Troubleshooting

Magic link didn't arrive

Magic links normally arrive within a few seconds. If yours hasn't:

1. Check spam/promotions/junk. Some providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) initially route mail from new senders to those folders. Mark the email as "Not spam" so future ones come through.
2. Wait a minute, then request a new one. Magic links are time-limited (15 minutes), so an older one might already be expired by the time it arrives. Request a fresh link and use that.
3. Check the email address you typed. Look for typos — .con instead of .com, missing letters, etc. We can't tell you a typo'd address didn't work because we don't know it was a typo.
4. Check your email provider isn't blocking us. Some corporate or school inboxes silently drop mail from new senders. Try a personal address if you have one.

If none of that works, email us with the address you tried and the time you requested the link, and we'll check the delivery logs.

My changes aren't syncing

Boketto uses WebSockets for real-time sync. If your changes aren't showing up for other members (or theirs aren't showing for you), here's the order to check:

1. Check your connection. If you've gone offline (plane, lift, dead spot) Boketto queues changes locally and pushes them when you reconnect. The app will show an offline indicator.
2. Pull to refresh, or reload the page. If the WebSocket dropped silently — most often after a sleep/wake cycle on phones — reloading re-establishes it.
3. Confirm you're on the same tab. If a member made changes to a different tab, or you're looking at an archived/closed tab, you won't see live updates.
4. Check the activity feed. The activity feed on a tab shows every change with a timestamp. If your change is there, sync worked; the issue is in your view.

Persistent sync failures across reloads are worth reporting with your browser, OS, and the tab name.

I can't install Boketto on my phone

Boketto is a Progressive Web App, not an app store app, so installation goes through your browser's "Add to Home Screen" flow. The full step-by-step is in Install Boketto; common stumbling blocks:

• iOS only installs from Safari. If you're using Chrome or Firefox on iPhone/iPad, the "Add to Home Screen" option may be missing or non-functional. Open my.boketto.app in Safari and try again.
• You're in private/incognito browsing. Most browsers disable PWA install in private windows. Switch to a normal window first.
• Already installed. If you previously installed and don't see it, check whether it's in a different home screen page or in the App Library on iOS.

I keep getting signed out

Sign-in works via a session cookie that's refreshed automatically. If you're being thrown back to the sign-in screen repeatedly:

• Check your cookie / tracking-protection settings. Some privacy browsers (Brave shields, Safari ITP, Firefox strict mode) periodically clear "third-party" cookies, which can drop the Boketto session. Allow cookies for my.boketto.app.
• Check the date/time on your device. Sessions are signed with timestamps; a clock that's drifted by more than a few minutes can fail signature checks. Turn on automatic time.
• Sign out everywhere, then back in. See Signing in and out. A clean sign-in invalidates any stale sessions.

A balance looks wrong

Boketto's math is deterministic — if a balance looks wrong, the cause is almost always one of:

• An expense includes you when you didn't expect. Open the expense and check the "Split between" list. The expense includes everyone in the split, including the payer.
• An expense excludes someone you expected. Same place — check the split list. If a member was added to the tab after the expense, they're not in older splits.
• A settlement payment was recorded that didn't actually happen. Check the activity feed; if a "paid" event was logged in error, anyone in the tab can mark it as not received and undo it.
• Currency conversion surprised you. The rate is locked at the moment the expense was logged. See Multi-currency support and Reading your personal ledger to verify.

If the math still doesn't add up after these checks, tell us the tab name and the specific number you think is wrong.

A payment failed

Card payments for paid tabs go through Stripe. A failed payment doesn't create the tab and doesn't bill you.

• 3-D Secure / SCA: many UK and EU cards now require an extra confirmation step (a banking app prompt or text message). Complete that before the timeout.
• Insufficient funds, blocked card, or expired card: try a different card.
• Bank declined for fraud: contact your bank — they often need to allow the first transaction to a new merchant.

See Paid tabs — billing, renewal, refunds for the full payment flow. If a charge appears on your statement but no tab was created (a rare race condition), contact us with the date and amount and we'll refund the duplicate.