Story Builder documentation

Your account and its security

How to secure your Story Builder account with two-factor authentication, see and sign out the devices signed in to it, and what happens to your work if you close it.

Signing in #

Sign in with your email and password, or with Google. Both lead to the same account when the address matches: signing in with Google to an address that registered with a password takes you into that account.

How do I turn on two-factor authentication? #

Open Settings → Account & security and choose Set up two-factor authentication. Scan the QR code with your authenticator app (or use Or enter this key by hand), type the six-digit code the app shows, and press Turn on. From then on, signing in asks for a code from the app as well as your password.

You are then shown ten recovery codes, once. Copy them with Copy codes, keep them somewhere safe, and press I have saved them.

Two-factor authentication applies to every way into the account, Google included. Turning it off needs your password.

What if I lose my phone? #

Use a recovery code. When sign-in asks for the code from your app, choose Use a recovery code and enter one of the codes you saved. Each code works once. When you are running low, Regenerate recovery codes gives you a fresh set; it asks for your password, and the old codes stop working.

How do I sign out of other devices? #

Active sessions, under Account & security, lists every browser signed in to your account, with when it was first seen and last used, and marks this device. Press Sign out next to one device, or Sign out everywhere else to end every session but the one you are using. It takes effect at once: that device needs your password, and your second factor, to sign in again.

Passwords #

A password needs at least 8 characters, with a letter and a number. It is refused if it repeats too much, runs along the keyboard or the alphabet, or contains your name, your email address or the name of the site.

Change it under Account & security → Change Password. Changing your password signs out every other device.

When we email you #

Anything that changes how your account is reached gets an email: your password changed or reset, two-factor authentication turned on or off, recovery codes replaced, other devices signed out.

We never ask for your password or a code by email. A message that does is not from us.

Feedback #

After you have used Story Builder for a while, a Share feedback prompt may appear beside the chat and notes buttons on a screen at least 900 pixels wide. Open it, choose Good or Not great, add a line if you like, and press Send. Or close it with the ✕ (Don't ask again). Either way it will not ask again, and no other question comes for at least a month.

What you send is kept with your account and read by the team, who also get a copy by email. Closing your account deletes what is kept with your account. The emailed copy holds only your answer, your comment, the app, its language and version — not your name, address, account or project — and stays in the team's inbox.

What happens to my work if I close my account? #

Closing your account deletes it, the projects you created and everything in them, including your notes, your reading history, your profile picture, your notifications, your feedback and your chat messages. Your membership of projects and chats other people created is withdrawn. Reports and support requests you sent are kept for the record, without your account or email address.

Your contributions to other people's projects stay. That work belongs to those project owners — see permissions. Your name comes off it: contributions stop being linked to you, and comments keep their text and lose their byline.

To close your account, or to ask for a copy of everything associated with it, write to us through Contact support. A person handles each request, and we answer within a month. The privacy policy explains what we keep and why.

Tips #

  • Save the recovery codes before anything else. They are shown once, and without them a lost phone locks you out.
  • Check Active sessions now and then. Sign out anything you do not recognise.
  • Use a password you use nowhere else. A password shared with another site is only as safe as that site.
  • Take a backup before closing your account. A backup of each project you own keeps your work after the account is gone.