Profiles, PINs, and shared devices

Silo is in active development before 1.0. These guides are updated frequently.

Each profile keeps its own watch progress, lists, and preferences. The account password signs the household in; a four-digit PIN locks one profile. Library access set by the server administrator applies to every profile.

The primary profile is the first profile on the account. Only the primary profile, or a server administrator, can add, edit, and delete profiles, set parental controls, and change the account password. If the primary profile has a PIN, Silo asks for it before you manage profiles. The primary profile can’t be deleted.

Switch profiles

On Who’s watching?, choose your profile and enter its PIN if asked. To change profiles later, open the profile menu (your profile picture) and choose Switch Profile. On a shared device, look at the profile picture before you change settings or start playing something.

Add or edit a profile

In the web app

From the primary profile, open Settings > Profiles. The page lists every profile with Use (switch to it), Edit, and Delete. You can’t delete the primary profile or the profile you’re using.

Select New profile, or Edit on an existing profile.
Enter a Name.
To add a PIN, enter four digits in PIN (optional). On a profile that already has a PIN, the field is New PIN: type a new PIN to replace it, or select Remove PIN to clear it (Keep existing PIN undoes that).
For a child, turn on Kids profile and set the limits described in Set parental controls.
Select Save profile.

On iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV

On Who’s watching?, select Add Profile. If the primary profile has a PIN, enter it.
On New Profile, enter a name and, if you want one, a PIN under PIN (optional).
For a child, turn on Child Profile. Choose a Maximum content rating and, if you like, turn on Restrict libraries and pick the libraries.
Select Create Profile.

The Apple apps can’t edit or delete a profile or change its PIN afterwards. Use the web app for that.

On Android phones, tablets, and TVs

Only server administrators see profile management in the Android apps. Other household managers use the web app.

On the profile picker, select Manage Profiles (Manage on Android TV).
Select Add Profile, or the edit button on a profile to open Edit Profile.
On a phone or tablet, turn on Require PIN and enter a 4-digit PIN; turn it off to remove the PIN. On Android TV, fill in PIN (optional) or select Remove.
For a child, turn on Child Profile and choose a Max Content Rating.
Select Create Profile or Save Changes.

Forgotten PIN

Ask whoever manages the household’s profiles to set a new PIN or remove it in the web app. Don’t delete the profile to get around the PIN: deleting it also removes its watch history and preferences.

Set parental controls

The web app has every parental control. The Apple apps can set a content rating and library limit when creating a child profile, and the Android apps only Max Content Rating.

In the web app, from the primary profile, open Settings > Profiles and select Edit on the profile you want to restrict. The web app calls it a Kids profile; the mobile and TV apps call it a Child Profile.

Under Access, turn on Kids profile. This fills in safer starting settings; look over the rating and library choices before saving.
Choose Maximum content rating and, for an extra limit, Maximum advisory age.
With an advisory-age limit selected, decide whether to turn on Hide titles without an advisory age.
Turn on Restrict libraries to choose which of the account’s libraries this profile can browse. Select at least one library.
Select Save profile. Switch to that profile and open a title you expect to see and one you expect to be hidden.

Control	What it does
Maximum content rating	Limits titles by their movie or TV certification. Silo compares recognized ratings across national systems using viewer ages and rating tiers.
Maximum advisory age	Adds a limit from 1 to 21 using recommendations from an advisory service, such as Common Sense Media. A title with an advisory age above your limit is hidden.
Hide titles without an advisory age	With an advisory-age limit set, also hides titles that have no advisory age. When off, those titles are limited by the content rating and library settings only.

When both rating limits are set, a title must pass both. For example, an advisory-age limit of 12 hides a title marked 13+ even if its content rating is allowed. Episodes use their series’ advisory age.

Advisory ages come from metadata providers and fill in over time as the library updates. Until then, a title without an age is limited by its content rating only, unless you turn on Hide titles without an advisory age. That setting can leave few titles visible at first, and a newly added age can hide a title that exceeds your limit.

Titles with no content rating are a separate case: the server’s settings decide whether they appear under a content-rating limit. See account access and profile restrictions.

Show advisory ages on title pages

In the web app, open Settings > Playback and turn on Show advisory age to show the recommendation on title pages. This only changes what’s displayed; the profile’s age limit applies either way.

Keep a child in their profile on a shared device

A PIN stops someone from switching into a profile. By default, though, Silo reopens the last profile used on a device without asking for its PIN again.

On iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, set Profile Selection to Every Time (see below) so the device shows Who’s watching? each time.
The Android apps and the web app have no such setting. Before you hand the device to a child, switch to the child’s profile or sign out.

Choose what happens when Silo opens on Apple devices

Open Settings > General > Profile Selection. On Apple TV it’s under PROFILE AT LAUNCH.

Automatic reopens the last profile used on this device, without asking for its PIN. On Apple TV, it uses the profile paired with the current Apple TV user.
Every Time shows Who’s watching? whenever you return to Silo.
After 1 Hour and After 12 Hours show it after that long away.

The setting applies only to that device.

For a lost or stolen device, see Accounts and signed-in devices.