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Syncing with the Guru iOS app

Link your GuruOwl account to the Guru iPhone app — what syncs, how conflicts are resolved, and what Unlink does.

GuruOwl is the website; Guru is its iOS app. Account linking, content sync, APKG import/export and native Anki collection sync are different operations.

Linking your account

Open Settings → Cloud sync to sign in. If already linked, open Account to check the identity (labels can vary by app version).

Sign in to the intended GuruOwl account from the app's account settings. Check the account identity on both devices before proceeding. Using Google on one device and Apple on another does not itself prove the accounts are linked; do not assume an automatic, lossless merge.

What can sync

Supported goals, materials, cards and review events can sync within the account's allowed scope. Full content sync depends on entitlement; a free first-material scope is available only when explicitly granted by the account. The installed app and server capability determine access.

Imported Anki decks can be local-only, syncing, synced or failed. Being signed in, or importing a package successfully, does not prove it uploaded. Check each deck's status and confirm the actual content on the other device.

Checking a round trip

  1. Verify account and sync access on both devices.
  2. Use Sync Now where available; wait for a successful result.
  3. Open the same material on the other device and check cards and review progress.
  4. For iPhone offline use, download the needed content, turn networking off and test cards and media. This does not certify offline behavior in the website.

Conflicts, unlinking and backups

Supported review events are reconciled by the server; this is not a guarantee that every imported template or older app version shares the same data path. Keep the original APKG and an independent backup before switching accounts, unlinking or replacing data. Neither a sync badge nor a downloaded APKG is a complete backup check.

If a deck remains local-only or failed, do not delete and reimport it to force sync. Record the status and contact support. See Anki import/export for the separate native collection workflow.