Recover a locked shared space
On a new phone a shared space can show as Locked. Unlock it with your own recovery code, with nobody else needed, or have a member approve your device.
When you reinstall Carlo or set up a new phone, your Personal account unlocks on its own from your saved key. A shared space works differently: it has its own key, and each device you use has to be granted a copy. So signing in, landing in your personal budget, and still seeing a space marked Locked on this device is completely normal. Nothing is wrong and nothing is lost, the space and its data are intact. This device simply needs its own copy of the key.
You will see it in two places: on the Where would you like to start? screen when you first open the app, and afterward under the More menu in CoCarlo. Both show the space as Locked on this device with a lock icon, and it cannot be opened until you recover it.
The usual way is to tap Recover on this device on the locked space. Carlo unlocks it with your own 12-word recovery code, the same code that protects your personal data, so there is nothing extra to set up or remember for shared spaces. You can view it under Settings → Security → Recovery code. If that code is already on this device, which it usually is once you have signed in, the unlock is instant and Carlo asks you for nothing. If it is not, Carlo asks you to scan the QR from your recovery code or type the 12 words, then unlocks.
This path is fully self-service. It does not need another member to be online and it does not need your old phone, because everything Carlo needs comes from your recovery code. That is the point of it: you can get back in on your own, at any hour, without waiting on anyone. And if you belong to more than one shared space you do not repeat it, since one tap uses your code to unlock every space you belong to rather than only the one you tapped.
If you cannot get to your 12 words right now, tap Ask a CoCarlo member instead. That sends a small approval request to the space, which any active member whose phone already has access can approve in a couple of taps, or your own second device if it still has access. Once someone has approved you, a Try again button appears and tapping it unlocks the space. Approving only re-grants access to your new device; it never moves or exposes anyone's data, and the person approving sees none of your information. This route does depend on someone being reachable, which is why your own recovery code is usually faster. Note that unlike the recovery-code path, this one is per-space, since a different person may need to approve each.
Either way you only do this once per device. The space opens normally afterward and stays unlocked, so next time you open Carlo on this phone it is simply there.
You do not have to deal with it on the opening screen either. If you tapped into Personal to get going, you can unlock a space later from the More menu under CoCarlo.
Two things worth being clear about. If you have neither your recovery code nor a member who can approve your device, a locked space cannot be unlocked on that phone, which is the same rule that governs your personal data, so keep your recovery code somewhere safe. And the space's data stays encrypted the whole time: recovering re-grants this device access to the existing key and never decrypts anything on a server.