Confirm these are yours

You typed the code and, instead of the map, you see a screen headed Confirm these are yours. It shows two numbers — how many Groups and how many Maps are saved under your phone number — and asks you to choose. It appears when a number has not been used with FriendTrack for about three months. It is not an error, and nothing has happened to your Groups or Maps.

Why it asks

Phone numbers get reused. When someone gives up a number, their carrier eventually issues it to somebody else — and because your phone number is your sign-in, the next person issued your old number could sign in exactly the way you do. The code proves you hold the number today; it cannot prove that the Groups and Maps saved under it are yours.

So, when a number has been quiet for about three months, FriendTrack stops and asks. The screen shows counts and nothing else — no Group names, no places, no friends’ names — so a stranger who has just been issued your old number learns nothing about you from the question.

If they are yours

Tap Yes, these are mine. You are signed in as usual, with every Group and Map exactly as you left them. Nobody has to invite you again, and your display name and photo are still there.

Your last shared Position from back then is gone, though: a Position that has not been updated for about three months is erased, so your friends see you on the map again the next time you start Sharing — see Start Sharing with a Group.

If they are not yours

Tap This isn’t mine — start over. Nothing is removed yet: a second screen headed Start over with this number? spells out what will happen. Go back returns to the question. Only Remove everything and start over on that second screen does anything.

⚠️ Start over is permanent. It removes everything saved under the number: every Group you were a member of, every Map you made or installed, and the display name and photo. There is no undo, and nobody can restore it afterwards — not from the app and not by writing to us. If there is any chance these are yours, use Go back and choose Yes, these are mine instead.

After starting over you are back at the sign-in screen with a short notice saying the Groups and Maps were removed. Ask for a new code, and you sign in to an empty FriendTrack — the same as a first sign-in.

If you are not sure

Tap Not now. Nothing changes and you return to the sign-in screen. The next time you sign in with this number, the same question is asked again.

If the screen says the sign-in was stopped

The question stays open for fifteen minutes. If you leave it longer than that, tapping either button shows “That took too long, so the sign-in was stopped.” Go back to sign in, ask for a new code, and answer the question again.

The same question at friendtrack.net

Signing in to the web Map Editor with a number that has been quiet for three months asks the same question, with the same two numbers and the same buttons — see sign in to the Map Editor.

What to expect afterwards

Once you have answered Yes, these are mine, you will not see the question again unless the number goes unused for another three months. Using FriendTrack from time to time — even without Sharing — is enough to keep it from coming back. If you have moved to a new phone and see this screen, that is expected: I got a new phone covers the rest of the move.