Sign in and restore your settings
Open Signal sign-in is a one-time emailed code — no password. Once signed in, your portable settings back up automatically and restore on any new machine.
Signing in ties your installation to your callsign. It’s how the service knows pictures published under your call really came from you, and it unlocks settings backup.
How sign-in works
There is no password. You enter your callsign, a six-digit code is emailed to the address held for you, and you type it into the app. The code expires in minutes and works once. That’s it — the installation stays signed in.
If your callsign is new to the service, you provide an email during the first-run wizard and verification happens the same way.
Settings backup and restore
Once signed in, the portable part of your settings — callsign, grid, integrations, personalisation choices — is backed up to the service automatically (shortly after start, then hourly).
What this means in practice: reinstall the app, or move to a brand-new computer, run the wizard, sign in — and your setup comes back.
What is deliberately NOT backed up: anything machine-specific. Your sound card selection, serial port, PTT method and rig configuration stay local, because your new machine’s hardware is different anyway. Expect to re-pick audio devices after a move — that’s by design, not a failure.
Signing in later
Skipped the wizard? Settings → Sign in does the same email-code dance any time.
New to Open Signal?
Start with the overview — what it does, the honest status, and how the pieces fit together.