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Justin's Obsidian Academy

Sync via Syncthing

Your vault lives on the ZenBook A16 at C:\Vault\WhittechAI. Your phone has a copy at /storage/emulated/0/Documents/Obsidian/WhittechAI. Syncthing keeps them identical. No cloud, no monthly fee, no Apple/Google account required.

The mental model

Section titled “The mental model”
  • Syncthing runs as a daemon on both sides (desktop + phone)
  • Both daemons know each other (paired by Device ID)
  • They watch the vault folder and broadcast changes
  • Files appear on the other side within ~30 seconds on LAN

When you edit a note on your phone, your phone’s Syncthing notifies your PC’s Syncthing, which pulls the change. Same in reverse. Conflicts are rare on a vault with one user but happen — Syncthing creates ~conflict~ files when they do.

What’s running on your machine right now

Section titled “What’s running on your machine right now”

On your ZenBook A16:

  • syncthing.exe (native ARM64 from winget package Syncthing.Syncthing) — the daemon. Runs at localhost:8384 web UI.
  • Syncthing Tray (native ARM64 from Martchus.syncthingtray) — system-tray UI. Optional but nice.
  • Auto-start shortcuts in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\ — both above launch on login.

On your Galaxy S26+:

  • Syncthing-Fork (from F-Droid) — the Android daemon. Set to “Force start, ignore run conditions” so Samsung’s battery optimization doesn’t suspend it.

Verifying sync works

Section titled “Verifying sync works”
  1. On PC: edit 00-Inbox/inbox.md, append a line, save
  2. Wait 15–30 seconds
  3. On phone: open 00-Inbox/inbox.md in Obsidian — line appears
  4. Reverse direction works the same way

If sync stalls:

  • Check Syncthing-Fork on phone: status should be green circle. Yellow = idle / not connected. Red = stopped.
  • Check Syncthing web UI on PC (http://127.0.0.1:8384) under “Other Devices” — phone should show Connected.
  • If both look fine but sync is stale: restart Syncthing on either side.

Conflicts

Section titled “Conflicts”

If you edit the same note on both devices simultaneously (or one is offline and you edit both):

  • Syncthing creates a note name~conflict~timestamp.md file
  • You merge manually, then delete the conflict file
  • This is rare on a single-user vault but happens after Wi-Fi drops

Best practice: pick a lead device at any given moment. If you’re at your PC, don’t edit from the phone too.

What Syncthing doesn’t do

Section titled “What Syncthing doesn’t do”
  • Doesn’t sync over the public internet without help. Same WiFi = direct TCP. Different networks = falls back to relay servers (works but slower). For best results across networks, install Tailscale to put both devices on a private virtual network.
  • Doesn’t version your files. Use Obsidian Git plugin or just git init in the vault folder if you want version history.
  • Doesn’t back up. If both devices’ copies die, your vault is gone. Add a third sync target (a NAS, a friend’s PC, a cloud bucket via Remotely Save) for backup.

What’s in this folder for you

Section titled “What’s in this folder for you”

Inside your vault is a _setup/ folder I created with three Markdown guides:

  • _setup/mobile-sync.md — the full setup walkthrough you already followed
  • _setup/remote-access-tailscale.md — for syncing when off-network
  • _setup/ios-shortcut-capture.md — analogous Bixby Routine pattern for Android quick capture

These are living docs inside the vault, so they’re available on your phone too.

Next

Section titled “Next”

You’ve completed Obsidian Basics. Continue to the 10 Core Workflows → section. Start with Daily Driver.