Soma
Abantu

Identity and Devices

Two more ways to use your identity somewhere new — linking a browser or desktop as a full device, and signing in to another app without handing over your key.
This is the summer 2026 guide.
Some of it has changed since. A new guide (v1) is being written.
See the new guide

Identity and Devices

You already know two ways to get an identity into abantu: import from iwacu, paste a bundle, or start fresh. This page covers two more — for when you want your identity somewhere new, live, without retyping anything.

They look similar but do very different things. Know which one you are doing before you scan anything.

Device linkDevice you ownprivate key — once, permanentlyNew devicenow acts as you, indefinitelySign-inYour devicesigned proof — onceOther appknows you approved this oncekey movedkey stayed home
Device linking moves your private key; sign-in only ever moves a one-time signed proof. Know which one you're doing before you scan anything.
Device linkSign-in
What movesYour private key, permanentlyA signed proof, once
ResultThe new browser/device can act as you, indefinitelyThe other app knows you approved this one sign-in
Use it forA browser tab or desktop app you own and will keep usingLogging into someone else's app or website

Linking a browser or desktop as a device

This gives a new browser tab or desktop install the same standing as a phone you added — full, permanent access to your identity and communities. Only do this on a device you actually own and control.

  1. Open abantu in the new browser (or the desktop app). It shows "Link this browser as a device" with a QR code and a manual code, and starts waiting for approval.
  2. On a device you're already signed in on — your phone, say — open the approve screen: scan the QR, or type in the manual code if you can't scan.
  3. Review the pending request there and tap Approve.
  4. The new browser finishes linking on its own — no further action needed on it. It shows how many communities were restored.
Right after linking, if your browser supports it, you'll be offered "Protect with Touch ID / Windows Hello." Take it. A browser tab holds your real private key exactly like a phone does, but without a phone's OS keychain protecting it by default — a platform authenticator (fingerprint, face, hardware key, or Windows Hello) closes that gap. If it's not offered or not supported, your identity still works fine; you just don't get that extra local protection.

Both directions of this exist in abantu, iwacu, and isoko-web — link a browser to any of them the same way, always approved from a device where you're already signed in.

Signing in to another app

Some other app or website — a "relying party" — may let you sign in using the identity you already have here, instead of creating yet another account.

  1. The other app shows you a QR code or a link. Open it (or scan it) with abantu.
  2. Abantu shows you who is asking — the app's name and its actual origin — and asks "wants to verify your identity." Read both; the origin is the one that can't lie to you.
  3. Tap Approve sign-in if it's really the app you meant to sign into.

That's it. The other app receives a signed confirmation that you approved it — never your private key, never anything it could reuse to act as you elsewhere.

This is the whole point of sign-in existing as something separate from device linking: your key never leaves this device for a sign-in. If something asks to "link a device" when what you actually wanted was to log into a website, stop and re-read what it's asking for.

Back to sync and relay

Sync and Relay

How abantu stays in sync across devices, and the separate isoko relay bridge that carries protocols and adoptions to the marketplace.

Data and Privacy

What the relay knows, what other members know, and what nobody can see — in abantu specifically.