Your account and emails

Your catu account lives on catu.app, and you need one only to share captures. This page covers signing in, your name and photo, two-step verification and the emails catu sends you.

Sign in on catu.app#

There is no separate sign-up. The first time you sign in with an address or an Apple ID, catu creates your account.

1. Go to catu.app and click “Log in” at the top right.
2. Click “Continue with Apple” and confirm with your Apple ID. Or type your address under Email and click “Continue with email”.
3. If you chose email, catu sends you a 6-digit code. Type it under Code and click “Continue”. You can also open the link in the same email on this device.

If the code does not arrive, click “Send a new code”. To try another address, click “Use a different email”.

The Mac app signs in with Apple. Use “Continue with Apple” on the web with the same Apple ID, and you see the same Library in both places.

On your Mac, “Go to Web Library…” in the catu menu opens your Library in the browser, already signed in. To sign in on a phone or another computer, choose “Link a Phone or Browser…” and scan the code. It works once and only for a short time. Anyone who scans it is signed in as you, so show it only to your own devices.

Find your Settings#

1. Sign in on catu.app.
2. Click “Settings” at the top of the page. Or click your photo or initial at the top right and choose “Settings”.

The page has five parts: Profile, Plan, Sign-in, Emails and Two-step verification. Plans are explained in Plans and billing.

Change your display name#

Your display name is what people see on the clips you share and next to your comments.

1. In Settings, find Display name.
2. Type your name. It can be up to 60 characters.
3. Click “Save”. The button appears only once you change something.

Add or remove your photo#

Without a photo, catu shows your initial. Your photo or initial appears next to your clips and comments.

1. In Settings, find Profile.
2. Click “Upload photo” (or “Change photo” if you already have one).
3. Choose a JPEG, PNG or WebP image.

catu crops the image to a centred square, so square photos look best. To go back to your initial, click “Remove”.

Light or dark#

catu follows your device: dark when it is dark, light when it is light. To pin one, open Settings › Appearance and choose “Light” or “Dark”; “Match the device” goes back to following it. The choice is kept in this browser, not on your account, so set it on each computer you use. The same three buttons sit at the bottom of the public pages.

How you sign in#

The Sign-in card shows how you sign in (with Apple, or with an email code) and the address on your account. catu uses this address only for signing in and for the emails you choose under Emails.

If you sign in with Apple and chose to hide your email, the address shown is Apple’s private relay address. Emails still reach you through Apple.

You cannot change the address on the Sign-in card yourself. Write to us from the support page if you need to.

Turn on two-step verification#

Two-step verification asks for a 6-digit code from an authenticator app each time you sign in with an email code. Any authenticator app works, such as Apple Passwords, 1Password or Google Authenticator. It is recommended.

If you sign in with Apple, there is nothing to set up. Your Apple ID already has its own two-factor authentication.

1. In Settings, find Two-step verification and click “Set up”.
2. Scan the QR code with your authenticator app. If you cannot scan it, type the key shown next to it into the app.
3. Type the 6-digit code the app shows and click “Turn on”.
4. catu now shows eight backup codes. Click “Copy” or “Download” and keep them somewhere safe, away from your phone.
5. Click “I saved them”.

From now on, after the email code, catu asks for the code from your authenticator app.

To turn it off, click “Turn off” and confirm. Signing in then needs only the email code.

Backup codes#

Backup codes are for the day you lose your phone or your authenticator app. Each code works once. They look like XXXXX-XXXXX.

The Two-step verification card shows how many you have left, for example “6 of 8 left”.

To make a new set, click “New codes” and confirm. The old codes stop working at once, so save the new ones straight away. catu shows them only once.

Sign in with a backup code#

1. Sign in with your email code as usual.
2. On the Two-step verification page, click “Use a backup code”.
3. Type one of your codes and click “Continue”.

Using a backup code turns two-step verification off and cancels your other backup codes. Once you are in, go to Settings and set it up again with your new phone. You get eight fresh codes.

Choose which emails you get#

catu only emails you about your own clips. In Settings › Emails there are two switches:

• Comments: when someone comments on one of your recordings or replies to you. You get at most one email an hour per clip; anything more is gathered into one email.
• First view: when someone opens a recording you shared for the first time, with their country and kind of device. One email per recording.

Both are on to start with. Turn either off with its switch. The change is saved straight away.

You also get the sign-in codes you ask for. Those cannot be turned off.

Stop emails from the email itself#

Every comment or first-view email ends with “Stop these emails”. Click it to turn that kind of email off without signing in. Turn it back on in Settings › Emails whenever you like.

Log out#

1. Click your photo or initial at the top right.
2. Choose “Log out”.

You can also click “Log out” at the bottom of Settings. This logs you out of catu.app in this browser only. Your other browsers and the Mac app stay signed in. To sign the Mac app out, see Settings in the Mac app.

Delete your account#

There is no delete button yet. To delete your account, write to privacy@catu.app from the address you sign in with.

Deleting your account removes every clip you shared and every comment on them. Their links stop working. Your screenshots, recordings and clipboard history on your Mac are not affected.

If you have the Web app plan, cancel it first under “Manage billing” so it does not renew. See Cancel the Web app plan.

To delete single clips instead, use your Library.

If something doesn't work#

• The email code does not arrive. Check your spam folder, then click “Send a new code”. If catu says too many codes were asked for, wait a minute and try again.
• “That link has been used or has expired.” The link in the sign-in email works once. Go back to “Log in” and ask for a new code.
• Your Library on the web is empty, but you have shared from the Mac. You are probably signed in with a different account. Check the address on the Sign-in card, log out, and sign in with “Continue with Apple”. Or choose “Go to Web Library…” from the catu menu on your Mac.
• You lost your authenticator app and your backup codes. You cannot get past two-step verification on your own. Write to us from the support page.
• “That code isn’t right” when turning on two-step verification. The code changes every 30 seconds. Wait for the next one and check that your Mac and phone show the right time.