Syncing your devices

With sync switched on, your devices running Anansi Studio keep each other up to date over your home Wi-Fi network. There's no account, and nothing leaves your network.

Sync is set up in Settings → Devices. It isn't available in the web version.

What stays in step

Your books: a book added on one device appears on the others, with its audio, documents and cover.
Your place in each book.
Finished books.
Starred chapters.
Lyrics timing (the lyrics offset).
Your edits: title, author, narrator, genre, language, chapters and lyrics.

Covers you change in the editor don't sync yet.

Setting up sync

Do this on each device:

Make sure the devices are on the same Wi-Fi network.
Open Settings → Devices and switch on Sync with my other devices.
Under Devices, the app looks for others (Looking for devices…). Open Anansi Studio on your other device and switch sync on there too.

Pairing

Each pair of devices is introduced once.

Beside the other device, choose Pair.
Both devices show a six-digit code. Check that the codes match.
Choose The codes match on both devices. The dialog says Waiting for the other device to confirm…, then Paired.

Until it's paired, a device shows as Unpaired; its name appears once the code has proved which device it is. To stop syncing with a device, choose Unpair.

The server

One of your devices acts as the server, and the others sync through it. After you pair, one becomes the server by itself. It's best to use a computer that is usually switched on. To move the role, choose Make this the server on the device you want (or Use as server beside it in the list). The server wears a Server badge in the device list.

This device's role is shown at the top of the card:

Server: the other devices sync through this one.
Follows the server: this device syncs through the server while it can reach it.
No server yet: pair a device to get started.

Device names

Your devices know each other by name. To begin with, a device uses the name the system gives it: the computer's name, the phone's name on Android, or the model on an iPhone or iPad (iOS doesn't share the owner's chosen name with apps). Choose Rename… to set your own; leave it empty to go back to the system's. A new name reaches your paired devices.

Bringing books from other devices

Bring books from the other devices decides whether this device receives whole books:

On: books added on a paired device are copied here, with their audio, and books whose files are missing here get them back.
Off: only your place in each book and your edits are kept in step. Use this on a device that is short of space.

Either way, books on this device are sent to the others.

Each file is sent once and checked on arrival. A book made from a document travels with its document, and a device that has the book but not the document fetches it.

How changes are merged

Your place: the most recent listening wins, even if it arrives late. A device that was offline doesn't win just because it sends its changes last.
Stars merge chapter by chapter.
Edits merge field by field. A title fixed on one device and chapters fixed on another both stay.
Only what you edited is sent. A title nobody changed is whatever each device's file says.
For books made from documents, chapters, lyrics and positions only move between copies of the same narration (another voice has its own timing).
A book that is playing is never moved by a change from elsewhere.
Removing a book removes it from this device only, and it isn't sent back here unless you add it again. Your progress in it waits for it.

When sync happens

Your place is sent when you pause, change chapter or leave the app, and at most every 45 seconds while you listen.
The bottom of the card shows Syncing…, Last synced 14:05 or Not synced yet, and how many changes are waiting. Sync now syncs straight away.

In the background

Android: sync keeps running in the background, with its own notification. Android limits this to 6 hours a day.
iPhone and iPad: iOS pauses apps in the background, so sync stops a few minutes after you leave the app (unless a book is playing) and catches up when you open it again.
Desktop: sync keeps running while the app is open. A computer that went to sleep starts sync afresh when it wakes.

If devices can't find each other

See Sync in Troubleshooting.