Sync Explained

Sync lets you pick up Kinu on your phone in the morning, your tablet on the couch, and your browser at your desk, with the same people, moments, and dates waiting on each one. It runs quietly in the background. You never have to think about it.

Sync is a Kinu Plus feature. On the free plan, your data stays local to the device where you created it by default, and you can turn on a free encrypted backup any time without upgrading. Sync keeps multiple devices in step with each other; backup does not.

What you need for sync

Sync works across the devices signed in to the same Kinu account, so two things have to be true:

• You are signed in. Kinu uses an account (Apple, Google, or email and password) to back up your data and recognize your devices. Your data still lives on each device, and the app works fully offline once you are signed in.
• You have Kinu Plus. If you already have a Kinu account, you can sign in at kinu.care in a browser, free or Plus. What Plus adds is unlimited people and sync, which is what keeps your phone, tablet, and browser in step with each other.

To start, sign in on a second device with the same account. Kinu downloads your data and keeps both devices in step from then on.

How it works

When you make a change in Kinu, like adding a person, recording a moment, or adjusting a Relational Compass setting, that change is saved to your device first. Always. Then, after a short pause to batch a few changes together, Kinu encrypts everything and sends it to the server in the background.

Your other devices pick up those changes on their next sync, usually within seconds when they are online. If a device is offline, it catches up automatically the next time it connects.

There is no "sync" button to press. It just happens.

What gets synced

When sync is on, your relationship data travels between your devices, encrypted the whole way:

• People
• Moments
• Voice notes attached to your moments
• Important dates
• Lenses and how your people are organized into them
• Relational Compass settings (closeness, intention, and mode)
• Moment types
• Your reminder and notification preferences
• Private notes (kept isolated, more on that below)

What stays on the device

A few things are deliberately local:

• Voice recordings. Voice note audio is never uploaded, on any plan. It lives only on the device where you recorded it.

Photos are not on this list. They used to stay on the phone you added them on; they now travel with the rest of your content once backup or sync is on.

See Backup on the free plan below for what free-plan data does when backup is turned on.

Backup on the free plan

Sync keeps multiple devices in step with each other. Backup is different: it is a single, restorable copy of one phone's data, and it is free.

Turn on backup in Settings and your data goes encrypted to Kinu's server the same way synced data does, including private notes and private moments. If you ever set up a new, empty phone and sign in to the same account, Kinu offers to bring your backup onto it.

A few things are worth knowing:

• One backup per account. If more than one of your devices has backup on, they share a single backup slot, the most recent one to back up. That is different from Plus, where every device stays in step with every other one continuously.
• Free backups are capped at 4MB. That covers thousands of people, moments, and notes in plain text for most people. Voice notes are never uploaded on any plan, so they never count against the limit. Photos do count: Kinu shrinks each one on your device, and one still too large to fit is left behind rather than blocking the backup. If your backup goes over the cap, Kinu tells you in the app; export a copy any time, or Kinu Plus lifts the limit entirely.
• Turning it off removes the backup right away. The encrypted copy is then erased from storage within about a month.

Backup is opt-in, like sync. Until you turn one of them on, nothing leaves your device.

Private notes stay isolated

Private notes are for your eyes only, and that holds true with sync turned on.

If you turn on sync or backup, private notes travel and are stored as encrypted data like everything else, so they are available on your other devices or restorable from your backup. What sets them apart is that they are walled off from the rest of Kinu. No feature reads them, analyzes them, or surfaces them in a reminder, and they are never included in any analysis. They exist purely for you.

How encryption protects your synced data

Your data is encrypted on your device before it ever leaves. The server receives and stores only encrypted blobs, protected in transit and at rest.

We do not access your relationship content as part of running Kinu. The server simply stores and delivers encrypted packages between your devices. Your people, your moments, and your notes are never used for analytics, advertising, or any social features. Any analytics Kinu does collect are pseudonymous and never include names, content, or who your people are.

The key that protects your synced data is currently derived from your account, so our server could in principle re-derive it. Kinu does not claim end-to-end or "not even us" encryption today. User-held keys are an improvement we want to bring you in the future.

When two devices disagree

If you make changes on two devices before they have a chance to sync, Kinu uses a simple, predictable rule: the most recent change wins.

Every edit carries a version number, and the highest version takes priority. In practice this almost never comes up. Sync is fast enough that you would have to edit the same person on two devices at nearly the same moment for it to matter.

Works offline, always

Kinu never waits for the network. Each device has its own local database, and the app works fully offline. You can add people, record moments, and adjust settings on a plane, on the subway, or anywhere your signal does not reach.

When you are back online, queued changes sync on their own. Nothing is lost, and there is nothing to do by hand.

Learn more

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