Set up your tag.

Three steps.

Two minutes, on the phone you already have.

1. 1

   Tap the tag with your phone.

   Flat, and still. The reader sits in a different place on every phone, so move slowly until a notification appears — then tap the notification to open the page.

   On an iPhone the screen has to be awake and unlocked. On Android, NFC has to be switched on in settings.

2. 2

   Fill in what a finder should see.

   A name, a number to call, and anything urgent — a condition, a medication, a temperament. Start the number with its country code (+1 in the US) so it dials from any phone that taps the tag.

3. 3

   Pick a PIN, then press Claim.

   Six characters or more. The PIN is the only thing that lets you change the details later — write it down somewhere that is not the tag.

Test it — properly.

Test the way a stranger will use it, not the way you just set it up.

1. 1

   Lock your phone and go back to the home screen.

   A stranger will not have your setup page already open.

2. 2

   Tap the tag.

   Your page should offer to open. Check the name reads right, the note reads right, and the call button names the right person.

3. 3

   Press the call button once.

   It should bring up the right number, ready to dial. Hang up before it connects — you are checking the number, not making the call.

Changing it later.

A number changes, a pet moves house, a note stops being true. Tap the tag, follow the small Owner? Edit this tag link at the bottom of the page, and enter your PIN.

The chip itself never changes. You are editing the page behind it, so the tag on the collar keeps working while you type — and it keeps working for every tag you have ever handed out.

Lost the PIN completely? We can reset the tag for you — the details are on our policies page. What you type here is stored by us so the tag can show it to a finder; that is the whole reason it can be changed without rewriting the chip.