Sync across iPhone and iPad

Sync keeps your vault the same on your iPhone and iPad. What you scan on one appears on the other, and every copy is encrypted on your device before it’s uploaded.

What it is

Sync is part of Pro and uses your Paperwise account, which you create with Sign in with Apple. Each of your devices holds your account key. Every item gets its own key, wrapped by your account key, and is encrypted on the device before it leaves. Our server stores only the encrypted copies and passes them between your devices.

What syncs:

documents, with their pages, text, title, type, tags and summary
files, notes, cards and their attachments
folders and signatures
your Ask conversations, translations and extracted details
your Hidden items, double-encrypted under each space’s own key

Each account can use up to 50 GB of synced storage. Account shows how much you’re using.

When to use it

You scan on your iPhone and read or sign on your iPad.
You want a second device to hold your vault too, as well as the iCloud backup.

Step by step

Turn on sync

On your first device, tap your avatar on the Vault to open Account.
Tap Sign in with Apple at the top if you aren’t signed in. The first time, Paperwise creates your account key and shows your recovery key once. Save it somewhere safe.
Under Use on my iPad, turn on Sync across devices.
On your second device, sign in with the same Apple ID in Paperwise. Paperwise asks you to Set up this iPhone: bring your account key over from your first device by scanning a code (see Add a device by code) or by typing your recovery key.
Turn on Sync across devices on that device too.

Sync runs when you open the app, shortly after you change something, and every few minutes while Paperwise is open. Tap Sync now to run it straight away.

Check sync status

Under Use on my iPad, the line below the switch shows “Up to date”, “n changes waiting” and how much storage you use, or a plain message if sync is paused.

Hidden on another device

Hidden items sync, but each Hidden space is encrypted under its own key, derived from that space’s recovery key, never from your account key. Your account key alone opens no Hidden item.

To open a space on another device:

On that device, open Hidden.
If Hidden isn’t set up there yet, tap I use Hidden on another iPhone, type the space’s Hidden recovery key and tap Use this key.
Choose its passcode if asked. Its items arrive as they sync.

Hidden items arrive while Hidden is unlocked on the receiving device.

How sync handles changes

Edits on two devices at once. Paperwise never silently overwrites one with the other. The newer edit wins, and the other is kept as a separate item named “(conflict copy)”, so you can compare and delete the one you don’t need.
Deletions. When you delete something on one device, it goes to Recently deleted on your other devices first, for 30 days, rather than disappearing straight away. See Recently deleted.
Folders. Renaming or moving a folder syncs on its own; the documents inside aren’t re-uploaded.
Checks. Every change carries a tag made with your account key. Your devices ignore changes that don’t check out, so our server can’t forge your items or pass off an old version as new. It could still delay or hold back changes. If items are held back, the app says so: “Some synced items haven’t arrived yet. Paperwise keeps checking.”

Free and Pro

Sync is part of Pro. On Free, Sync across devices shows a Pro tag and opens the plan screen. The iCloud backup is free. If Pro ends, nothing more is uploaded, but your devices keep their copies.

Sync and Forward by email are account-wide: Pro bought on your iPhone turns them on for your iPad when both are signed in to the same account. Other Pro features, like the AI helper or extra Hidden spaces, follow the App Store purchase on each device; tap Restore purchases on the iPad (Account → the plan card) to turn them on there.

Privacy

Privacy: Synced copies are encrypted on your devices before they’re uploaded, with keys we don’t have. Our server stores ciphertext and can’t read your titles, text, folder names, images or file names. On each device, what arrives is encrypted again under that device’s own vault key, which never leaves it.

What our server can see: how many items and files you sync and their sizes, versions and times (Hidden items included, though it can’t tell which are hidden), roughly how many pages a document has, which device made each change, and when things are deleted. Your device names are visible to us too. See What we can and can’t see.

Note: If you lose every device and your recovery key, nobody can recover your synced items, including us. Keep your recovery key safe.

Tips

Sign in and turn on sync on each device. Sync is a setting per device.
“Name and sort new scans” works per device: items that arrive by sync aren’t named automatically.
Signing out stops sync on that device until you sign in and set it up again. You choose whether to keep the documents on it or remove them; synced copies stay in your account. See Sign out.
Signing in on a device that already has documents (from a time you were signed out, or another account) asks whether to add them to your account first. Sync waits until you answer. See Sign in with Apple.

What if…

What if I see “Set up this iPhone” instead of the sync switch?

This device is signed in but doesn’t have your account key yet. Tap it and choose Use another device or Enter recovery key.

Paperwise may be waiting for your answer to “You have N documents on this iPhone. Add them to your account?” Until you choose Add to my account or Erase them, nothing goes up or comes down.

What if I see a “(conflict copy)”?

The same item was edited on two devices before they synced. Open both, keep the right one and delete the other.

What if a Hidden space doesn’t show its synced items?

Open that space on this device. Its items arrive while it’s unlocked. If the space isn’t set up here, use its recovery key as described above.

What if sync says storage is full?

You’ve reached 50 GB. Delete documents you no longer need, and empty Recently deleted.