Sync

Sync is part of the connected tier (AUD$20/yr). It keeps your meetings, transcripts, notes, and summaries up to date across your own devices. The server brokers the connection and store-and-forwards ciphertext for devices that are offline; it never holds your plaintext.

How it works

Each device holds an encryption key derived from your pairing. The server receives only ciphertext; it cannot read your meeting content. When a device is offline at the time of a write, the server queues the ciphertext and delivers it when that device next connects.

This is a different channel from the MCP connector. The connector sends the meeting you choose to an AI provider, by design, and only on request. The sync channel never does that. See Security for a full breakdown of what goes where.

If two of your devices are rarely online at the same time, you can run your own always-on hub for them to converge through, on hardware you own, with no copy of your data on Minutist infrastructure. See Self-hosted server.

Set up sync

1. Enable the connected tier. Subscribe at minutist.ai/pricing/, then sign in to the app on your first device via Settings → Connection.
2. Note your recovery phrase. After sign-in, the app displays a 12-word BIP-39 recovery phrase. Write it down and store it somewhere safe. This phrase is the root of your encryption key; lose it and you cannot recover your data on a new device.
3. Sign in each additional device. On each new device, click “Pair this device” in Settings → Connection. The app shows a short code and opens a verification URL in your browser; sign in to your Minutist account there and confirm the code. There is no QR scan and no approval step on another device; each device authorises itself with the code-and-URL step.
4. Devices find each other automatically. Once signed in, devices discover each other through your account directory, no manual step. The second device downloads the ciphertext queue from the server and decrypts it locally. Depending on how many meetings you have, this initial sync may take a few minutes.

Note

If you have lost access to all signed-in devices, you can recover using your BIP-39 phrase (see Recovery below).

Adding more devices

Repeat step 3 for each new device. Each device signs itself in independently with the code-and-URL step.

Recovery

If you lose all trusted devices, use your recovery phrase to regain access.

1. Install Minutist on a new device.
2. Go to Settings → Connection → Recover with phrase.
3. Enter your 12-word BIP-39 phrase in order.
4. The app derives the encryption key from the phrase and reconnects to your account. The server delivers the queued ciphertext; the app decrypts it locally.

Caution

Store your recovery phrase offline: a printed copy or a password manager that is itself backed up. If you lose the phrase and all trusted devices, your encrypted data cannot be recovered. The server does not hold a copy of your key.

Sync scope

The following are synced across paired devices:

• Meeting recordings (audio files)
• Transcripts and speaker labels
• Your notes
• Summaries
• Meeting metadata (title, date, attendees if set)

App settings and model files are not synced; install models on each device via Settings → Models.

Direct sync on your own network

Two of your own devices on the same network can sync directly with no relay traffic; the payload is end-to-end encrypted either way. Devices still find each other through your account directory; the direct path is used automatically when they can reach each other.

Synced meeting metadata

Synced meetings converge on the real title, dates, duration, and speakers instead of arrival-time placeholders. The foundation for this is on main; some capture-side write paths are still in flight. It is not a separately usable feature; it lands together with sync.

Phone companion

The Android companion (iOS coming soon) rides the same sync substrate. It signs in with the same device-code step as a desktop. After you stop a recording, the phone sends the audio and notes to one of your own desktops on its own, retrying when you reopen the app or when a device comes back online. See Phone companion for details.

Troubleshooting

Sync is stalled on one device. Check that the device is signed in (Settings → Connection) and has a network connection. The server queues ciphertext; delivery resumes automatically when the device reconnects.

Pairing code not accepted. Codes expire after a short window. Click “Pair this device” again to start a fresh code-and-URL session.

Lost my recovery phrase. If you still have access to a signed-in device, generate a new phrase via Settings → Sync → Rotate recovery phrase. The old phrase is invalidated. If you have no signed-in devices and no phrase, the encrypted data cannot be recovered.