HelpGetting startedCreate your business

Create your business

Creating your account is one quick step from a signed-in session. You'll name your business, accept the data terms, and — importantly — save your recovery codes. The whole form is three things, and this page also covers what to do when it won't let you finish.

Owner Where: Sign in → Set up your business 7 min read

Sign in first. Creating your business starts from a signed-in session, so you'll sign in with your email link before this step. The email you sign in with becomes your way in from then on.

What you see	What it means
"Sign in to set up your business."	You reached the set-up page before signing in. You don't get the form.
"Creating your account starts from a signed-in session. Sign in first, then we'll set up your business in a minute."	The reason, under the card. Tap Go to sign in, sign in the normal way, and come back.

This is not an error and you have not done anything wrong. turnda needs to know which inbox the account belongs to before it will make one — that inbox is what gets you in afterwards.
Nothing you typed is kept while you go and sign in, so sign in first and then fill the form.
One sign-in email makes one business. If you genuinely want a second, separate business of your own, create it from a different email address.
You can still be part of other people's businesses on the same email — they invite you in, and a Switch business control appears for you to move between them.

Already have a business? You'll never see this form. If the email you signed in with is already part of a business, the set-up page takes you straight into the app instead — no message, no form. Your account already exists, so there is nothing to create.

Where exactly you land depends on who you are

Who you are	Where you land
Owner	Your dashboard
Staff	The serving console

Name your business

Enter your Business name — what your business is called; you can add locations afterwards. It's the only thing on this form you have to type, and it's marked Required.

A name of only spaces doesn't count. Spaces at the front and back are trimmed off before anything is saved, so a box holding nothing but spaces counts as empty — the button stays grey and the line under it still asks for your business name.

Why That is deliberate — it's what stops a business being created with a blank name nobody can see.

The backup email

Backup email (optional) is exactly what it says: optional. You can leave it empty and finish the form.
The note under it is the important part: "Kept on your account's privacy page for your records. It is not a sign-in method — the one-time recovery codes you save when you finish are how you get back in."

The backup email is not a second way in. Nobody can sign in with it, and losing your main email does not make it take over. Your recovery codes are the way back in — the ones on the very next screen.

The one thing to get right This is the one thing people get wrong here. If you only do one thing carefully on this page, do that one.

Two things stop the address being accepted — both shown under the box as you type

What the screen says	What it means
"Enter a valid email address."	What's typed isn't an address yet. It's normal to see this halfway through typing; it goes as soon as the address is complete. An empty box shows nothing at all, because empty is allowed.
"Use a different email from your sign-in email."	You've typed the same address you signed in with. A backup that is the same as the original isn't a backup, so turnda asks for a different one. Use a personal address, or a partner's.

While either message is showing, Create my account stays grey. Clear the box completely if you'd rather not add one — an empty box is fine and unblocks the button.

The data terms

Tick I accept the data-processing terms to finish. In plain terms: you're the data controller for your visitors' information and turnda is your processor — the same relationship every compliant tool has. The note under the switch says it outright: "Required to create the account."
It really is a hard stop, in two places — the button won't work without it, and even if it did, the server refuses to make the account.
There is no way to create a business without accepting these terms, and turnda records which version of the documents you accepted, and when.
"By creating an account you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy" sits under the switch, and links to both — the same two links sit in the footer at the bottom of the page.
Each link opens a short, readable summary inside turnda — what the service does, what it costs, who owns what, how long visitor data is kept, and where it's stored.
From there, a link opens the full published document in a new tab.
Both summary pages carry one more link, lower down — "Every company that processes data on our behalf, and where that data is stored, is listed on our security page" — with a Security & privacy link that opens it in a new tab.
It's the same page whether you got there from Terms or from Privacy, and it's where to point a visitor's IT team if they ask who else touches their data.

Read them before you fill the form, or open them in a new tab. Tapping Terms or Privacy from the form leaves the form in the same tab, and what you've typed isn't kept — coming back, you'll be starting again.

How to keep your place The summary page's own Back to turnda link goes to your home screen, not back to the half-filled form. Long-press (or right-click) the link to open it in a new tab instead.

The button is grey — read the line under it

Create my account stays greyed out until the form is complete, and a small line directly underneath tells you what is still stopping you — one of two things

What the line says	What it means
"Add your business name to continue."	The name box is empty.
"Accept the data-processing terms to continue."	The switch is off.

It names one blocker at a time, not all of them — the first one in the way. So fix that one and the line may change to the other.
That's the form working, not a new problem. Once neither applies, the line disappears and the button comes to life.
A problem with the backup email never appears in that line. It appears under the email box itself, because that's where you'd look. So if the button is grey and the line under it has gone, check the email box.

When it doesn't go through

Tap Create my account and the button shows it's working — give it a moment, since on a slow connection this can take a few seconds. If it fails, a short message appears and you stay on the form with everything you typed still there

What the screen says	What it means
"We couldn't reach turnda. Check your connection — this may not have been saved."	The request never got out. Check your signal and read the tip below before you tap again.
"Couldn't create the account — please try again."	Our side had a problem. Tapping again is the right move.
A specific sentence about something you typed — for example the backup email being the same as your sign-in email.	Fix the thing it names and tap again.

Pressed it twice? You're fine — and you won't end up with two businesses. On a shaky connection the first tap can succeed while the reply never reaches your phone, so it looks like nothing happened. Tap again and turnda takes you into the account it already made, rather than showing an error or making a second one.

How to tell If you land on your dashboard after a tap you thought failed, that is what happened — your business was created on the first press.

But check for your recovery codes. The codes are shown once, on the screen straight after a successful create. If the first reply was lost and the second tap carried you into the app instead, you have gone past that screen without seeing it.

Don't leave it On your profile tap Generate new codes and keep that set. Only the account owner can, and only when signed in with their own email — not from a shared counter device. Recover your account explains what they're for.

Save your recovery codes

turnda then shows your recovery codes — once. These are the only way back in if you ever lose access to your sign-in email.
Use Copy codes or Download codes and keep them somewhere safe, then tap I've saved them — continue. turnda can't show them again.

What happens next	What it means
"Three things and you can take your first customer"	turnda takes you straight into the guided set-up — not a dashboard. Full details on Set up your first line.
Once a line exists	That same address takes you to your dashboard from then on.

Don't skip past the codes. If you lose your sign-in email and haven't kept a recovery code, there's no back door — that's what keeps your account private. Store them where you'd store a master key.