietly after five minutes and nothing is left behind. Attempts end up in one of a few states — answered, expired, canceled, or failed — and only the first lets anybody in.
An expired attempt cannot be revived. Refresh the sign-in page and a fresh one is created, with a new Mark, a new code and a new number.
Five minutes is the maximum as well as the default. Sites cannot ask for longer, so no site you use can be configured to leave sign-in windows open.
Starting the sign-in from the App instead
Every way of signing in on this page begins at the site. For a site you have already enrolled with there is a shorter path that begins in the App: open Connections, find the site’s Brand card, tap Sign in. The Signal Ring asks for your face or fingerprint and the site opens in your browser signed in. There is no match number on this path — the number exists to tie your phone to a screen the site is showing, and here nothing is being shown; your phone initiated it.
Two differences are worth knowing before you use it. The first time a One-Tap sign-in lands in a given browser, the site pauses to ask Open <your name>’s account? — a check that the browser is yours, asked once and then remembered. And the sign-in is valid for sixty seconds from the tap; a browser that dawdles gets told the sign-in expired, and you tap again. The full account, including the recent-sign-ins shelf on the LinxyPass screen and pinning a Brand to your home screen, is in One-Tap sign-in.
| From the site | From the App (One-Tap) | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts with | The site showing its Mark or code | Tapping Sign in on the Brand card |
| Match number | Usually — pick the one on screen | No |
| Where you end up signed in | The browser that showed the Mark | Your phone’s browser |
| Extra step | None | “Open your account?” once per browser |
| Time allowed | Five minutes to approve | Sixty seconds for the browser to complete |
| Works for | Any site showing a LinxyPass sign-in | Sites you are already enrolled with |
Symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The page did not move on after I approved | The attempt expired before you answered | Refresh the page and start again |
| The Mark will not scan | Glare, angle, or a small render | Type the six-digit code instead |
| I cannot scan because I am on the same phone | Cameras cannot see their own screen | Press and hold the Mark |
| The three numbers do not include the one I can see | You are looking at a different attempt | Refresh the sign-in page and use the new number |
| I picked the wrong number | The first pick is final; a wrong one cancels the sign-in | Choose Start over on the sign-in page and match the new number |
| “Sign-in on this site is paused for 15 minutes” | Three numbers did not match for your account at that site within 15 minutes | Wait 15 minutes. If you were not signing in, review your enrolled devices |
| A prompt arrived unexpectedly | Someone else is trying to sign in as you | Deny it. Review your enrolled devices |
| Nothing arrives on my phone | Notifications are not allowed for the Linxy App, LinxyPass approvals are switched off, or the device is not enrolled | Allow notifications for the App and check LinxyPass approvals in its notification settings; scan the Mark instead in the meantime |
| My watch says to confirm on my phone | The sign-in needs the number picked, and only the phone does that | Open the prompt on your phone and pick the number |
| The code stopped working part-way through typing | The attempt expired | Refresh for a new code |
Things people commonly get wrong
Related reading: What LinxyPass is, Approving from your watch, Managing your sites, and Your devices.