💡 Quick tips
- Type your own email. There is no list of names to pick from, so nobody can choose your name and lock you out.
- Your phone comes first. On your own phone, tap 🙂 Use Face ID — Face ID, your fingerprint or your phone’s passcode all work — then type your PIN. Once Face ID is set up, nobody can even try your PIN without your phone.
- Never set up Face ID? Type your email and your PIN. The screen says One last step: tap 🙂 Set up Face ID on this phone and you are in. Do it once, on your own phone only.
- No smartphone? You sign in at a church computer Pastor Clark has set up: ⛪ Use this church computer, then your PIN. No texts, no emails, nothing to carry.
- Your own phone can remember you. If your phone offers to save your email and PIN, tap Save. Next time, tap your saved login above the keyboard and both fill in. Face ID still comes first.
- A wrong PIN never locks you out for 15 minutes. After three wrong tries the screen asks you to wait 10 seconds, then 30, then never more than one minute.
- Mistakes cool off. An hour after your last wrong try it starts fresh, and the right PIN clears it at once.
- Someone else’s mistakes never touch you, even on the same church Wi-Fi at the same minute.
- From the Signet app, it all stays inside the Signet. Tap Sign in with the Church Key: email, Face ID once, PIN once — and the Signet opens. You are never sent back to sign in again.
- Pastor Clark: your key also opens the private records. In the Pastor’s Bridge, members and private prayer requests open on your Church Key by themselves — no Google pop-up. Only his key does this.
- One key, two doors today. Signing in once opens The Gatehouse and The Signet. Their old name lists, staff PINs and device codes are retired.
- Forgot your PIN? If Face ID is set up on your phone, tap Forgot my PIN? and choose a new one yourself. Otherwise Pastor Clark gives you a temporary PIN.
- On the church laptop, choose “Use a phone” when Face ID asks, and point your phone at the square code. The laptop signs you out after 30 minutes without use.
📖 The manual
Signing in, step by step
The gold bar at the top shows where you are: → →
- Your email. Type the email Pastor Clark has for you and tap Continue. Capital letters and extra spaces don’t matter.
- Face ID, if your phone is set up. The screen says “Welcome, your first name”. Tap 🙂 Use Face ID and look at your phone.
- Your PIN. Type your 6 numbers and tap Continue. You are in.
No smartphone: the church computer
- At a church computer Pastor Clark has set up, type your email and tap Continue. The screen says “Your key signs in at a church computer.”
- Tap ⛪ Use this church computer. The computer confirms itself with its own fingerprint, face or password.
- Type your PIN. You are in, and the computer signs you out after 30 minutes without use.
No texts, no emails, no second service. Members are never texted. The church computer is the second check, so a no-smartphone PIN cannot even be tried anywhere else. (Pastor Clark’s own key keeps one extra road: a code to his own cell through his Mac.)
Your first sign-in (Key Day)
- Pastor Clark gives you a temporary PIN in person or by phone. It works for 72 hours, for up to 5 tries.
- Type your email, then the temporary PIN. The screen says Choose your PIN.
- Type six numbers you will remember, twice. Not all the same and not in a row (123456 and 111111 are refused). Tap Save my PIN.
- On your own phone, tap 🙂 Set up Face ID on this phone. From then on: email → Face ID → PIN.
No smartphone? Key Day happens at the church computer: email → ⛪ Use this church computer → the temporary PIN → choose your own.
My key (after you sign in)
- Welcome, name, and how long you stay signed in.
- The apps your key opens: 🏛️ The Gatehouse · 🔏 The Signet · 🏦 The Storehouse · 📋 Membership Census, each with the role Pastor Clark gave you. All four open with a tap. The Gatehouse and The Signet open on this key; the other two say its own sign-in for now and ask for their own sign-in until they move onto the key.
- Coming from The Gatehouse or The Signet? Their “Sign in with the Church Key” button brings you here, and you go straight back once you are in.
- Face ID: the phones set up for you, each with Remove, and 🙂 Set up Face ID on this phone. Setting up Face ID needs a sign-in from the last 10 minutes, and never works on a shared computer.
- Change my PIN: current PIN, new PIN twice, then Change PIN.
- Sign out on this device · Sign out on every device everywhere at once.
The Gatehouse and The Signet open with the Church Key now. The Storehouse and the Census move next; until then they still open with their own sign-in, and the page says so.
Pastor Clark’s desk: Keys
- ＋ Give a new key: name, email, cell, and for each app a role: Gatehouse & Signet Board / Office (one role — the two share one staff list), Storehouse Officer / Treasurer, Census Office / Leader. Tick “No smartphone — signs in only at a church computer” for someone without one. Tap Save key. A temporary PIN appears once, in large numbers.
- Church computers: sitting at the church laptop, type a name in Name for this computer, tap ⛪ Set up this computer as a church computer, and let the computer confirm with its own lock. Each one is listed with Remove. Setting one up needs a sign-in from the last 10 minutes.
- Give each of them a Church Key under Bring existing leaders across: shown only while someone on the Gatehouse/Signet staff list has no key. Each gets a temporary PIN, shown once on that card; Face ID they set up on the Signet comes with them; their old Gatehouse/Signet PIN stops. Running it again changes nothing.
- Everyone with a key: each person’s apps, last sign-in and tags: Pastor Active Temporary PIN Paused Paused · wrong PINs Face ID · 1 No Face ID Church computer.
- Under each person: Temporary PIN (their old PIN stops at once and every sign-in they had ends) · Edit · Correct email (moves the key to the right address: their PIN, Face ID and roles come with it; if the right address already has their key and the misspelled one was never used, it removes the misspelled one) · Pause / Restore · Face ID devices (remove a lost phone).
- Show the log: every key given, temporary PIN, pause, restore, new device, sign-in and alert, newest first; red lines are the serious ones.
When Pastor Clark’s phone is texted
- A key paused after 20 wrong PINs in one day.
- A leader set a new PIN with Face ID (“Forgot my PIN?”).
- A leader set up Face ID on a new phone.
The same subject is texted at most once an hour.
Money acts (the Storehouse)
When the Storehouse moves onto the key, sealing a week, correcting it or recording a deposit asks for one Face ID look instead of retyping your PIN. Each look is good for that one act, for 2 minutes. A member without a smartphone confirms at the church computer the same way.
↑ Back to the top🎙️ Voice commands
None, on purpose. Skylar and Blake cannot sign anyone in, give a key, reset a PIN or read a PIN. Signing in happens only on this screen, with your own phone and your own fingers. A voice that could open the key would be a second door.
| If you say | What happens | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| “Blake, reset Deacon ___’s PIN.” | Nothing changes. Blake has no Church Key tool. | That it is done on the Church Key page, Keys, Temporary PIN. |
💬 Sample conversations
A board member signs in on their own phone
Board memberTypes their email, taps Continue.
Church Key“Welcome, ___. Look at your phone to confirm it is you.” 🙂 Use Face ID
Board memberTaps it and looks at the phone.
Church Key“Face ID confirmed. Now type your 6-number PIN.”
Board memberTypes the PIN.
Church Key“Welcome, ___. Your own device: you stay signed in for 12 hours.” Their apps are listed.
A typo, and no lockout
OfficerTypes the PIN wrong three times.
Church Key“That PIN is not right. Please wait 10 seconds before the next try.” The button counts down: Continue (9)
OfficerTypes the right PIN.
Church KeySigned in. The wrong tries are cleared.
Pastor Clark hands over a key
Pastor ClarkKeys → ＋ Give a new key, fills in name, email, cell, Gatehouse: Board. Taps Save key.
Church Key“Temporary PIN for ___, shown once”, then six large numbers. “Give ___ this temporary PIN in person or by phone. It works for 72 hours.”
New board memberSigns in with email and the temporary PIN, chooses their own PIN, taps 🙂 Set up Face ID on this phone.
🛠️ Troubleshooting
You see
“That email does not have a Church Key.”
Why
The email is spelled differently from the one Pastor Clark saved, or no key was given yet.Do this
Check the spelling, or ask Pastor Clark which email he used.You see
“Please wait 10 seconds, then try your PIN again.”
Why
Three or more wrong PINs in the last hour.Do this
Wait for the countdown on Continue. The longest wait is one minute. A try made during the wait is not counted.You see
“This key was paused after too many wrong PINs today.”
Why
20 wrong PINs in one day. Pastor Clark’s phone was told.Do this
Tap Forgot my PIN? and use Face ID to choose a new PIN; that lifts the pause. No Face ID? Ask Pastor Clark for a temporary PIN.You see
“That email does not have a Church Key.”
Why
The email you typed is not the one on your key, or the key was saved with a spelling mistake.Do this
Pastor Clark opens Everyone with a key, looks at the email on your card (a red Check email marks a likely mistake) and taps Correct email. Your PIN stays the same.You see
“Your PIN is right. Face ID has to be set up on your own phone first.”
Why
Your key has no Face ID yet, and this is a computer.Do this
Open this page on your own phone, type your email and PIN, and tap 🙂 Set up Face ID on this phone.You see
“This key signs in with Face ID on the phone you set it up on.”
Why
Your key has Face ID on a phone, and you tapped “I don’t have my phone with me” or are on a different device. Members are never texted a code.Do this
Use your phone (Face ID, fingerprint or passcode), or ask Pastor Clark for a temporary PIN.You see
“Your key signs in at a church computer, and none is set up yet.”
Why
Your key is marked “No smartphone”, and Pastor Clark has not set up a church computer, or removed it.Do this
Pastor Clark: Keys → ⛪ Set up this computer as a church computer, at that computer.You see
“This is not a church computer set up for the Church Key.”
Why
You are at a computer that was never set up, or was removed.Do this
Go to the church computer Pastor Clark set up.You see
“That took too long. Please start again with your email.”
Why
A sign-in step waits 10 minutes, and must finish on the same connection it started on.Do this
Type your email again. Nothing was counted against you.You see
“Face ID was cancelled.”
Why
The phone’s Face ID box was closed, or it did not see your face.Do this
Tap 🙂 Use Face ID again.You see
“That device is not set up for this Church Key.”
Why
This phone’s Face ID belongs to someone else, or was removed.Do this
Use the phone you set up, or sign in with a temporary PIN and set up Face ID again.You see
“To set up Face ID, sign out and sign in again first.”
Why
Adding a phone needs a sign-in from the last 10 minutes, so a sign-in left open cannot quietly add someone else’s phone.Do this
Sign out, sign in, then set up Face ID.You see
No Face ID button on My key.
Why
A shared computer (the church laptop), or a browser that cannot use Face ID.Do this
Set up Face ID on your own phone.You see
“That temporary PIN has expired.” or “Too many wrong tries with this temporary PIN.”
Why
A temporary PIN works for 72 hours and 5 tries.Do this
Ask Pastor Clark for a new one: Keys → Temporary PIN.You see
“Too many wrong tries from this connection in the last hour.”
Why
Forty failures in an hour on the no-Face-ID road from one connection. Face ID sign-ins are never slowed this way.Do this
Use Face ID on your own phone.Pastor Clark sees
“Welcome, Dr. Clark. Set your Church Key PIN first: tap Forgot my PIN?”
Why
His first visit: his key is made, with no PIN yet.Do this
Forgot my PIN? opens by itself: Face ID on the phone he used for the Signet (it came across), then a code to his own cell, then he chooses his PIN.You see
“The Signet now opens with the Church Key” or “Pastor, board and office now sign in with the Church Key”
Why
An old link or an installed copy used the retired Signet or Gatehouse sign-in.Do this
Tap Sign in with the Church Key; you come straight back.You see
After your PIN, the Signet shows “Sign in with the Church Key” again.
Why
Fixed 2026-11-10. The Signet installed on a phone is its own app; the Church Key used to open outside it, in a separate browser view that kept the sign-in to itself. It now opens inside the Signet (the address reads /signet/key/).Do this
Close the Signet app fully (swipe it away) and open it again from its icon, then sign in once. If it happens again, tell Pastor Clark — it is a fault, not something to work around.Pastor Clark sees
In the Pastor’s Bridge: “Member records need office sign-in.” or “🔐 Sign in to see private prayer requests”.
Why
The Bridge could not find his Church Key sign-in (12 hours passed, or the Bridge was opened outside the Signet).Do this
Sign in to the Signet with his Church Key, then open the Bridge again. The records open by themselves.Pastor Clark sees
He forgot his PIN and has no Face ID phone.
Do this
Forgot my PIN?, type his email: a code goes to his own cell, then he chooses a new PIN. The log marks it red.✅ Can · ⛔ Cannot
✅ It can
- Open The Gatehouse and The Signet with one sign-in, and return you to the one you came from.
- Sign you in with Face ID + PIN on your own phone, or through your phone on the church laptop.
- Slow wrong PINs without ever locking you out for 15 minutes.
- Let you choose a new PIN yourself with Face ID.
- Sign in members without a smartphone at a church computer, with nothing to carry and no second service.
- Let Pastor Clark give, reset, pause and restore keys, and remove a lost phone.
- Keep a log of every key act and sign-in.
- Open members and private prayer requests in the Pastor’s Bridge on Pastor Clark’s own key, with nothing to type.
⛔ It cannot
- Show a PIN again after it is given. A new temporary PIN is the only way.
- Text or email a code to a board member or officer — never, by Pastor Clark’s decision: everything stays in house.
- Let a no-smartphone PIN be tried anywhere but a church computer.
- Open members or private prayer requests on any key but Pastor Clark’s — a board member’s key, an office key, lent powers or no key are all refused.
- Be opened by Skylar or Blake.
- Save someone’s Face ID on the shared church laptop.
- Reset or pause Pastor Clark’s own key from the desk.
- Send email. Its only messages are sign-in codes and alerts to Pastor Clark’s phone.
- Open The Storehouse or the Membership Census yet. They move onto the key next, each one tested first.