Signing in to QuickStage on a new phone or laptop

To sign in to QuickStage on a new phone or laptop, enter the email address your credits are on and click the one-time link we send to it. The link expires 15 minutes after it's sent and works once, and the browser that opens it stays signed in for 30 days. If a link has expired or was already used, request a new one and click the newest email.

QuickStage has no passwords, so every new device starts the same way. This guide walks through what happens on a new device, then sorts the usual problems into a symptom and fix table.

What happens when you sign in on a new device?

QuickStage remembers you with a sign-in saved in one browser on one device. A new phone, a new laptop, a second browser on the same laptop and a private window all start with no sign-in, so QuickStage asks you to show you can read your inbox.

You'll meet that step in one of three places:

1. Staging a photo. Type your address on the upload form and click Stage. If that address has credits or a plan, a box titled "Verify it's you" appears, saying the address has QuickStage credits on it. Click "Email me a sign-in link". Nothing is charged here: the check runs before any credit is used.
2. Opening your library. Open My Photos on the new device, type your address and click "Email me a sign-in link".
3. Checking your plan. The Manage subscription page asks for the same link before it shows your balance or opens billing.

The email's subject is "Your QuickStage sign-in link". It says the link expires in 15 minutes and can only be used once, and it prints the full web address under the Sign in button, in case the button doesn't work in your mail app.

Click it and that browser is signed in. You land back where you started: the homepage if you were staging, My Photos if you were opening your library, the Manage subscription page if you were checking your plan.

One thing to know when staging: the upload form doesn't hold on to the photo you'd picked while you went to your inbox. After the link brings you back, add the photo again, choose the room type and style, and click Stage. Each photo comes back in about 30 seconds.

How long does each piece last?

The 30 days count from the moment you clicked. Staging every day doesn't stretch it, so expect to click a fresh link about once a month on each device you stage from. Your credits, plan and photo library don't depend on the session at all. They stay on your address while you're signed out.

Why does a link sign in one device but not another?

The sign-in belongs to the browser that opens the link, not the one that asked for it. If you request a link on your laptop and tap it in your phone's mail app, your phone is signed in and your laptop still isn't.

Phones add one more wrinkle. Some mail apps open links in their own built-in browser instead of Safari or Chrome, and that built-in browser can keep its own sign-in. You might be signed in there and not in the browser you normally use. Use the mail app's option to open the link in your regular browser, or copy the full address printed at the bottom of the email and paste it into the browser you plan to stage from. A copied address works under the same rules: within 15 minutes, and once.

We call this the Same-Screen Rule: ask for the link on the device you'll stage from, and open it in the same browser on that device. Most sign-in trouble on a new phone or laptop comes from breaking it.

For agents who stage from several devices, the routine looks like this:

• Sign in once on each device you stage from: phone, laptop, office desktop.
• Use the same browser on each device every time, and skip private windows for staging, since closing the window ends the sign-in.
• Request one link at a time and click the newest one.
• Open the link on the device that asked for it.
• After a first purchase, use the sign-in link in the welcome email within its 7 days, on the device you'll stage from.

Symptom and fix table

Two notes on the missing email. First, links only go to addresses that have already staged or bought something with QuickStage, and the page shows the same "check your email" message either way, so it never confirms whether an address has an account. If you've never used this address, start by staging a free photo instead. Second, a request over the hourly limit also shows "check your email" without sending anything, which is why asking ten times in a row can make things slower, not faster.

What if this browser is signed in under a different address?

Each browser holds one signed-in address at a time. Clicking a link for a second address replaces the first one on that browser.

You'll usually spot this one of two ways. My Photos opens a library you don't recognize, or the email box on the homepage upload form fills in with an address you didn't mean to use. To switch, request a link for the address you want and click it in this browser. If you instead type a different address with credits into the upload form and click Stage, QuickStage asks you to verify that address before it stages anything.

Signing in doesn't move credits. Each address keeps its own balance, so stage under the address your purchases went to. We covered keeping trial, purchases and staging on one address in our guide to how credits tie to your email.

Do you need to sign in to try QuickStage?

No. Your first 3 photos are free with no account and no card. Type an email on the upload form, under the line "Results delivered here. No account required.", and stage. The browser you used is remembered for 30 days for that free trial. After the trial, photos are $1 each on pay-as-you-go with no subscription, and plans bring the price as low as $0.11 a photo on the annual Agency plan, with QuickFix re-dos included.

Two cases can still ask for a link on a free trial. If you move to another device while the trial address still has free photos left, QuickStage asks you to confirm the address there. And now and then QuickStage asks a new free-trial address to confirm first, with a note that it's to keep free trials fair. Both use the same 15-minute link, and the browser is remembered for 30 days afterward.

Bottom line

QuickStage sign-in is a one-time link sent to your email: it lasts 15 minutes, works once, and signs in only the browser that opens it, which then stays signed in for 30 days from the click. When a link expires or says it was used, request a new one and click the newest email. When the wrong device is signed in, follow the Same-Screen Rule and open the link where you'll stage.

Stage three photos free on QuickStage from any device, no account or card.