Changing your email address
You can change the email address on your account from the web app under Settings → Email. You will need your current password to confirm the change.
Requesting a change sends two emails:
- Your current address gets notified that a change to the new address was requested.
- Your new address gets a confirmation link. The change only takes effect once you click it.
Once confirmed, your current address receives a final email confirming the change is complete.
Didn't request this?
If you get an email about an email change you did not start, do not click the confirmation link. Change your password right away and contact support so we can secure your account.
Why your password is required
In most apps an email change is just an update to a database field. In zeitkapsl it is a little more involved, and understanding why explains one of the core privacy guarantees.
Your email address and password together are used to derive the key that unlocks your account. Nothing that can decrypt your library is stored on our servers, it is recomputed on your device each time you sign in. Because your email is part of that calculation, changing it means your account key has to be re-derived and your stored keys re-wrapped for the new address.
That is why the change asks for your password: it is the only way to unlock your keys and safely re-secure them under the new email. Without it, not even we could re-encrypt your account, which is exactly the point of end-to-end encryption.
After changing
- Sign in with your new email address from now on. The old address no longer works for login.
- Your password stays the same.
- All your photos, albums, and shares are unaffected. Only the address you log in with changes.