How to Get an Email Sign-In Code Without Losing Your Place on an iPhone

What you need: An iPhone with a website open in Safari, the blue compass app, saying it sent a sign-in code to your email; the Mail app, the white envelope on a blue background, where you read email for that address; and a pen and paper for the code.

Before you begin: Leave the website's box for the code open in Safari. You will switch to Mail to read the code, then switch back to Safari. Do not close Safari's tab or follow a link in the email.

Steps

1. Go to the Home screen. If your iPhone has a round Home button below the screen, press it once. If it has no Home button, slide your finger up from the very bottom edge of the screen, then lift your finger. Safari goes out of sight.
2. Tap Mail, the white envelope on a blue background. If you do not see it, put one finger in the middle of the Home screen and slide it down a little. Type Mail in the search box, then tap the Mail app in the results.
3. Tap the back arrow at the top left until the heading Mailboxes appears above your email folders. The last back arrow may be labelled Mailboxes. If Mailboxes is already the heading, you are in that list.
4. In Mailboxes, find the email account where you read messages sent to the address you gave the website. Tap its name. If that opens a list of folders, tap Inbox. The list of emails appears.
5. If a row of categories such as Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions appears above the emails, put your finger on that row and slide it left to show All Mail. Tap All Mail to see emails from all the categories.
6. Look for the newest email about signing in to that website; its subject may mention a sign-in code or verification code. Tap it. If no code email arrives after a minute, use steps 8 and 9 to return to Safari, tap the website's button to send a new code, such as Resend code, then repeat steps 1 to 6.
7. Read the code in the email, usually a short row of numbers or letters. Write it on paper so you can type it on the website. Do not tap a link or button in the email.
8. Open the pictures of your recent apps. If your iPhone has a Home button, press it twice quickly. If it has no Home button, slide your finger up from the very bottom edge to the middle of the screen, pause for a moment, then lift your finger. Do not slide an app's picture upwards: that closes the app.
9. Slide the pictures sideways until you see Safari showing the website. Tap that picture to return to it.
10. Tap the box for the code, type the code from the newest email, then tap the website's button to continue, such as Verify, Continue or Submit. If the website says the code has expired, tap its button to send a new code, such as Resend code, then repeat steps 1 to 10 with the newest email. If the code box is gone, follow the website's sign-in steps until it sends a new code first.

Expected result: The website accepts the code and shows its next page, such as your account or the next step of what you were doing.