> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.pipelime.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How your channel credentials are handled

> What happens to the password you type into a channel connect dialog, what is stored, and how to disconnect.

export const UiPath = ({children}) => {
  const parts = String(children).split(/\s*(?:→|>)\s*/).filter(Boolean);
  return <span className="pl-path">
      {parts.map((part, index) => <span key={`${index}-${part}`}>
          {index > 0 && <span className="pl-path__sep">→</span>}
          {part}
        </span>)}
    </span>;
};

export const Screenshot = ({id, alt, caption, frame = 'browser', url, marks = [], lang = 'en', workspace = 'northwind-outbound'}) => {
  const src = `/images/screenshots/${lang}/${id}.png`;
  const chrome = url ? `app.pipelime.ai/${workspace}${url}` : 'app.pipelime.ai';
  return <figure className={`pl-shot pl-shot--${frame} not-prose`}>
      <div className="pl-shot__frame">
        {frame !== 'bare' && <div className="pl-shot__bar">
            <span className="pl-shot__dots">
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
            </span>
            <span className="pl-shot__url">{chrome}</span>
          </div>}
        <div className="pl-shot__media">
          <img src={src} alt={alt} loading="lazy" />
          {marks.map(mark => <span key={mark.n} className="pl-shot__mark" style={{
    left: `${mark.x}%`,
    top: `${mark.y}%`
  }} aria-hidden="true">
              {mark.n}
            </span>)}
        </div>
      </div>
      {caption && <figcaption className="pl-shot__caption">{caption}</figcaption>}
    </figure>;
};

LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp and MercadoLibre connect four different ways, and none of them ends with your password kept on our servers: LinkedIn and Instagram take the account's own credentials once to open a session, WhatsApp links a device the way WhatsApp Web does, and MercadoLibre sends you to MercadoLibre to authorize the connection there.

<Note>
  Each channel is gated on its own, so seeing one accounts page says nothing about the other three.
  [Channels overview and availability](/en/channels/overview) explains what decides which of them you can open.
</Note>

## How it behaves

### LinkedIn and Instagram: credentials used once, then discarded

Connecting either one asks for that account's own sign-in. Both accounts pages carry a security banner: "Your LinkedIn accounts are secure" on <UiPath>Integrations → Integrations → LinkedIn Accounts</UiPath>, "Your Instagram accounts are secure" on <UiPath>Integrations → Integrations → Instagram Accounts</UiPath>. **Learn More** on it opens a modal that spells out what that sign-in does with the credentials. For Instagram:

> When you connect an Instagram account, you sign in with your username and password. Your password is sent over an encrypted connection to our messaging provider to open the session — we never store it on our servers.

For LinkedIn:

> When you connect your LinkedIn account, we establish a secure session through an encrypted authentication flow. Your credentials are used only once during the initial handshake and are never stored on our servers.

The mechanism is the same on both. The credentials travel over an encrypted connection to our messaging provider, which uses them to open the session and discards them once it is established; they are not stored on our servers. Everything the channel does afterwards runs on that session, not on the password. If two-factor authentication is enabled on the Instagram account you're connecting, you confirm a one-time code as part of that same sign-in.

<Screenshot id="channels/security-of-connected-accounts--linkedin-modal" frame="bare" alt="The LinkedIn security information modal: an intro explaining the credential handshake, four security-feature cards covering encrypted credential storage, compliant infrastructure, session-based access and privacy, and best-practice tips below them" caption="Opened from Learn More on the security banner on LinkedIn Accounts. Its wording is what the product commits to; this page quotes it rather than restating it." />

Disconnecting revokes the session immediately. LinkedIn's modal puts it this way:

> You maintain full control at all times — you can pause, disconnect, or delete any connected account instantly from your dashboard, and the session will be immediately revoked.

Instagram's says the same, plus a second way to close it from Instagram's own side:

> You stay in full control — pause, disconnect, or delete any connected account instantly from your dashboard, or end the session from Instagram's login activity on your phone, and access is revoked immediately.

### WhatsApp: no password to hold

WhatsApp skips the credential exchange. Connecting is a linked-device pairing (a QR code, or a pairing code), the same mechanism as WhatsApp Web:

> When you connect a WhatsApp number, you link a device by scanning a QR code — exactly like WhatsApp Web. You never enter your password, and we never store it.

Nothing password-shaped is typed in at all, so there is nothing for our messaging provider to hold and then discard.

<Screenshot id="channels/security-of-connected-accounts--whatsapp-modal" frame="bare" alt="The WhatsApp security information modal: an intro describing the linked-device pairing, four security-feature cards starting with linked device rather than password, and best-practice tips about new conversations and pacing below them" caption="The same modal shape as LinkedIn's, minus the password step. There is no credential to explain." />

Disconnecting works like the other two, with the phone itself as a second option:

> You stay in full control — pause, disconnect, or delete any connected number instantly from your dashboard, or unlink the device from WhatsApp on your phone, and the session is revoked immediately.

### MercadoLibre: an authorization, not a sign-in

MercadoLibre never shows a password field here at all. Pick a country and, optionally, a tag, then press **Continue to MercadoLibre**:

> You'll be taken to MercadoLibre to sign in as the seller and authorize the connection. Buyer questions on your listings will appear here and become leads automatically.

That hands your browser to MercadoLibre. You sign in as the seller and authorize the connection on their pages, so the credentials never pass through a form here, and what comes back is the authorization you granted rather than a password. If **Continue to MercadoLibre** is greyed out and the dialog reads "MercadoLibre is not configured on this environment yet.", the channel is not switched on where you are working and no connection can be started.

## Limits

| Channel      | What you enter                                                                                | What happens to it                                                                               |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| LinkedIn     | The account's LinkedIn credentials, once, at connection time                                  | Goes to our messaging provider to open the session, then discarded, not stored on our servers    |
| Instagram    | The account's username and password, plus a one-time code if it has two-factor authentication | Sent over an encrypted connection to open the session, then discarded, not stored on our servers |
| WhatsApp     | Nothing: a QR code or pairing code links your phone as a device                               | No password ever exists for us to store                                                          |
| MercadoLibre | Nothing here: you sign in and authorize on MercadoLibre's own pages                           | We hold the authorization you granted there, not a password                                      |

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Connect a LinkedIn account" icon="link" href="/en/channels/connect-linkedin-account">
    Sign in, clear whichever checkpoint LinkedIn raises, and reconnect a session that drops.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Connect an Instagram account, posts and comments" icon="camera" href="/en/channels/connect-instagram">
    Sign in, clear Instagram's own verification step, and set conservative action limits.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Security and trust overview" icon="shield" href="/en/security/trust-overview">
    Where the policies live, and who is controller and who is processor.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>