# Keeping your app private

Who can open your app, and how that changes when you keep it.

Your app is never public. Access moves through four stages, and none of them is "anyone".

| Stage | Who can open it | How |
|---|---|---|
| Just deployed | Nobody | Requests are rejected before the app runs |
| Link opened | One device | The first device to open the link holds the key |
| Kept | Named people | You claimed it by email and can invite others |
| Later | Still only those people | Invitations, never a public address |

## The link is the key

The link your AI prints ends in `#k=...`. That part is a one-time key. It works for 60 minutes and for one device. If it expires, ask your AI to deploy again for a new one. If someone else opened it first, the page says so and tells you to ask the owner for an invite.

## Keeping the app

On the first open you are offered **Keep this app**. Enter your email and open the message we send on the same device. Your device's access becomes *your* access, the 7-day expiry is removed, and you can name the app, invite people and see it in your dashboard.

Chose "Not now"? The offer stays at `https://<your app's address>/_platform/keep` for the device that opened the link.

## Inviting someone

From the app's **People** tab, or by asking your AI ("invite alex@example.com to the family app"). Invitations are by email only. The person opens the link in their email and is in. They sign in the same way on any other device.

## Signing in to the app itself

Because the platform already knows who opened the door, your app does not need its own login screen. Your AI can remove any login library it added; the platform signs people in before the app runs.