Sync and backup

What syncs through iCloud

When you are signed in to iCloud, Page Turner backs up your library to your own iCloud automatically — the feature is on by default. The backup covers your whole package:

• Score files (PDF and MusicXML/MEI versions)
• Titles, composers, and other metadata
• Apple Pencil annotations and anchors
• Page-turn calibration
• Recordings

Library organization travels too: collections, saved views, hidden pieces, and dismissed duplicate suggestions appear on every device signed in to the same Apple Account.

A full two-way pass runs once each time you launch the app; after that, new changes upload as you make them. The backup is tied to your Apple Account and is not a folder you can browse — if you want browsable files, see A visible folder in iCloud Drive.

Limit: Setlists do not sync. A setlist exists only on the device where you made it, even while everything else syncs.

Check status, or turn sync off

1. Open Settings and choose the Sync tab.
2. The status row confirms your account: Signed in to iCloud means backup and sync are ready. No iCloud account means you need to sign in to iCloud in the iOS Settings app first.
3. The iCloud Backup & Sync toggle turns the feature on or off. Below it, the state row reads Library backed up, Ready to back up, Backing up…, or Restoring from iCloud… while a pass runs. Backup issue names the error in place.

Note: If iCloud is blocked by Screen Time or a device-management profile, the status row shows iCloud is restricted and sync cannot run until the restriction is lifted. A temporary iCloud outage shows iCloud temporarily unavailable; your local library keeps working either way.

Sync manually

While iCloud Backup & Sync is on, two buttons in the Sync tab move data in one named direction each:

• Send to iCloud now — uploads your new scores, recordings, and changes from this device to the backup.
• Import from iCloud — downloads anything in the backup that is not on this device. Importing never overwrites a piece that already exists here.

Both buttons disappear while a pass is already running and return when it finishes.

Sync on a schedule

Automatic backup on a cadence is off until you choose one:

1. In the Sync tab, set Routine sync to Daily, Weekly, Every 2 weeks, or Monthly. Off is the default.
2. Use Run around to pick the time of day the backup should run. The default is 3:00 AM.

Limit: iOS does not let the app run while it is fully closed. A scheduled backup fires the next time you open the app at or after the chosen time, once the interval has elapsed — not at the exact minute.

There is also a Sync when I leave the app toggle (off by default). A few seconds after you leave the app and don't come right back, it pushes your new changes to iCloud so another device catches up quickly. A quick app-switch does not trigger it.

Note: Scheduled and leave-the-app syncs upload only. Downloading happens at launch or when you tap Import from iCloud — so a routine pass never rearranges the device you are playing on.

Set up a new device

1. Sign in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on the new iPad or iPhone.
2. Install and open Page Turner. The library restores from iCloud on launch.
3. If anything is still missing, open Settings, choose the Sync tab, and tap Import from iCloud.

Annotations, versions, calibration, and recordings come back with the scores. Restoring adds what is missing and never overwrites work already on the device. Rebuild any setlists by hand — they do not travel.

A visible folder in iCloud Drive

The automatic backup is invisible by design. If you also want your scores as real files you can browse:

1. In the Sync tab, turn on iCloud Drive folder (visible in Files). This copies your scores into a “Page Turner” folder in iCloud Drive, which you can open in the Files app or in Finder on a Mac. The first time, an alert offers Open in Files.
2. Pick a layout with Folder organization: Instrumentation → Composer → Form (the default), All scores A–Z, By composer, or Composer → Form. Changing it re-lays the folders.
3. The folder refreshes only when you tap Update now (and once when you first turn it on). It does not track your library live.

Important: The folder is a real copy, so it uses additional iCloud storage — roughly the size of your library. Turning the toggle off removes the copy; your library is not affected.

Limit: The folder is a one-way copy, not a second library. Deleting or editing a file inside it never changes the app's library, and the next Update now re-lays the folder from the library again. To change a score, change it in the app.

Export a portable copy

Export my library (.zip) builds a single .zip you can save to Files, AirDrop, or put on an external drive. It contains PDFs, versions, annotations, anchors, system maps, recordings, and a metadata manifest, so titles and composers survive the trip. Its folders follow the same Folder organization layout as the iCloud Drive folder.

Note: The .zip is a snapshot, not a live backup. If you keep editing after exporting, make a fresh one.

Free up space on this device

The Storage section of the Sync tab shows what your library uses on the device (On this device, with a breakdown by kind) and offers two cleanups:

• Free up space now — explains what it will do and asks you to confirm with Clean up now. Copies of the same score created by re-imports are merged into one, and files no score points to are deleted; your scores, annotations, and recordings stay. When the pass is done, a summary under the button says exactly what was merged, removed, and freed — or that there was nothing to clean.
• Cached data (safe to clear) — cloud-score copies, thumbnails, and temporary files the app can re-download or rebuild. Clear cache empties it on demand; Clear automatically runs it on the same cadence-plus-Run around schedule as routine sync.

Keep rarely used scores in iCloud only

When the iPad runs short on space, a score's file can live in your iCloud backup instead of on the device. The piece keeps its place in your library and downloads again the moment you open it. Annotations and recordings always stay on the iPad. Offloading only happens after the score's iCloud copy is confirmed.

• One piece: touch and hold it in the library and choose Keep in iCloud only. A confirmation explains what moves and what stays.
• Automatically: in the Sync tab's iCloud-only scores section, turn on Move unused scores to iCloud automatically and pick how long a score must go unopened — 1, 2, 3, or 6 months. The rule is off until you enable it.
• See and undo: the same section lists every iCloud-only score with its size and a download button, plus the total space freed on the iPad.

Important Opening an iCloud-only score needs a network connection for the download. Keep the pieces of an upcoming performance on the iPad.

Delete the iCloud backup

1. In the Sync tab, tap Delete this app's iCloud backup….
2. Confirm with Delete iCloud backup.

This permanently removes only the copy Page Turner keeps in its own iCloud space — every backed-up score, annotation, recording, and setting — and turns iCloud Backup & Sync off so nothing re-uploads. Your library on this device stays exactly as it is, and the rest of your iCloud (Photos, Drive, other apps) is not touched.

Where to go next

• Library overview — tabs, grouping, filters, and search.
• Collections — collections sync; see what sharing a collection can and cannot do yet.
• Organize — merge duplicates and clean up before your library propagates everywhere.