When someone you trust asks for help, check somewhere safer.
Connect with family and close friends while you are together. If an unusual call, text, or email arrives later, check the exact request through their trusted phone before you act.
CodeWords confirms an enrolled phone and a specific request. It does not identify a voice, message, or video on its own.
New CodeWords challenge
From a trusted connection
Money request
Approve sending £240 for the train home?
Biometric approval required
Take urgency out of the decision.
Use CodeWords when a request is unusual, urgent, or important enough to deserve a separate check with the person you know.
A family emergency that needs money now
A caller or message says someone you love needs help immediately. Challenge the amount and reason in CodeWords before you transfer anything.
A friend contacts you from a new number
The name and story sound right, but the number is unfamiliar. Check the request through the phone you connected with your friend in person.
A request for a code or account detail
Pause before sharing a password, one-time code, bank detail, or personal information, even when the request appears to come from someone you know.
A last-minute safety or collection change
Check an unexpected change involving a child, older relative, journey, collection, or meeting place before anyone acts.
Meet once. Check from anywhere.
Connect while you are together
One phone shows changing signed QR frames. The other scans them and exchanges a fresh signed Bluetooth challenge with the nearby phone.
Approve the connection
Both people compare the same words and number, then use their phone to approve. The relationship is bound to those enrolled devices.
Stop and check unusual requests
Later, describe the exact request in CodeWords. Your trusted person can approve it, deny it, or say that they are under pressure.
Agree one rule before anything happens.
If a request creates panic, asks for secrecy, or demands immediate action, stop the original conversation and open CodeWords yourself. A real friend or relative should expect the check, not take offence at it.
Pause the original call, text, or email.
Open CodeWords yourself, never from a link in the message.
Describe the exact request and wait for a fresh answer.
Stop completely if the answer is denied, pressured, or unclear.
Trust is set up before the crisis.
A shared secret can be overheard or copied. A code sent in the same chat can be intercepted. CodeWords uses the phone you connected in person, then asks that phone to approve the exact request through a separate signed path.
Read the security modelTrusted phones are added while both people are together
Changing signed QR frames and a fresh signed Bluetooth challenge
Each approval is signed by a key held on the enrolled phone
Biometrics protect sensitive approvals on supported devices
Challenges name the exact request and expire after a short time
Device recovery revokes the old phone and trusted connections
What an approval means
CodeWords confirms that the enrolled phone approved the exact request shown in the app.
It does not prove that a voice, message, video image, or legal identity is genuine. A person may be under pressure, an unlocked phone may be compromised, or the wrong person may have been trusted at the first meeting. Stop if anything still feels wrong.
What people ask before they start
No. You open CodeWords when you choose to challenge a request. The app does not need to listen to your calls or read your private messages.
The first in-person connection gives both people a chance to confirm who they are trusting and which phones belong in the relationship before an urgent request arrives.
The old device and its trusted connections are revoked during recovery. The person creates a new account and reconnects with trusted people in person.
Yes. No app can remove coercion. CodeWords offers deny and pressure responses, but you should stop and use another check whenever an approval or situation feels wrong.
Give the people you trust a safer way to check.
Get a note when CodeWords is available to install from the App Store, plus important release updates.