The scenario. You plan on the Mac, shoot with the phone in your pocket, and do paperwork on the iPad on the sofa. This is what moves between them, what does not, and why one of those is on purpose.
There is no Apex Lucis account and no password. Your data lives on the device and syncs through your own private iCloud database, the same mechanism Apple’s own apps use.
So setting up a second device is: install the app, be signed into the same Apple Account, wait. Nothing to log into, nothing to migrate.
The first sync can take a few minutes if you already have a lot of records. Leave the app open on the new device rather than launching it for ten seconds — a sync that has not finished looks exactly like a sync that has not started.
Effectively everything you type:
Edit a booking on the Mac and it is on the phone. The practical upshot is that you can plan at a desk and shoot with a phone, which is the way most of this work actually happens.
Alerts. Each device works out its own from your synced data rather than receiving them from anywhere.
This is the one that surprises people, so it is worth being plain about: it is deliberate. An alert is a local thing, and one device being asleep should not mean the reminder never happens. It also means alerts keep working with no signal, which is the whole point of them for a photographer.
The consequence: dismissing an alert on your phone does not dismiss it on your Mac. To stop an alert everywhere, switch it off on the booking — the booking syncs, so every device re-derives without it.
Widgets are per device too, for the same reason. The widget on your iPad shows your data but it is that iPad’s widget.
iPhone — on location. Conditions, the booking, the shot list, adding an expense by voice, tide and light with no signal. The widgets and Lock Screen activities are worth the most here.
iPad — reviewing and paperwork. The split layout puts a list beside a detail pane, which suits going through a delivery list or working down Needs Attention. Landscape, with the sidebar, is the format most of the app was designed around.
Mac — planning and admin. Where the wider layouts earn their place: the dashboard with charts, Profit & Loss, Insights, building packages and templates.
The Mac also has things the touch platforms do not:
📷 Screenshot needed —
/assets/images/guides/devices-mac-window.pngThe Mac app with the sidebar, a list and a detail pane, and the File menu open showing the new-item commands.
Almost always one of three things, in this order:
Give it a minute with the app open. Sync happens when the app is running, not while it is closed.
Check both devices are on the same Apple Account, and that iCloud Drive is enabled for the app in system settings.
Check the connection. Records sync through iCloud, so a device that has been offline for a week catches up when it is next online — but it does have to get online.
If one device has the record and the other does not after all that, opening and leaving the app running on both for a few minutes resolves nearly every case.
It works with no signal. Tides, light, the moon, and every record you have typed are on the device. Only weather and wildlife need fetching.
There is no server to fail. Nothing depends on a service staying up or a company staying in business.
Your client list is not on anyone’s computer but yours. Not as a policy — as an architecture. There is nowhere else for it to be.
| Module | Guide |
|---|---|
| Getting started | Getting Started |
| Navigation | Navigation Overview |
| Notifications | Notifications |
| Widgets | Widgets |
| Settings | Settings |