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Cloud Sync

OlaTime works fully offline with no account required. Cloud sync is an optional layer that backs up your appointments and keeps them in step across every device you sign in on.

Why it's useful

• Backup — your schedule is safely stored beyond a single device, so a lost or replaced phone doesn't mean lost data.
• Multi-device — add an appointment on your phone in the morning and it's already there on your laptop that afternoon.
• Continuity — pick up exactly where you left off, on whichever device is closest.
• Privacy — each person signs in with their own account and sees only their own data. Nobody else can see your schedule.

How the syncing works

• Local-first. Every change is written to your device first (in the browser's IndexedDB). That's why the app is instant and keeps working with no connection.
• Mirrored when signed in. With cloud sync switched on and a signed-in account, each change is also copied to your private space in the cloud.
• Pulled on other devices. Signing in on another device downloads your data and merges it with whatever is there.
• Merge rule. Sync is per-appointment and *last-write-wins*: every record carries an updatedAt timestamp, and the most recent version is the one kept. This keeps two devices from clobbering each other in confusing ways.
• Offline-friendly. Edits made offline are stored locally and reconciled automatically the next time the device is online.

Turning it on

Cloud sync is enabled once, by whoever runs the app — a single configuration on the owner's side. After that, every user simply taps Sign in & sync in Settings; there's nothing for individual users to set up.

Until it's switched on, OlaTime remains fully functional offline on each device.

Family Mode and Workspace Mode: what's shared, and with whom

Cloud sync (above) covers personal appointments — private to the signed-in account, never visible to anyone else. Two other sharing scopes build on the same sign-in:

• Family Mode doesn't need cloud sync at all — family profiles live inside your own local account, switching between them is instant and entirely on-device (or synced as one bundle if cloud sync is on).
• Workspace Mode is genuinely shared: appointments inside an active workspace are readable and writable by its members according to their role (owner/administrator/manager/receptionist/staff/member). This does require cloud sync to be turned on and signed in, since shared data needs a shared backend.
• Guest Portal invitees never sign in at all — a workspace member generates a single-use secure link, and the guest's response is recorded against that one link's token, not a full account.