I was invited at a different email address

When the invitation doesn't quite match

Sometimes someone invites you using an email address you don't normally sign in with, maybe a work address or an old one. What happens next depends on whether the invitation is to a circle or to a sharing album.

A circle invitation

A circle invitation works only for the email address or phone number it was sent to. If you open it while signed in with an account that doesn't have that address, you'll see This invite was sent to someone else. Nothing has been used up: the invite still works.

1. If you have another account with that address, choose Sign in with a different account and sign in with the address the invite was sent to. You'll go straight in.
2. If the address is yours but isn't on your account yet, add it in My Account under Email and phone and verify it, then open the invitation again. See Change or add an email address.
3. Or ask the person who invited you to send a new invite to the email address you use here.

A sharing album invitation

For a sharing album, we do our best to sort it out automatically the moment you open the invitation while signed in. Most of the time, one of these happens without you needing to do anything extra:

1. You already have that address on your account. If the email the invitation was sent to is one of the verified addresses on your ShareLocket account, we match it up right away and add you to the album — nothing more to do.
2. We ask you to confirm it's really you. If the invited address isn't on your account yet but isn't attached to anyone else either, we'll email a 6-digit code to it. Enter the code, and we'll add that address to your account and finish accepting the invitation in one step.

If the address belongs to another account

Occasionally, the invited email address turns out to already belong to a different ShareLocket account of yours — say, one you created a while back and forgot about. If that other account is empty (no sharing albums of its own), we'll offer to merge it into the account you're using now, the same way as above: enter the 6-digit code we send, and everything moves over in one step.

If that other account already has sharing albums or content, we can't merge it automatically, because that would risk mixing up two people's things. In that case, you'll see a message letting you know, with the choice to sign in with that other account instead, or ask the person who invited you to send a fresh invitation to the email address you use here. See Combine two accounts.

A few things to know

• You can always add and verify more email addresses ahead of time from My Account, under Email and phone — see Change or add an email address.
• Your account can hold up to 5 email addresses. If you're already at that limit, we'll let you know and point you to your settings so you can remove one before trying again.
• None of this affects your password, your other addresses, or anything else on your account — we only ever add the one address the invitation was sent to.

Still stuck? Reach out using the Still stuck? Get in touch link at the bottom of the Help panel and we'll help you get in.