Run a sync
What this does
Copies everything new on each of two devices to the other, in one pass, and shows you what moved.
Before you start
- Both devices on the same Wi-Fi, no VPN on either, both apps open in the foreground with the same profile open. If any of these isn’t true, the other device is missing from the list (→ I1). Both devices also have to be signed in to the same Aviator Archive account — that one doesn’t hide the device, it refuses the connection, by name (→ I9).
- Keep both apps in the foreground until it finishes. Locking a phone or switching away from the app mid-sync is the most common cause of a timeout.
- If this device isn’t a member of the logbook yet, the device you tap asks for a six-digit PIN the first time (→ I4). Devices that arrived by QR code or over the air never do, and nor does a device already paired with another of your devices, once the news has reached this one by a sync.
Steps
- Open Cloud-Less Sync: the dashboard’s Cloud-Less Sync card, or Profile Settings → Data Sync → Cloud-Less Sync. The card at the top reads Listening with this device’s address and port, and beneath it No paired devices yet, 1 paired device or N paired devices.
- Find the other device in the list — its name, a hardware and operating-system
line, and its address — and tap it. There’s no Sync button; tapping the
device is the whole action.
While the app is still looking, the empty screen pulses: Searching for nearby
devices / Make sure other devices have this profile open and are on the same
Wi-Fi network.
- Wait while the header works through its phases, from Connecting to peer… to Finalizing… (all of them are listed at the end of this guide). Photos and scans move near the end, under Transferring photos and files (N of M)….
- Check the result. The header turns green and reads Sync Successful!, with Sent: and Received: counts.
- Tap ✕ on the header to dismiss it.
How to tell it worked
The green Sync Successful! header, and the thing you were waiting for present on the other device.
The other device shows the same sync while it happens, without anybody touching it: the same progress card if it’s on Cloud-Less Sync, or a small status card at the bottom of whatever screen it’s on. That’s how you can tell, from across a room, that you tapped the right device.
The counts are records, not flights — one flight is several records, so correcting a single landing time can report four. And photos, document scans and avatars can still be arriving after the counts have settled; they add nothing to either count (→ I1). So Sync Successful! with a photo still missing isn’t a failure: sync again and the photo is fetched.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The other device isn’t in the list | One of the four conditions isn’t met, or it’s holding a different profile. They look the same on screen | Work down family 1 in I9, starting with the profile (→ A2) |
| Couldn’t reach <name> at <host:port>… | The device was found, but the connection was refused or timed out — usually a VPN, or a network that keeps its devices apart | Turn off any VPN, then try starting the sync from the other device instead (→ I9) |
| A refusal naming your account, trusted lists or certificates | The two devices aren’t signed in to the same account, or one device’s list is out of date | The message says which device to act on (→ I9) |
| <name> is not signed in to its Aviator Archive account right now, so it cannot check this device… | The device you tapped isn’t signed in at the moment, so it can’t check that this one is yours | Open the app on that device, sign in if it asks, then try again |
| The two devices have different logbooks open, so they will not sync… | The other device has a different logbook open now — usually it was switched after it appeared in the list | Open the same logbook on both and try again. If they’re two separate logbooks you meant to be one, combine them (→ H8) |
| This device doesn’t have the other one in this logbook yet. Start the sync from the other device instead… | The other device accepts this one, but this one hasn’t been paired with the other yet | Start the sync from the other device. This one shows a PIN, and you type it there (→ I4) |
| The other device was removed from this logbook, so this device won’t sync with it… | Someone removed that device under Devices (→ I7) | If you want it back, start the sync from the other device. This one shows a PIN to type there (→ I4) |
| The other device needs updating before this one will sync with it… | The other device runs an older version of the app | Update Aviator Archive on the other device. Until then, start the sync from that device |
| The sync stops at the same point every time, and the counts never get past it | It’s sending the whole logbook, because it has no record of what the other device already has — normal after copying a profile to a new device, or after a restore | Keep both devices awake and plugged in, try starting from the other device, and read I8 |
| Sync cancelled. | The PIN dialog was answered with Cancel, or closed without six digits. Nothing else produces this message | Sync again and type the PIN (→ I4). A sync stopped by leaving the screen, or by locking the phone, reports a timeout instead |
| Sign in on this device to sync. While it is signed out it can neither start a sync nor accept one. | This device is signed out, so it can’t prove it’s yours — and the app refuses it in both directions | Sign in here. Starting from the other device won’t help: this one will refuse the connection |
| Open a profile before syncing. | You reached the screen without a logbook open | Open the profile first |
| Sync service hasn’t started yet. Restart the app and try again. or Sync engine not ready. Try again. | Sync didn’t start up when the profile opened | Restart the app, open the profile, and try again |
The phases of a sync
Knowing them lets you say exactly where a sync stopped.
| Phase | What’s happening |
|---|---|
| Connecting to peer… | Reaching the other device |
| Exchanging identity… | The two devices checking each other |
| Uploading changes… and Downloading changes… | Sending and receiving. They come in either order — the two devices agree between themselves which sends first |
| Transferring photos and files (N of M)… | Photos and scans moving. When this sync has nothing to fetch, it reads Transferring photos and files… with no count |
| Finalizing… | Finishing up |
Underneath, Syncing <table>… names what’s moving at that moment.
Only one of the two devices has to start the sync
Data moves both ways in a single pass, so you don’t have to touch the other device — but it has to be awake, with the profile open.
Nothing syncs on its own
There’s no schedule and no background sync, so there’s no setting to go looking for (→ I1).