Desktop and phone

Sync between your devices

Pair a phone and a desktop once, then keep them on the same notes through any folder both can see. No server, no account.

Sync in SILONotes is not a cloud service. Your desktop and your phone exchange encrypted .silo archives through a folder that both of them can see, and every note stays on your own devices. The video below walks through the whole thing on a real desktop and a real phone, including what to look out for.

Narrated, about nine minutes. Pairing, everyday use, a conflict, a deletion, and the things to look out for. Waiting is played at triple speed, marked in the corner when it happens; everything else is real time. In the recording the folder is carried between the two devices by the recording rig; on your devices, Syncthing, a Drive client or a USB stick does that job. Recorded on 2026-09-08, before the desktop gained its own Backup protection card, so where the narration says the pairing must start on the phone, read: on whichever device has a backup password.

How it works

You choose one folder on each device: the same folder, as each device sees it. SILONotes makes a subfolder called SILONotes Sync inside it. Each device writes its own encrypted archive there, named silosync-<device id>-<sequence>-<time>.silo, and applies the newest archive written by the other device. Whatever keeps that folder the same on both sides is the transport: a Syncthing share, a Drive or Dropbox folder that is mirrored to the computer, or a USB drive you carry.

It never syncs the database file

The live database is three files that must change together, and a file-sync tool copying them mid-write is how libraries get corrupted. SILONotes only ever exchanges the archives above. Do not point Syncthing or Drive at the app's own data folder.

Every archive is encrypted. The first one, the pairing file, is protected with the writing device's backup password and carries a shared key. Once the other device has opened it with that password, both devices hold the key, and every later exchange opens with no prompt and is unreadable to anyone else, including the folder service carrying it.

Before you start

The device that creates the pairing file needs a backup password, because that file carries a key and is only ever written encrypted. Either device can start: the desktop has had its own Backup protection card under Settings ▸ Data & Backup since 2026-09-10, and the phone has one under Settings ▸ Data Management. The other device joins by typing that password once.

1On the device that will start the pairing, open Backup protection: Settings ▸ Data Management on the phone, Settings ▸ Data & Backup on the desktop.
2Press Set up backup protection, choose a password, and confirm it.
3A recovery key is shown once. Save it somewhere safe, then press I have saved this.

If the desktop card says to set a backup password first

That message appears when the device saving a pairing file has no backup password yet. Set one under Backup protection on that device, or start the pairing from the other device if it already has one.

Pairing, once

1Phone: open Settings ▸ Sync. Give the phone a name if you like, then press Choose folder and pick the folder your sync client shares with the desktop. Android asks you to allow access to it.
2Phone: press Save pairing file to folder. The folder now holds one silosync-… archive. Wait for your folder client to carry it to the computer.
3Desktop: open Settings ▸ Data & Backup and find Sync with another device. Name the desktop, press Choose folder… and pick the same folder as your computer sees it.
4Desktop: press Sync now. The desktop finds the pairing file and asks for a password: type the phone's backup password. It pairs, imports the phone's notes, and writes its own archive for the phone.
5Phone: once the desktop's archive has reached the folder, press Sync now. It opens with no prompt. Both devices now show Paired with … and when they last synced.
6On both devices, switch on Sync automatically so each one checks the folder without being asked.

Which password?

The one belonging to the device that made the pairing file. If you use the same backup password everywhere there is nothing to think about. You are only ever asked once.

Everyday use

Edit on either device, then press Sync now. A sync sends this device's archive and applies the other device's newest one, so it takes a press on each side, or a press on one side plus automatic sync on the other.

	Desktop	Phone
With Sync automatically on	Watches the folder and syncs when it changes, on start, and every ten minutes.	Checks the folder each time you bring the app to the front.
With it off	Only when you press Sync now.	Only when you press Sync now.
In the background	Yes, while the app is running.	Never. The phone has to be open.
Confirmation	A toast, and a Last synced line on the card.	An alert, and a Last synced line on the screen.

Turn Sync automatically on for both devices

Each device has its own switch on its own Sync screen, and each only governs that device. With both on, editing on the phone and opening the phone is usually enough: the phone sends, the desktop notices the folder change and applies it.

Every sync confirms what it did, even when it changed nothing ("Already up to date"), so you never need to press it twice.

When both devices changed the same note

Edits to different paragraphs of the same note merge on their own. Only a paragraph edited on both sides since the last sync is a conflict. The newer edit stands in the note, and the other version is kept whole as a copy. Nothing is thrown away.

The device that resolves the conflict files that copy in a SILO called Sync Conflicts, and its Sync card offers "1 conflict copy to review", which opens the SILO. The copy then travels to the other device like any other note, where it currently arrives in General rather than in a Sync Conflicts SILO of its own. Look for a note whose title carries the other device's name and the date.

Photos on a synced note

A note with photos in it can reach the other device showing empty placeholders where the pictures should be. The image files themselves do come across, so nothing is lost, and the pictures reappear once this is fixed. If you need them on the other device right away, a Full backup and restore carries them correctly.

Deleting

Move a note to Trash on one device, and the other device trashes it too.
Permanently delete a note on one device, and the other device moves its copy to Trash rather than destroying it. A mistake is always recoverable.
A note you deleted does not come back on the next sync, even if the other device had not heard about the deletion yet.

What travels, and what stays

Travels	Stays on its own device
Notes, including trashed ones	Note history (versions)
SILOs and which SILO a note is in	API keys and server addresses
Highlights and library chapters	My Day
Media files (see the note below)	Device settings such as layout and reading mode

Images do not display on the receiving device yet

The files themselves are copied across by a sync, and nothing is lost. But in this version the block that shows a picture still points at its place inside the archive, so a synced photo appears as an empty box on the device that received it. It is correct on the device it was added to. Moving a library with a full backup and a restore does rebuild those paths, so a backup restore shows the pictures normally.

Things to look out for

The same folder on both sides. If a device says "Pairing file is in the folder. Waiting for your other device to open it", the other device has not opened it yet, or is looking at a different folder.
A file that is still copying. "…is still copying. Try again in a moment" means your folder client has not finished. SILONotes checks that a file has stopped growing before opening it.
The phone syncs when opened, and only with its own Sync automatically switch on. Open SILONotes on the phone before you leave, and give the folder client a moment to carry the file across.
Clocks. Which edit is newer is decided by each device's clock, so keep both set automatically. On the desktop, a clock that looks wrong is named in the sync summary.
One pair. Sync is designed for one phone and one desktop.
A large first sync takes a few minutes on a phone and is safe to pause. Progress is saved as it goes, and the next Sync now finishes where it left off.
Unpairing keeps every note on both devices. To sync again you pair once more, with a new key.

The manual path

Without a shared folder, use Export for your other device… and Import from your other device… on the desktop, or Send to and Open from on the phone. One archive, moved however you like, with the same rules. The first exchange is the pairing file and asks for the password once.

No. There is no SILONotes server in the exchange. The folder service you choose carries an encrypted file it cannot open.

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