The handset arrives ready to be checked, locked, and used. It does not arrive ready to be signed into a personal cloud. Do that check before you move a real conversation onto it.
First hour
- Confirm the boot statePower on and read the verified-boot indication before you set anything else. A warning or an unlocked state means the device is not in the condition it left provisioning. Do not continue with sensitive work. Use the verification article and contact CODES LTD on the channel from your order.
- Set a passphraseUse a long passphrase you can enter reliably and that you do not reuse from another device. Set a short screen timeout. The lock screen is what stands between a taken handset and an open session.
- Refuse the accountIf a setup step offers a Google account, a backup, or a “restore”, decline it. The device is designed to operate without that link. Accepting it welds the handset to an identity Theta deliberately left off.
- Leave unknown apps offDo not enable installation from outside the set that shipped. A sideloaded parser is a new memory surface and a new supply chain.
Sentinel alerts
Theta Sentinel speaks through ordinary notifications. Read them. A red alert such as a network downgrade, a canary trip, or a tunnel drop means stop and act on the advice before continuing sensitive work. A green prompt, such as a warning before joining a new network, asks you to confirm a choice. None of these alerts are sent anywhere. Only you see them.
Daily use
Calls that matter go through the encrypted SIP path: TLS 1.3 for signaling, SRTP for voice, with Tor or the zero-log VPN in front. Ordinary carrier dialing is a different system. It is readable to the network that provides it, and it identifies the SIM. Browsing and messaging leave through the tunnel. If the tunnel is down, treat the handset as offline for sensitive work rather than falling back to a clear path.
Updates
Install images Theta confirms. After an update, check the boot state again before you resume sensitive work. An “update” offered by a stranger, a cable in a hotel, or a message you were not expecting is a replacement of the trust chain, not maintenance.
What we will never ask
CODES LTD will never ask for the device passphrase, a seed phrase, a screen-share of the unlocked phone, or a photograph of the lock screen. A message that asks for any of those is not us. The contact channel on your invoice is the channel we use. We do not move that conversation to a new messenger because a message told you to.