Getting in

On the webThe web app is live at one fixed address

Open the address you were given in any browser, on a phone or a computer. It is the full app, laid out for whatever screen you're on. Every LifeOps has its own address, so this guide fills in the one you are reading it from rather than naming somebody else's.

The page asks for a username and a password before it lets you in. Together they keep your journal from anyone who finds the address. A brand-new LifeOps has no login at all. Its sign-in page says so and offers to create the first account instead, and you choose the username and a password of at least twelve characters yourself, right there. Enter them once and you stay signed in, so day to day you go straight to your journal.

Five wrong tries lock sign-in for fifteen minutes. A password you know is changed in the app, at Settings → Account → Change password. A password you have forgotten is a job for whoever runs your LifeOps: "Set my web login" in the owner's guide sets a fresh one, which also clears the lock.

If your session ends while you are working, the app says so and asks you to sign in again on the page you are already on. Your writing stays where it was. Sign in, press save again, and it stores.

On iPhoneThe iPhone app installs through TestFlight first

You get the iPhone app as a TestFlight invite from whoever runs your LifeOps. TestFlight is Apple's own app for trying an app before it's in the App Store. You install TestFlight, tap the invite, and the app installs alongside your other apps. Later it will be in the App Store and install the normal way.

Whether your invite has gone out yet is a question for whoever runs your LifeOps. Until then, use the web app on your phone. It works in Safari and looks the same.

On AndroidThe Android app is still to come, by direct install or the Play Store

The Android app will install one of two ways: a file you tap to install straight onto the phone, or a normal Play Store listing. Either way it is the same app as the iPhone one, built from the same code. Both ways are still to come, so for now use the web app on your phone. It works in Chrome and looks the same.

Connecting the phone appThe phone app asks for a server address and an access token

The first time it opens, the phone app shows its Settings screen and stays there until the two fields at the top are filled.

Server address

The address of the server that holds your LifeOps data. It is separate from the web address; Settings → Account → Your phone in the web app shows it, ready to copy.

Access token

A long secret string that is your identity to that server, doing the job your username and password do on the web. You make one yourself: in the web app, Settings → Account → Your phone creates a token and shows it once, for you to copy straight in. Making a new one never signs anything else out.

Type both in and press Save & connect. The app checks them against the server before it stores anything, so a mistyped value can never replace a working one. When the check passes the screen reads Connected as with your name, and the phone keeps both values in its own secure storage from then on. You enter them once.

When the phone cannot reach the server, a strip across the top of the screen names the trouble, Server updating or Network issue, and clears on its own once the server answers again. A wrong address or token fails at Save & connect instead, which stores nothing the server rejects. When a token stops working, make yourself a fresh one at Settings → Account → Your phone in the web app.