Account & settings

Settings

Your profile, how you sign in, and what kind of account you have — all on one screen.

What it does

Settings is where you keep your own details current. It covers:

• Profile — your name and the optional details other people see.
• Account & security — every way you sign in: email address, password, passkeys and connected social accounts. Below it, Seeing how AltEd is used has Help us improve AltEd, the same yes or no as the cookie question, for this browser.
• Notifications — which kinds of notification ring the bell, and which are emailed to you as well.
• Billing & plan — your plan (a new account's free month of Family says when it ends, with Family still offered to keep; under Move up a plan, a plan's button takes you to Stripe to subscribe and brings you back here to a thank-you, and we email you the plan, its price and a link to the invoice; Manage billing changes your card, switches plan or cancels), Purchases — every AI credit pack and evidence pass you've bought, with the date, the price, a Receipt link that opens Stripe's invoice or receipt, and when it was refunded if it was — and for families, Evidence storage: how much of the family's uploaded photos and PDFs is in use — 250 MB on Free, 2 GB on Family and Provider — and who put it there.
• View — whether you're looking at AltEd as a parent / guardian or as a provider, and the switch between the two.
• This device — installing AltEd as an app on the phone, tablet or computer you're using, notifications on that device, and the pages it keeps there to open without a connection. See AltEd as an app, and offline.

Where to find it

• Navigation: Settings (bottom of the sidebar, and in the avatar menu in the header)
• URL: /dashboard/settings

The page strapline reads "Your profile, sign-in, notifications, plan and role — pick a section on the left."

Click to enlargeTap to enlarge

Step by step

Update your profile

1. Go to Settings (/dashboard/settings).
2. In the Profile section, edit any of:

• Name — how you appear across AltEd.
• Phone (optional).
• Headline (optional) — "Providers: shown next to your name in the provider directory." A single clear line about what you teach.
• About (optional) — a longer description, written like a note: headings, lists, bold and links all work. "Shown on your page to the people you work with."
• Website (optional).

1. Save. You'll see "Profile updated".

Change your email address

1. Open Account & security → Email address.
2. Enter the New email and confirm.
3. AltEd emails a confirmation link to your current address. Open that email and follow the link to complete the change.

This is deliberate: it means nobody can move your account to a new address without access to the old one.

Set or change your password

Under Set a password or Change password:

• If you've never set one (you signed up with a magic link), enter a New password and Confirm password, then Set password. A password is a new way into your account, so AltEd first asks you to Confirm it's you — usually by selecting Sign in again, which brings you back here (if you signed in within the last ten minutes, you're not asked). We email you once a password has been added.
• If you already have one, enter your Current password, then the New password and Confirm new password — "Enter your current password, then choose a new one." — and Change password.

Passwords need at least 8 characters (and no more than 128) — nothing else is required, so a few ordinary words together work well. The bars under New password show how easy it would be to guess; they're advice, not a rule. Select the eye in any password field to see what you've typed. Changing your password signs out your other devices.

You don't need a password at all if you prefer magic links or a passkey.

Add a passkey

1. Under Passkeys, give the device a Name (e.g. MacBook Touch ID).
2. Select Add a passkey. AltEd first asks you to Confirm it's you: the code from your authenticator app (or a backup code) if two-factor is on, otherwise your password — or, if you have neither, to Sign in again, which brings you back here.
3. Follow your device's prompt (Touch ID, Face ID, Windows Hello, or a security key with its PIN — a passkey has to check it's you).
4. The passkey is listed once registered, and we email you to say one was added. Remove passkey deletes one, and never asks you to confirm.

Passkeys let you sign in with your fingerprint or face, with no password to remember or leak. Because one signs you in in a single step, adding one always needs that confirmation — a browser left signed in isn't enough. Once you've confirmed, you can add more for ten minutes without being asked again. Got an email about a passkey you didn't add? Remove it here and change your password.

Connect a social account

Under Connected accounts — "Link a social account for one-tap sign-in." — select Connect next to Google, Microsoft or Apple and complete their sign-in. Linked accounts show as Connected; use Disconnect to unlink one.

Only providers your AltEd site has been configured with appear here, so this section may be empty.

Choose your notifications

Open Notifications. Each kind of notification has a Bell switch — whether it shows on the bell — and an Email switch — whether it's emailed to you too. Each saves as you move it. A switch that can't change says why beside it. The defaults, and what an email looks like, are in Messages & notifications.

See your standing

Open Standing (/dashboard/settings?tab=standing). Your standing says whether anything has been decided about your account in the last year — a message removed, a warning, a restriction on your messages, a suspension, a reinstatement or an appeal's decision — with the date and the reason you were given, and shows any restriction still in force with when it ends. With nothing to show, it says you're in good standing. Administrators don't have this tab. See Safe messaging.

Switch view

One account has two views: your own family, and your work as a provider. The View tab shows the card View — "One account, two views: your own family, and your work as a provider. Switch whenever you like — nothing is lost either way." — and what You're using: — Parent / Guardian or Provider.

• In the parent / guardian view, select Switch to the provider view and confirm at "Switch to the provider view?". You'll see courses and lessons, the work you set, tutoring sessions and payments from families.
• In the provider view, select Switch to the parent / guardian view and confirm at "Switch to the parent / guardian view?".

Nothing is deleted when you switch — your learners, sessions and history all stay put; the change is what the app shows you. Switching takes you to your dashboard in the new view, because the view decides what every screen shows.

There are three ways to switch, and all of them ask the same question first:

• Your account menu — your picture at the right of the header — has Switch to the provider view (or Switch to the parent / guardian view). It's there at every screen size, so it's the quickest way on a phone.
• The header button next to the logo, Parent / Guardian or Provider, on a tablet or a computer.
• Settings › View, as above. On a phone, the menu (☰) has the same switch at the foot of the navigation.

Below it, Listing in the provider directory has the switch List me as a provider families can find. On, you appear in the list families choose from under Providers › Connect with a provider; off, you don't — and it never ends a connection you already have. It doesn't depend on which view you're in, and the provider home's Get found by families checklist has the same switch. While you're listed, What you teach below it takes your subjects, from AltEd's grouped list, and the ages you teach, so families can find you by subject and by their learner's age; Save keeps them.

Admin accounts have one view, so they don't see the View tab; admins manage roles from the Users screen.

When a link belongs to your other view

If you both tutor and home-educate, a link can land you in the view that doesn't show what it points at — a bookmark made in the other view, or a notification about the other side of your work. AltEd says so and offers the switch, rather than showing a blank page or the wrong list:

• A notification about your other view carries a small Provider view or Parent / guardian view label in the bell and on Notifications. Selecting it asks "Open this in the provider view?" (or the parent / guardian view). Switch and open switches and opens it. Cancel leaves it unread.
• A page that belongs to the other view — Curriculum is part of the provider view, Providers is part of the parent / guardian view — shows "… is part of the provider view" with Switch to the provider view. There's also a way to stay: Open the Curriculum builder, or Go to Connections.
• A learner who is only in your other view — say one of your own children, opened from a link while you're a provider — shows "Maya is in your parent / guardian view" on Learners, Progress, Assignments, Portfolio and Reports, with the switch and Back to your overview.

What's between you and someone else doesn't depend on either of your views. Your connections and messages, the notes you've shared, the people pages, and what a family can pay you all work the same whichever view you're in, and whichever the other person is in.

What each screen shows

Notifications lists each kind of notification under its group, with Bell and Email switches and the address emails go to — or a note that none are sent until that address is confirmed.

Settings is a single page in three parts: the Profile form; the Account & security card ("Manage how you sign in to AltEd") with its email, password, passkey and connected-account sections; and the View tab with the view you're using and the switch to the other. What's offered adapts to your account — you're shown Set a password if you don't have one and Change password if you do.

Tips and good to know

• If you're a provider, fill in the Headline — it's the one line families read next to your name.
• Keep at least two ways to sign in (say a magic link plus a passkey) so a lost device never locks you out.
• Signing out of other devices after a password change is intended — it's what makes a password change meaningful if someone else had it.
• Your role controls your sidebar. If a screen you expect is missing, check your current role here first.
• Switching view starts a fresh navigation trail (the pills down the left, or the bar with Back on a phone). The old one led to pages of the other view.
• Evidence storage splits what's used by who uploaded it — you, each learner with their own sign-in, and each provider. A provider's files count against your family's space, but no one provider can hold more than 50 MB of it. When you're nearly full, the card says how to make room.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• Signing in & account security
• The provider's guide
• Getting started
• Safe messaging
• AltEd as an app, and offline