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 can add, edit, and delete profiles, set parental controls, and change the account password. That applies to a server administrator’s account too: its other profiles, including a kids profile, can’t manage profiles. 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.

After five wrong PINs within five minutes, Silo locks that profile for five minutes on every device, including Jellyfin apps that sign in with the PIN. Until the lock ends, even the right PIN is refused. The web app says Too many incorrect PINs. and how many minutes are left.

Add or edit a profile

In the web app

On Who’s watching?, select Add profile or Manage profiles. If the primary profile has a PIN, enter it.

Add profile opens the New profile form without switching profiles. When you save, the new profile appears on Who’s watching?.
Manage profiles switches to the primary profile and opens Settings > Profiles.

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

Select New profile, or Edit on an existing profile. If you came from Add profile, the form is already open.
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

On Who’s watching?, select Manage, or Add profile to go straight to a new profile. If the primary profile has a PIN, enter it.
Select Add profile, or select a profile to open Edit Profile. While you manage profiles, each one shows a pencil.
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.
Choose a Maximum rating: the profile can watch titles at that rating and below, or any rating with Any. Under Libraries, keep All libraries or select Choose libraries and check at least one library the profile can browse. These limits work on any profile. For a child, turn on Child Profile first: it fills in PG and Choose libraries for the limits you haven’t set yet. Turning it off clears both limits.
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 or an Android app. Setting a new PIN or removing it also ends a lock after too many wrong PINs, so nobody has to wait out the five minutes. 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. The Android apps can set them on any profile, when creating or editing it.

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

In the web app, open Settings > Title Pages and, under Age guidance, turn on Show advisory age to show the recommendation on title pages.

To show it on poster cards as well, open Settings > Navigation & Cards. Under Badges, with Show badges on posters on, open Ratings & Certifications and turn on Advisory Age. Cards then show the age, such as 13+, in the bottom-right corner. Titles without an advisory age show no badge. The badge doesn’t depend on Show advisory age; you can turn on either one alone.

Both settings only change 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, but a device that opens a profile automatically reopens it without asking for the PIN. Phones, tablets, and the web app do that by default. A TV does it once someone chooses to remember a profile there.

In the Apple and Android apps, set Profile Selection to Every Time (see below) so the device shows Who’s watching? each time.
In the web app, set Profile at launch to Ask who’s watching (see below) so each new tab or window shows Who’s watching?.
On other devices, switch to the child’s profile or sign out before you hand the device to a child.

Choose what happens when Silo opens

On Apple and Android devices

In the Apple apps and on Android TV, open Settings > General > Profile Selection. On Apple TV it’s under PROFILE AT LAUNCH, and on Android TV under Profile at Launch. On an Android phone or tablet, open Settings and select Profile Selection under Preferences.

Automatic reopens the last profile used on this device, without asking for its PIN. This is the default, except on a new TV. 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.

When Who’s watching? appears this way, a profile with a PIN needs it again. The setting applies only to that device.

A new Apple TV or Android TV starts at Every Time. After you choose the first profile on it, the TV asks once whether to open that profile automatically. Remember sets Profile Selection to Automatic, and Ask Every Time (Ask every time on Android TV) keeps it at Every Time. You can change it in Settings later. A TV that already opened a profile automatically with an earlier version of Silo keeps doing so.

In the web app

Open Settings > Your Devices and, under This browser, choose Profile at launch:

Remember last profile opens new tabs and windows with the profile last used in this browser. This is the default.
Ask who’s watching starts each new tab or window at Who’s watching?, and a profile with a PIN needs it again. Reloading a tab keeps its profile, and tabs that are already open keep theirs.

The setting applies only to that browser.

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