How TraceNook family sync works, at home and away

You put the extension cord in a different box, change its location on your phone, and want the rest of the family to see it. On the same home Wi-Fi, TraceNook passes that change straight from your phone to the other family phones. When you’re not on the same Wi-Fi, it travels through our relay instead, end-to-end encrypted so the relay can’t read it, and it’s deleted from the relay once delivered. There’s no account to create, and your records are stored on your own devices.

Open TraceNook to sync

TraceNook syncs while it’s open: directly when the phones are on the same Wi-Fi, through the relay when they aren’t. To start a sync yourself, open Family Sync and tap Sync now. The page shows which family devices are online or when they were last seen, plus the sync status. “Changes waiting to send” are edits that haven’t reached the other phone yet.

Edits you make away from home are saved on your phone first and sent through the relay while TraceNook is open. The other phone receives them the next time TraceNook is open there, so open the app on both phones and give it a moment before you trust a count.

Photos need the same Wi-Fi

Photos sync too, but only between phones on the same Wi-Fi; they never go through the relay. A new item can show up before its photo does, with “Photo pending sync” in its place. Keep both phones on the same Wi-Fi with the apps open until the photos arrive.

When TraceNook is closed

TraceNook syncs while it’s open and for a short moment after you leave it. It doesn’t keep a connection running in the background, so there’s no ongoing notification and no extra battery drain. Opening the app is enough to pick up whatever changed in the meantime.

Only the owner needs Max

Members join and sync on the free plan; the owner’s Max covers the whole family. If the owner’s phone loses its Max purchase, family sync pauses on that phone and Invite family member and Sync now are disabled until the purchase is restored. Nothing is deleted: the family data and every member’s access stay as they were.

A member’s right to sync comes from the invitation, not from their own plan, so don’t buy Max on every phone to fix a sync problem.

For a phone that keeps showing old records, follow the sync troubleshooting steps. Before changing phones, make a family backup.