There are three ways into a client's accounts. The client can share their login. They can invite you on each platform, one at a time. Or you can send one setup link that walks them through those invites and checks each one. All three get you in, but they feel very different to the client, take different amounts of your time, and end differently. Picking well saves the client interruptions and saves you a lot of chasing. Here's how they compare on five things: security, time for the client, time for the agency, proof that access is in place, and handing access back.
| Method | How it works | Good for agencies? |
|---|---|---|
| Shared login | The client sends a password and reads out two-factor codes when you sign in | No. Quick on day one, costly later |
| Invites one by one | The client invites your named email on each platform, with a role you name | Yes. The safe baseline, but slow to chase |
| One setup link | One link walks the client through each platform's steps and checks each one | Yes. The same named access, with reminders and checks built in |
| Shared login | Invites one by one | One setup link | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security | One identity for everyone | Your own login, in a named role | The same named access underneath |
| Time for the client | Quick to send, then interrupted for codes | A separate set of menus on every platform | One link, with your email and role filled in |
| Time for the agency | Waiting on codes and sorting out lockouts | Writing steps, chasing and checking each one | Reminders go out on their own |
| Proof access is in place | None beyond being able to sign in | Each platform's own status, checked by hand | Each step checked as it's done |
| Handing access back | Change the password | Remove yourself on every platform | A handover link |
Role and menu names below match each platform's help pages at the time of writing.
Get Set Keys is the one-link method: one link per client with each platform's steps, your email and the right role filled in, every step checked, and a handover link at the end.
Send one link insteadSecurity
Shared login. Everyone becomes the client. Apple requires two-factor authentication or two-step verification for all users who sign in to App Store Connect (Apple), and says two-factor authentication is designed to make sure the owner is the only person who can access the account (Apple Support). Google's 2-Step Verification sends its codes and prompts to the owner's phone (Google). Repeated wrong password attempts can lock the client's Apple Account, and getting back in means resetting the password (Apple Support). Some platforms rule sharing out entirely: GitHub's terms say a single login may not be shared by multiple people (GitHub).
Invites one by one. You sign in as yourself, with your own two-factor device, in a role the client chose. The role does the limiting. Stripe's Developer role can't invite team members or add and edit bank account details (Stripe), and an App Manager in App Store Connect can be limited to specific apps (Apple).
One setup link. Underneath, you still get named access with a role, the same as an invite. What changes is how the client gets there.
Get Set KeysOne link per client
With one link, every step has your email and the right role already filled in, and the link can ask for an email code before it opens. No password changes hands.
Send one link insteadLaunching November 2026
Time for the client
Shared login is the quickest thing to send and the slowest to live with. Each time you sign in on a new device or browser, the client may need to stop and read out a code (Apple Support).
Invites one by one mean a different set of menus on every platform. A client with five platforms gets five sets of instructions, and has to find each setting, check they're allowed to send it and pick the right role.
One setup link puts every step behind one link, with your email and the role already filled in, so there's nothing to look up.
Get Set KeysOne link per client
When Dana gets stuck on a step, Porter, the AI setup helper on her link, answers straight away from that step's own instructions and passes anything it can't answer to you.
Send one link insteadLaunching November 2026
Time for the agency
Shared login: little setup, then a steady trickle of code requests and the odd lockout to sort out.
Invites one by one: you write steps for each platform, chase the ones that stall and catch invites before they expire. App Store Connect invitations expire 3 days after they're sent (Apple) and Stripe's after 10 days (Stripe), so a slow week can mean asking twice. What to do when an invite expires has the rest.
One setup link: reminders go out on their own, you see every step live, and the client's questions arrive in one place instead of across several email threads.
Skip the back and forth. Let one link walk your client through it
Proof that access is in place
Shared login: none. You can sign in, but nothing in the account records that your agency has access, so nobody can check it later.
Invites one by one: each platform keeps its own status. In Google Play Console you're listed as "Invite sent" until you accept, then "Active", and the account owner gets a confirmation email (Play Console Help). Cloudflare shows you as Pending until you accept (Cloudflare). That proof is real, but it's spread across every platform, and someone has to look at each one.
One setup link: each step is checked as it's done, and you see the result as it happens.
Get Set KeysOne link per client
Each step is checked by a one-click sign-in where the platform allows it, a live DNS check, or the platform's own invite email arriving at your private verification address.
Send one link insteadLaunching November 2026
Handing access back
Shared login: the only way to end it is to change the password, which cuts off everyone and everything else that uses it. The client should check the account's recovery email and phone number at the same time.
Invites one by one: the client removes you on each platform, which is clean but easy to forget. Google Play can end access on its own if the client set an access expiry date when they invited you (Play Console Help). Elsewhere it's one action per platform, such as Remove member in Cloudflare (Cloudflare) or Remove from Team in Vercel (Vercel). The handover checklist covers the rest, including keys to rotate.
One setup link: handover links hand access back at the end of the project.
Get Set KeysOne link per client
When the project ends, send Dana a handover link to hand access back, instead of a separate list of removal steps for every platform.
Send one link insteadLaunching November 2026
Which method to use when
- Shared login: only when a platform truly has no way to add a second person. Even then, set a new password used only for this project, share it through a password manager that can share one item with named people, agree an end date in writing, and have the client change the password on that date.
- Invites one by one: fine for a client with one or two platforms, as long as you name the role and accept each invite quickly.
- One setup link: the better fit once a client needs several platforms, or when you bring on new clients often.
Ask for this
- An invite to your named email, in a role you name
- A check that each step is done
- A handover when the project ends
Not this
- The client's password
- Two-factor codes read out over the phone
- One shared agency login for the whole team
One link per client, with every step checked. Reserve a founding place
Doing this for every client?
Get Set Keys is the one-link method: one link per client that walks them through each platform's steps and checks each one, with a handover link when the project ends. Porter answers the client's questions as they go and passes anything it can't answer to you. You can reserve a founding place before Get Set Keys launches in November 2026.