Create a Nodz account
How to sign up with only a username and a password, and why you must save your recovery kit.
A Nodz account needs only a username and a password. No email address, no phone number, no real name. That also means there is no email we could send a reset link to, which is why the recovery kit (step 5) matters so much.
Step by step
- Open the web app or one of the apps and choose Create account.
- Choose a username: 3 to 32 letters, digits or underscores, starting with a letter. It is permanent: you cannot change it later, and after you delete your account nobody can ever register it again.
- Choose a password of at least 12 characters, without your username in it. A passphrase of four or more random words (like lamp orbit velvet cactus) is strong and easy to remember. The meter below the field tells you how strong it is.
- Confirm that you are old enough and accept the terms of use, then select Create account. Your device now creates your encryption keys and solves a short puzzle that keeps bots out; this takes a few seconds.
- Save your recovery kit. Download it or copy the code, and keep it somewhere safe: printed in a drawer, or in a password manager. Then tick the box and continue.
Why the recovery code matters: it is the only way to reset a forgotten password and to bring your encryption keys to a new device. Nodz has no back door: if you lose both your password and your recovery code, your account and its encrypted history cannot be recovered, not even by us.
What happens on our side
Your keys are created on your device. Our server stores your username, a hash of your password, the public half of your key, and a backup of your keys that is encrypted with your recovery code, which we never see. See How Nodz works for the details.