Using a new or lost phone

Fresh phone, same account

Three things, in order:

Sign in. Open the app, type your email, click the magic link in your inbox, then tap Continue to sign in.
Type your backup password. The app sees there’s no vault on this phone and prompts you for the password. Type it.
Wait a couple of seconds. Your phone fetches your cases and your patient names appear as the list loads.

That’s the full restore. No file to copy from your old phone, no backup file to email yourself.

Once your cases have loaded on the fresh phone, search finds any of them — not just the ones on screen.

If your old phone had Face ID or fingerprint enabled, the new phone will offer to enrol the same on this device after the first unlock. Each device has its own biometric setup.

Lost phone

Same as above — sign in on a replacement phone, type your backup password. The lost phone’s working copy becomes irrelevant; everything you need is on the servers and unlocked by your password.

Is the lost phone a risk?

The data on the lost phone is scrambled at rest, locked behind your phone’s screen lock. For someone to read it, they would need to:

Bypass your screen lock, and
Bypass the browser’s data sandbox, and
Have either your backup password or grab the unscrambled key from running memory.

For a stolen-but-not-targeted phone: very low risk.

For a targeted theft (someone wants your data specifically): you should invalidate the lost phone’s connection. From a working device, go to Settings → Security → Reset vault. This wipes the secret key on the servers — the lost phone can no longer unlock its working copy from us. Your patient names will need to be re-entered (clinical content stays intact).

Multiple devices at once

You can sign in on a phone and a laptop with the same account. Each device unlocks separately with your backup password. Changes from one device show up on the other when you reload the case list.

What’s not yet built:

Instant push from one device to another. Changes need a manual reload.
A list of all your active devices in one place.

For most surgeons, one phone plus one laptop is fine. More than two devices and you’ll notice things lag.

A device showing old or blank patient names

Occasionally an older device — one that signed in before you’d finished setting up your backup password, or a long-dormant phone — ends up holding an out-of-date key. It still unlocks, but it can’t read the patient names the servers have, so cases show up blank or “Unnamed.”

This isn’t lost data — the names are safe on the servers under your current key. The device just needs the current key.

The app usually catches it for you. When it notices a device can’t read your cases, it brings up the unlock screen explaining what’s happened, with a one-tap fix.
Or fix it yourself: Settings → Backup & recovery → Resync. Enter your backup password if asked; the app figures out what’s out of step and puts it right — “Resynced — N names restored.”

There’s now a single Resync button. You no longer have to work out whether this device is behind or your other devices are behind, or pick between “re-sync this device” and “re-secure all cases” — the app detects which it is and does the right one for you. It always treats the servers’ copy as the source of truth, never deletes anything, and never changes your backup password. Running it when nothing is wrong does nothing — it’s safe to tap if you’re unsure.

Signing in on a borrowed device

Try not to. If you must:

Sign in.
Do what you needed.
Go to Settings → Sessions and revoke the session on that device.
Clear the browser data on exit.

This app is meant to be installed on a device you own.

Forgot your backup password?

You’re probably not locked out. Work down this list — only the last step loses anything:

A device where Face ID / fingerprint still works? Nothing is lost. Unlock with your face or finger, go to Settings → Security → Change backup password, tap Forgot your backup password?, and set a new one — no old password needed. Everything stays exactly as it is, and your other devices simply use the new password next time they ask. The lock screen’s Can’t unlock? link offers the same route.
A device where the vault is unlocked and you remember the password? Change it the normal way under Settings → Security. Nothing is lost here either.
Neither? Only then is the vault reset the way forward — it keeps every case but loses the patient names on them. It asks you to type RESET precisely because it’s the last resort, not the first.

The full detail of each step is on Your backup password.

Locked out and stuck? Send a plain email

If you ever can’t get into the app — the backup-password field won’t take you in, the magic link won’t arrive, a fresh phone won’t restore — you are never at a dead end. The locked-vault screen shows a quiet email [email protected] link right next to the backup-password field. Tap it (or just email that address from any mail app) with a short description and a screenshot if you have one.

Because it’s an ordinary email, it works from a fully locked or offline phone — nothing to install, no sign-in needed. Your message becomes a tracked report: it’s logged and queued the same way in-app feedback is, and when it’s resolved you get a plain-language “here’s what was wrong and what we did” note back at the address you wrote from. This is an email channel sitting alongside the app — it never touches your backup password or anything in your vault.

If your email changes

There’s no self-service way to change your account email yet. Send an email to [email protected] with both your old and new addresses and your account will be moved.