How to Transfer a Domain from IONOS to Static.app

To transfer a domain from IONOS to Static.app, open the Renewal & Transfer page, switch off the Domain transfer lock and private registration, and choose Show Authorization Code. IONOS shows the code on the page, though it can take a few minutes to appear. Then start the transfer at Static.app with that code and confirm it from the email the domain's owner receives. The one thing to do first is write down your DNS records and subdomains, because IONOS deletes them when the domain leaves.

Before you start

• Check the dates. A .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .mobi, .cc or .tv domain must have been registered in your name for at least 60 days before it can move.
• Check the owner's email address. The confirmation email goes to the domain's registrant contact, which is not always the email you sign in with. Look up the domain at registrar.ionos.com/whois and check the Registrant Email. Fix it now if nobody reads that inbox.
• Write down your DNS records and subdomains. IONOS says changed DNS settings do not move with the domain, and that all its subdomains are deleted when it goes to another provider. Note every record in the domain management area, especially the MX and TXT records your email depends on.
• Save your email and website. IONOS deletes every email address on the domain when it leaves. The mailboxes are kept under backup addresses ending in @mailboxbackup.info, and keeping one under a new name needs another domain in the same contract, so archive your mail first. A website in IONOS webspace does not move with the domain either.
• Know that the contract stays. Moving the domain away does not cancel the IONOS contract it belongs to, so you can still be billed. To stop paying, cancel the whole contract, which ends at the end of its current term.

Step 1: Switch off the transfer lock and private registration

1. Sign in to IONOS and, in the Domains section, open the Renewal & Transfer page.
2. Select the domain.
3. Switch off Domain transfer lock. The change can take a few minutes.

If the domain has private registration, turn it off as well. IONOS requires that before a transfer can start, and it does not do it for you.

Step 2: Show the authorization code

1. On the same Renewal & Transfer page, select the domain.
2. Choose Show Authorization Code.

IONOS requests the code from the registry, so it can take several minutes to appear. It is shown on the page, not emailed, so copy it before you leave.

Step 3: Start the transfer at Static.app

Sign in to Static.app, open Domains, and choose Transfer Domain. The form has three parts:

1. Which domain are you moving? Type the whole name, such as yourbusiness.com. Static.app checks at once whether it can move, what the transfer costs, and which company holds it now.
2. Authorization code: paste the code from IONOS. Copy it exactly, with no space before or after.
3. Owner contact: the registry records these details against the domain, so use an email address you read.

Tick the terms box and choose Continue to Payment. A transfer is charged like a registration and adds a year to the domain (two years on a .ai name, which is sold two years at a time). The transfer is sent to the registry once the payment goes through.

Static.app keeps the domain on the nameservers it uses today, so the transfer changes who you pay for the name and nothing else. Your website and email keep working, as long as the DNS behind those nameservers keeps answering.

Not every ending can move here yet. Country endings such as .uk, .de and .eu are not supported, and the form tells you as soon as you type the name.

Step 4: Confirm the transfer email

For .com and the other common endings, the domain's owner receives a confirmation email for the transfer and has to agree to it within a set time. If the owner rejects it, the transfer fails.

IONOS does not describe a way to release the domain sooner. If the email has not arrived, check the Registrant Email in the IONOS WHOIS again. IONOS can also send it again: in the Domains section, open the Details page, select the domain and choose Restart Transfer.

Step 5: Finish setting up the domain at Static.app

When the domain shows as Active in your Domains list, it is registered with Static.app. If the transfer does not go through, the domain stays where it was, the payment is refunded, and the domain page says why and offers Try the Transfer Again. The usual causes are a lock that is still on, a wrong or expired code, or a domain that changed hands in the last 60 days.

What is left depends on where your DNS lives:

• Your DNS is with a company you are keeping, such as Cloudflare or your hosting company: nothing changes. To open a Static.app website on the domain, add its records there, or move DNS here as below.
• Your DNS was at IONOS: move it to Static.app the moment the domain shows Active, since that DNS may stop answering once the domain has left. The steps are in the next point.
• You want Static.app to run the DNS: open the domain, choose Edit beside Nameservers, then Reset to Default and Update Nameservers. Static.app writes the records for any website connected to the domain. Add everything else, such as your email records, in Manage DNS or Email & Forwarding right away, using the copy you made before the transfer.

To open one of your websites on the domain, choose Assign beside Website on the domain page and pick the website. With the DNS here, the records and the SSL certificate are set up for you. A paid plan is needed to publish a website on your own domain.

Moving a domain from another company? See every transfer guide.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a transfer from IONOS take?

IONOS does not give a figure for a transfer away. Most of the waiting is usually on the 60-day rule before you start, and then on the owner confirming the email, so answer it as soon as it arrives.

Do I lose the time I already paid IONOS for?

No. For .com and the other common endings, the time left on the domain comes with it and the transfer adds a year on top. IONOS charges no fee for transferring a domain away.

Will my website or email stop working?

Not because of the transfer itself: Static.app keeps your nameservers as they are. But IONOS deletes the domain's email addresses, subdomains and changed DNS settings when it leaves, so anything that relied on them stops until it is set up again. That is why the copy you made matters. Moving DNS to Static.app as soon as the domain arrives takes a few minutes.

Why is IONOS still billing me after the domain left?

Because transferring a domain away is not the same as cancelling the contract it was in. The contract keeps running until you cancel it as a whole, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current term.