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Operators and the App

Add the people who reach Edges from the Privitty App, invite them, and enroll their App on desktop, Android or iOS.

Before you begin

  • You are an Owner or Admin. Other roles see "You cannot manage operators."
  • The operator has the Privitty App installed on the device they will use.
  • The operator can read email at the address you enter. Enrollment needs an invite email and a verification code email.

Add an operator

  1. In the sidebar, select Operators.
  2. Enter Name and Email.
  3. Select Create.

The operator appears in the list as {email} · active. If the address already belongs to an operator, the portal shows "That email is already an operator."

Send the invite

  1. On the operator's row, select Invite.
  2. The Invite link panel shows the link and a QR code. Watchtower also emails the link to the operator (subject Enroll your Privitty app).
Invite rule Value
Link validity 48 hours
Uses One. Send a new invite for each enrollment.
Shown in the portal Once, right after you select Invite.

If the email is slow

Give the operator the link or QR code from the Invite link panel by another route. The operator still needs their mailbox, because the verification code is always sent by email.

Email warnings

If the page shows "Email is limited (…)", invites stay queued until production email is approved, and only verified addresses receive mail. A row that shows "Email to this operator is bouncing." or "Email to this operator received a complaint." needs a corrected address or a message from you by another route.

Enroll the App

The operator does this on their own device. After they select Send email code, Watchtower emails a 6-digit code (subject Your Privitty enrollment code) that is valid for 10 minutes. To get a new code, select Send email code again.

  1. On the welcome screen, select Connect to Watchtower, or open the privitty://enroll… link from the email.
  2. In the Connect to Watchtower dialog, scan the QR code or paste the link.
  3. Select Send email code.
  4. Enter the code in Email code and select Confirm.
  5. When the dialog shows "Connected to Watchtower.", select Done.
  1. On the welcome screen, tap Connect to Watchtower, or open the privitty://enroll… link.
  2. Tap Scan to scan the QR code, or paste the link.
  3. Tap Send email code.
  4. Enter the code in Email code and tap Confirm.
  1. On the welcome screen, tap Connect to Watchtower. If the App is already set up, go to Settings > Advanced > Watchtower.
  2. Tap Scan QR code, or paste the link.
  3. Tap Send email code.
  4. Enter the code in Email code and tap Confirm.

If enrollment fails

Message What to do
"Paste a privitty://enroll link, or scan its QR code." Paste the full link from the invite email.
"That QR code is not a Watchtower invite." Scan the QR code from the invite, not another code.
ca pin mismatch Send a new invite and use the link exactly as sent.
Access ended screen See When access ends.

Other errors usually mean the invite expired or was already used (send a new invite), the code is wrong or older than 10 minutes (select Send email code again), or the operator is disabled.

Review Apps in the portal

Each operator card lists its Apps as {model} · {app_version} · {status} · last seen {date}. Desktop Apps show the browser user-agent string and desktop in place of a model, so use last seen to tell them apart. Each card also has an Access section for creating grants. See Grant access to an Edge.

After enrollment no Edge appears in the App until a grant starts.

Deactivate an App or disable an operator

Action Where Effect
Deactivate Operator card, App row The App shows Access ended (reason deactivated) the next time it contacts Watchtower.
Disable Operator card Blocks new invites and enrollments. Existing Apps show Access ended (reason deactivated).

No confirmation and no undo

The portal has no button to re-enable an operator or reactivate an App. To restore access, create a new operator, or send a new invite, and enroll again.

Revoke grants too

Deactivating an App does not revoke its grants. Revoke them on the Edge's Access tab. See Revoke a grant.