Troubleshooting

When you sign up we send an email from noreply@chickadeebandit.com with the subject "Verify your Chickadee Bandit email address". Its link and code both expire after 10 minutes.

1. Check your spam or junk folder, and any "Promotions" or "Updates" tab.
2. Still nothing? On the sign-up page choose resend the email, or try to sign in and choose Send a new verification email.
3. Open the newest email, in the same browser you'll sign in with, within 10 minutes.

To stop misuse, one address can be sent five of these emails (verification and password reset together) an hour. If you see "Too many verification emails", wait an hour and try again. Signed up in the phone app? You'll get a code to type into the app instead of a link.

On the sign-in page choose Forgot your password?, enter your email and choose Send Reset Link. The email's subject is "Reset your Chickadee Bandit password", and its link works for one hour. If it expired, ask for a new one. The same five-an-hour limit applies.

Setting a new password signs you out on every device and disconnects any AI assistant connected to your account, so sign back in on your phone afterwards.

The page names the problem:

• This invite has expired. Household invites last 72 hours, and Space invites 48. Ask the admin to choose Copy invite again for a fresh link.
• This invite has already been used. Each link joins one person. If that was you, just sign in.
• This invitation has been replaced by a newer one. The admin made a new link; use that one.

Admins can see every link that hasn't been used yet under Outstanding invitations on the members page, with Copy link and Revoke for each.

On a phone: open the Chickadee Bandit app, go to Settings, and under Notifications choose Enable or Repair Push Notifications. The app only asks for permission when you choose this, and it shows ✓ Push notifications enabled once it works. If your phone says notifications are off for the app, turn them on in the phone's own settings, then come back and choose it again.

In a browser: push is set up separately for each browser. On the web, go to Settings → Notifications and choose Enable next to This browser. If it says notifications are blocked, allow them in the browser's site settings first.

Still quiet? Check your quiet hours and the kinds of notification you've unticked on the same page. More in notifications.

Its card under Settings → Calendars shows Sync failing, the last error, and when it last synced. After three failed syncs in a row you also get a "Calendar sync failing" notification. The usual cause is a changed password or removed access: choose Reconnect and sign in again. For a calendar added by link, the link has probably changed, so disconnect it and add the new one. More in connected calendars.

• A child with their own email signs in like anyone else, and uses Forgot your password? with that email if they forget it.
• A child without an email doesn't have a sign-in of their own. They use a PIN on a paired family tablet. An admin sets it under Settings → Shared Devices → Kiosk PINs.
• The tablet says it's locked. Five wrong PINs lock it for a few minutes, and longer each time. Ten wrong tries on one person's PIN within an hour lock that person out on the tablet. Wait it out, or have an admin change the PIN.

More in kids' accounts and shared tablet setup.

On the family map, each person shows how old their last location is. If it's hours old, open Chickadee Locate on their phone and look at its status screen:

• Background location: While using only means it updates only while the app is open. Choose Change this in Settings and allow location Always (on Android, "Allow all the time").
• Location is turned off for this app means the phone is blocking it. Choose Open Settings and allow it.
• On iPhone, don't swipe Chickadee Locate away, and on Android, turn off battery optimization for it.

Home and away turn to "unknown" after six hours without an update, and if a tracked phone goes quiet for twelve hours the adults get a "Safe-zone tracking stopped" alert saying why. More in the Safe Driving setup guide, which walks through Chickadee Locate's permissions.

Ask Chat with Chickadee, or email support@chickadeebandit.com with the email address on your account and what you were doing when it went wrong.