Syncing Your Logbook — Advanced Guide

Modified on Tue, 28 Jul at 11:10 PM

This is the detailed account of how KnotWise sync behaves — what happens in which order, what syncs and what stays on the device, and where the edges are. For the short version, see Syncing across devices.

Subscription required: syncing between devices is part of the Sync and Share plans. On the Free plan your logbook stays on one device. Compare plans →

The model: local first, cloud second

Every device holds a complete copy of your logbook, and KnotWise reads and writes that copy. Sync is a layer on top, not a requirement — the app does not wait for a server to let you save an entry.

A new or edited entry is written to the device first. If there is a connection, it goes to the KnotWise Cloud straight away; if there is not, it waits in a queue and goes as soon as you are back within reach. A dropped connection costs you nothing.

What happens in which situation

Situation	What KnotWise does
You log an entry offshore, without a connection	Saved on the device, queued, sent as soon as you are online
You open a second device after weeks at sea	Everything logged since the last sync downloads on the first connection
Two devices edit different entries while offline	Both sets of changes are merged, nothing is lost
Two devices edit the same entry while offline	The version saved last wins; the other is overwritten
You add a device to the account	The full logbook downloads after the first sign-in

The sync indicator

The state is shown at the top right of the app:

Live — connected, and changes from your other devices arrive immediately
Connected — sync is running, just not in real time; changes from other devices appear with a short delay
Syncing — currently sending or receiving
Offline — no connection, changes are queued on the device

Devices

Up to five devices per account. A device registers itself the first time you sign in on it, and you will find the list under Settings → Devices — including when each was last seen, which makes it easy to spot the one you no longer use. Removing a device there signs it out on its next sync.

What syncs and what does not

Data	Syncs
Log entries and passages	Yes
Crew, animals on board, passport photos	Yes
Maintenance and inventory	Yes
Vessel settings	Yes
Attachments (photos, PDFs)	Yes — on Sync reduced to about 1 MB, on Share at full resolution
Safety checklists — your added and removed items	Yes
Safety checklists — which boxes are ticked	No, device only
App preferences (language, theme)	No, device only
Downloaded map tiles	No — download them on each device

When two people log at once

KnotWise resolves a conflict by keeping the version saved last. On a boat that is rarely a problem — usually one person keeps the log. But if the watch changes and two people edit the same entry at the same time, one of the two versions is gone without warning. If your crew logs in parallel, give each watch its own entry rather than editing one together.

After a long time offline

On a passage of several weeks the sign-in session can expire. You are not signed out, the app keeps working and your paid features stay available; only sync pauses until you re-authenticate. The details are in Offline mode — how KnotWise works at sea.

Resuming after a subscription gap

If a subscription lapses and you keep logging on several devices independently, each device holds its own version of the truth — and the cloud copy is deleted once the account is on the Free plan.

⚠ Duplicates are likely here. When you resubscribe, every device uploads what it has. Entries you logged on two devices during the gap arrive twice, and KnotWise cannot tell that they describe the same watch. Back up each device first (Settings → Data Backup) and, if possible, resume sync from one device only. Background: What happens to my data if I cancel my subscription?

Questions that come up

How much space does a synced logbook need?

The entries themselves are tiny — several hundred of them without attachments amount to a few megabytes. Photos and PDFs are what actually take up space, which is why the Sync plan reduces images to about 1 MB.

Is my data encrypted?

Everything between your device and our servers travels over TLS, and the data sits on infrastructure in Switzerland. Details: Your data and privacy — what KnotWise stores and where.

Can the browser and the desktop app share one account?

Yes. Browser, desktop app and iPad app all work against the same account — an entry made in one appears in the others as soon as both have a connection.

Last updated: 28 July 2026