Switching devices

With the same Apple ID this is the simplest case: the passkey reaches the new device through the iCloud Keychain.

1. Open KuroNote on the old device and wait for syncing to finish.
2. Set up the new device with the same Apple ID as the old one (Quick Start or restoring from an iCloud backup is fine).
3. Get KuroNote from the App Store and open it.
4. Unlock with the passkey (Face ID / Touch ID). That alone opens your notes.
5. The subscription is tied to the same Apple ID, so it carries over. If it does not show up, try “Restore purchases”.

If you cannot unlock: passkeys do not sync when the iCloud Keychain is off (Settings → your name → iCloud → “Passwords and Keychain”). In that case use C (add a device) if the old device is at hand, or the recovery code if it is not.

With the same Google account, Google Password Manager syncs the passkey to the new device.

1. Open KuroNote on the old device and wait for syncing to finish.
2. Set up the new device with the same Google account as the old one.
3. Get KuroNote from Google Play and open it.
4. Unlock with the passkey (fingerprint, face or screen lock).
5. The subscription is tied to the same Google account, so it carries over.

If you cannot unlock: the passkey may be stored on the device only (Settings → Passwords and accounts → Password manager). Use C (add a device) if the old device is at hand, or the recovery code if it is not. Manufacturer transfer tools do not always move passkeys.

This has the most steps, because both the key and the subscription have to move. Passkeys do not sync between Apple and Google, and an App Store subscription cannot be moved to Google Play (or the reverse). The notes themselves stay with the same account.

Recommended order

1. Finish syncing on the old device and issue a recovery code from the account screen and write it down (this makes everything that follows safe).
2. Install KuroNote on the new device and open it.
3. Carry the key over. If the old device still works, C (add a device) is easiest: on the new device choose “Add this device” and enter your registered email address; the request then appears under “Add a device (approve)” on the old device’s account screen. Check that the 4 digits match on both screens, then approve on the old device. If the old device cannot be used, enter the recovery code to unlock.
4. Confirm the notes open on the new device.
5. In the new device’s store, subscribe to KuroNote Server again (subscribe while already unlocked into the same KuroNote account).
6. Finally, cancel the subscription in the old store. The App Store and Google Play do not know about each other, so leaving it means being billed twice.

Do not cancel the old subscription before the new device opens your notes. Once the subscription ends, the retention period starts.

Adding rather than replacing follows the same steps. There is no limit on the number of devices and one subscription is enough (you are simply unlocking the same KuroNote account on several devices).

1. Install KuroNote on the device you are adding and open it.
2. On the same OS with the same account, unlocking with the passkey may be all it takes (A).
3. If it does not open, choose “Add this device” on the new device and enter your registered email address. The request appears under “Add a device (approve)” on a device you can still use; check that the 4 digits match on both screens and approve (C).
4. If that is not available either, enter the recovery code (B).

Editing on several devices at once is fine — the same note is merged automatically. Even if the same paragraph is changed at the same time, both versions are kept.

On a computer you use the browser version. It is only for KuroNote Server subscribers. No email is involved — you open it on the computer and approve on the phone.

Open on the computer, approve on the phone

1. Open note.kuro.boo/app/ in the computer’s browser.
2. Choose “Approve from KuroNote on your phone” and enter your registered email address. No email is sent — it is only used to know which device to ask for confirmation.
3. A 4-digit number appears on the computer.
4. Open “Add a device (approve)” on your phone’s account screen; the request from the computer is waiting. Check that the 4 digits are the same on both screens, then approve on the phone.
5. The notes open on the computer. From then on that computer’s passkey alone opens them.

If the 4 digits differ, do not approve. You can start over from the beginning. These 4 digits are how a person checks that the key was not swapped in transit — this is the one safeguard that even the operator cannot get past.

If your phone is not to hand

Choose “Enter my recovery code” on the computer’s lock screen and unlock with your recovery code. Without a recovery code the notes cannot be opened on the computer — not even by the operator.

First, take a breath. Unless the device’s screen lock (face, fingerprint, passcode and so on) is broken, whoever finds it cannot read your notes. Using a passkey requires the device’s own authentication, and the notes are encrypted inside the device as well.

If you have another usable device

1. Unlock on that device (phone, tablet or the browser on a computer).
2. Open ⚙️ Settings → “Registered devices”.
3. Select the lost device and force-revoke it. A revoked device is cut off from the account the next time it connects, and the data inside it is erased.

If you have no usable device at all

1. Get a new device, or use the browser on a computer.
2. Unlock with the recovery code. Without it, there is no way to get the notes back at this point.
3. Once unlocked, force-revoke the lost device from ⚙️ Settings.

Also worth knowing. The last remaining device cannot be force-revoked (losing every device would leave nothing that can unlock). Registering a new device makes it possible to revoke the lost one. Force-revoking does not remove the passkey stored on the device side (iCloud Keychain / Google Password Manager); it is disabled on the server so it cannot unlock anything, but delete it there too if it bothers you.

The notes on the server are safe. What matters is whether you can produce the key again. Try these in order.

1. Synced passkey: setting up the repaired, replaced or new device with the same Apple ID / Google account may sync the passkey so that unlocking is all you need.
2. Approve from another device: if even one device can still unlock — a tablet, a computer — you can carry it over from there (C).
3. Recovery code: if neither of the above works, unlock with the recovery code you saved.

If it broke before syncing finished, the unsaved changes that existed only on that device are lost. Everything already synced to the server comes back on the new device.

If any one device can still unlock, you can reissue it right now. It cannot be issued once you can no longer unlock, so please do it while it is on your mind.

1. While unlocked, open the account screen (⚙️ Settings in the browser version).
2. Choose “Reissue recovery code”.
3. Write down the code that appears. It is shown once. Keep it somewhere safe and separate from the device (on paper, in a password manager).
4. Reissuing makes the previous recovery code unusable. Destroy the old copy.

Check that an email address is registered as well. The recovery code and the email address are used as a pair (the email finds the account, the recovery code opens the key to the notes).

Unfortunately the notes cannot be recovered. KuroNote is zero-knowledge: we hold none of the notes, images or keys. Ciphertext remains on the server, but no key to open it exists anywhere. Contacting support cannot decrypt it.

This is the flip side of “not even we can read it”. We are sorry for the trouble; please just check the following.

1. Whether truly no device remains that you can think of (an old phone, a tablet, the browser on a computer). If even one can unlock, everything can be restored from it.
2. Whether the recovery code is kept in a password manager, a notes app or on printed paper.
3. Whether a backup ZIP exported earlier from the 💾 on a computer still exists. With the ZIP, it can be imported into a newly created account.

If you have a backup ZIP, you can import it into a separate, newly created account and carry on. This is not a way to restore the lost account, though — please talk to support first, including about the subscription.

Your KuroNote account (the passkey) and the store subscription are different things. Changing the store account keeps the notes as they are, but the subscription does not carry over.

1. Opening the notes still works as before, with the passkey.
2. Subscribe to KuroNote Server again with the new Apple ID / Google account (subscribe while unlocked).
3. Cancel the subscription on the old store account. Leaving it means being billed twice.

Caution: changing the store account also changes where passkeys sync (iCloud Keychain / Google Password Manager). The new account may end up with no passkey, so write down the recovery code before you start.

Separately from switching devices, KuroNote can “leave only the notes you chose to your family, should the worst happen”. It is only for KuroNote Server subscribers (free cloud storage is not covered).

1. Put the 👪 family mark on the notes you want to leave.
2. From ⚙️ Settings, issue a family handover code and give it to the person you trust, or keep it with your end-of-life documents. Issuing is done from the browser version on a computer.
3. The code cannot be used while the subscription is active. It becomes valid once the subscription ends with the end-of-life features on and the closing period (60 days) begins. With the features off it cannot be used.
4. When the code is used, notes without the family mark are deleted immediately and automatically, and it opens in a read-only mode where only the marked notes can be viewed and exported.

For details of the retention period, deletion and the “last letter”, see cancellation and data deletion.

Cancelling does not immediately erase the notes on your phone. When the subscription ends, KuroNote storage returns automatically to the free state (the cloud if you registered one, otherwise “This device only”). What happens next depends on whether the end-of-life features are on or off.

• End-of-life features off → your account and the notes on your device stay, and you keep using KuroNote as the free version. Only the data held on KuroNote Server is deleted 90 days after the subscription ends.
• End-of-life features on → the 60 days from when the end of the subscription is confirmed are the closing period. After that the whole account is deleted, including the notes inside your devices. If you are alive and want to keep going, turn the features off in Settings → Account before cancelling (the first launch after a cancellation also always asks).

1. Before cancelling, export a backup ZIP from the 💾 on a computer (confirm you can open index.html inside the ZIP and read it).
2. If you will keep using KuroNote, make sure the end-of-life features are off.
3. If you plan to change devices next, connect Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive and press “Back up”. On the free version, restoring that backup with “Restore from cloud” is the only way to move to a new device.
4. Cancel from the App Store / Google Play management screen you purchased with (deleting the app is not cancelling).

For the cancellation steps and the full list of what is deleted, see cancellation and data deletion.

Tidying up after the handover is finished. Do it in this order.

1. Confirm the notes open on the new device. Do not touch the old device until this is done.
2. Export a backup ZIP from the 💾 on a computer and confirm it opens.
3. On the new device, go to ⚙️ Settings → “Registered devices” and force-revoke the old device.
4. If the old device is at hand, sign out of KuroNote (the encrypted data inside the device is erased too).
5. Delete the KuroNote passkey left in the iCloud Keychain / Google Password Manager if you no longer need it.
6. Reset the device (erase all content and settings / factory reset).

A force-revoked device is cut off from the account and wiped the next time it connects to a network. If it never connects again that never runs, so resetting the device is the reliable step.