Access and account

Before working with your accounts and transactions you need a user account in Cuéntamo. This chapter walks through every access screen: creating your account, logging in, confirming your email, recovering your password if you forget it, protecting your login with two-step verification, and accepting the invitations you receive to share an account book or a connected account.

All of these screens are deliberately plain: a centered white card with the Cuéntamo logo on top. They are the only parts of the app you reach without being logged in (along with invitations), so they are meant to get straight to the point.

Creating your account (sign up)

Signing up asks for just three things, and none of them is banking information:

• Name. How you'd like us to address you. It shows up in the app's greetings and in emails.
• Email. This will be your login identifier and the address where we send important notices (verification, password recovery, and so on).
• Password. It must be at least 8 characters. If you type a shorter one, the form warns you before sending anything.

When you press the sign-up button, Cuéntamo creates your user and your first account book automatically, and logs you in right away: there is no second step to get started. It takes you straight into the app (to the Home page, or to wherever you came from if you arrived through a link).

If the email is already registered or some field is invalid, you'll see the error message in red above the form. Below there is a “Already have an account? Log in” link in case you signed up before.

Logging in

The login screen asks for your email and your password. On submit, if the credentials are correct you go straight into the app.

The screen is honest about the different reasons a login can fail, and shows a different message for each:

• Invalid credentials: the email or the password don't match.
• Too many attempts: for security, after several attempts in a row access is limited for a while. Wait a few minutes and try again.
• No connection or service unavailable: the problem is the network or the server, not your password.

Two informational notices may appear at the top: “Your session has expired” (if you were sent back here for security after being idle) and a confirmation when you have just deleted your account. Below the form you'll find the link to recover your password and another to create an account if you don't have one yet.

On compatible devices, a button to log in with biometrics (fingerprint or face recognition) may appear under a divider, if you enabled it earlier on that device. It's an optional shortcut that does not replace your password.

Two-step verification at login (2FA)

If you have two-step verification enabled, after getting your email and password right Cuéntamo asks for one more thing before letting you in. A screen appears requesting the six-digit code from your authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy and the like).

• Type the six digits; as soon as the code is complete, it submits by itself, no need to press anything.
• If the code is invalid (or has expired, since they change every few seconds), you'll see a warning and can try again.

Don't have your phone handy? Press “Use a recovery code” and enter one of the single-use codes you saved when you turned on verification. Each one works exactly once. You can switch back to the normal code with “Use app code”, or press “Back” to return to the email-and-password screen.

Verifying your email and the grace period

After you sign up, Cuéntamo sends you an email with a confirmation link. Clicking it takes you to a screen that verifies the link automatically and tells you whether it went well (with a button to go to login) or failed (for example, if the link was expired or incomplete).

You don't have to confirm the very same moment: during a 48-hour grace period you can use the app normally even if you haven't verified yet. Once that window passes without confirming, access is blocked until you verify: a screen appears explaining this, reminding you which address we sent the email to, and offering a button to resend the verification email (handy if you can't find it or it expired). You can also log out from there.

The reason for this step is to make sure the address is yours and that we can reach you for critical things, such as recovering your password.

Recovering and resetting your password

If you forget your password, press “Forgot your password?” on the login screen. A form opens asking only for your email. When you submit it, Cuéntamo shows a confirmation message and, if that address has an account, sends you an email with a link to choose a new password. The confirmation message is the same whether the email existed or not, so as not to reveal which addresses are registered.

The link in the email opens the reset password screen, where you type the new password twice (they must match and be at least 8 characters). If the link is missing or has expired, the screen tells you so and you'll have to request a new one. On save, you'll see a confirmation with a button to log in with the new password.

Setting up two-step verification

Two-step verification adds a layer of security: besides your password, logging in will also require a temporary code generated by an app on your phone. You enable it from Settings, in the security section of your profile. The process has three steps:

• Scan the QR code. Cuéntamo shows a QR you capture with your authenticator app. If you can't scan it, there is a manual key you can copy and paste into the app by hand.
• Confirm with a code. You enter the six-digit code your app shows to prove the link was set up correctly. Verification is only actually turned on once you confirm.
• Save your recovery codes. Cuéntamo shows you a list of single-use codes. Store them somewhere safe: they are your only way in if you lose your phone. You can copy or print them. For security they are not shown again; if you lose them you can regenerate them later from Settings (the old ones stop working).

Administrators are required to have two-step verification enabled. If you are an administrator and haven't set it up yet, the app takes you to a dedicated screen that forces you to complete it before you can keep using Cuéntamo. If your account already has it enabled, that screen redirects itself to Home.

Accepting an invitation to a shared book

When someone invites you to share their account book, you receive an email with a link. Opening it takes you to the invitation screen, whose behavior depends on whether you already have a Cuéntamo account:

• You already have an account. Just press the accept button; the shared book starts showing up among yours.
• You don't have an account yet. The same screen asks you to create one on the spot: name, password (at least 8 characters) and its confirmation. On submit, you are registered and given access to the book in one go.

When you finish you'll see a welcome screen confirming which book you've joined, with a button to enter the app (or to log in, if you had just created the account). The exact permissions you hold over that book are decided by whoever invited you.

Accepting a connected account

Different from sharing a whole book is connecting a single account between two books (for example, a shared account that you and another person will each see from your own book). When you're invited to a connected account, the email link opens a specific screen where you decide how to attach that account to your side:

• Choose the destination book. If you have several books, you select which one the connected account will appear in (never the book that originated the connection). If you only have one, it's selected automatically. And if you don't have a suitable book yet, you can create a new book right there, without leaving the screen.
• Name the account. How that account will be called in your book. It's optional; you can use a name different from the one the other party chose, since each side sees it with its own name.

On accepting, the account gets linked and you'll see a confirmation with a button to go to your Accounts. If you'd rather not accept, simply ignore the link: the invitation does nothing until you accept it.

Keeping your account secure

A few ideas to keep your account protected without making your life harder:

• Use a long, unique password for Cuéntamo, one you don't reuse on other services.
• Turn on two-step verification: it's the most effective protection against someone getting in with your password.
• If you enable two-step verification, save your recovery codes off your phone (printed or in a password manager). They are your safety net if you lose your mobile.
• For your security, sessions expire after a while and you'll be returned to the login screen; that's normal.
• Biometric login, when available, is stored only on your device and is an optional shortcut; your password always remains valid.