Support

For iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Updated October 2, 2026

Synctuary plays your Plex library and runs the software around it: Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Tautulli, Overseerr or Jellyseerr, SABnzbd and qBittorrent. You run the servers; Synctuary is the app.

Questions, bugs or requests: info@synctuary.ca

Trying it without a server

Synctuary needs a Plex server you already run. To look around first, choose Have a look first on the welcome screen. That fills every screen with a made-up library so you can see how the app works before connecting anything, and it opens every Synctuary PRO screen too. Turn it off again at Settings → Setup & Help → Sample Data; your own setup is kept separate and comes back untouched. The sample titles have no video behind them, so pressing Play on one says the file could not be found; playing needs a real server.

Getting connected

1. Choose Sign in to Plex on the welcome screen, or later at Settings → Services → Add a Service. Plex's own sign-in page opens; Synctuary never sees your password. Once you have signed in, the page says thanks and the app closes it within a second. If you close it yourself, the app keeps checking for a few seconds and then returns you to the start.
2. Once Plex has answered, the welcome lists what else it found on the same machine, Sonarr, Radarr and the rest, and adds the ones you tick. They are added without a key, so they show as waiting for one until you add it.
3. To add a key, open the service under Settings → Services and paste it. In Sonarr, Radarr and Prowlarr the key is under Settings → General → Security; Tautulli's is under Settings → Web Interface; SABnzbd's is under Config → General.
4. Tap Test. Connected Services shows a green dot when the service answers.

Common problems

A service shows "Disconnected"

• Check the address from a browser on the same device. If the browser can't reach it, Synctuary can't either.
• Make sure the port is included. Sonarr defaults to 8989, Radarr 7878, Prowlarr 9696, Tautulli 8181, SABnzbd and qBittorrent both 8080, Plex 32400. SABnzbd and qBittorrent cannot both be on 8080 on one machine, so one of them is on something else.
• The first time you connect to something on your own network, iOS asks for Local Network permission. If you declined it, turn it back on in the iOS Settings app under Synctuary.
• If the service uses HTTPS with a certificate you made yourself, Synctuary says Untrusted certificate and offers Trust and retry. It remembers your answer for that address, and playback trusts it the same way.

It works at home but not when I'm out

Add a remote address to the service in Settings: a domain or tunnel that reaches it from outside. Synctuary tries both at once and keeps whichever answers, the local one when you're home, so there is nothing to switch.

Play says "Plex didn't say where this is stored"

The title has no file behind it on the server. That is every sample-data title, and on a real library it means Plex has the record but not the file: check the title in Plex's own app, and scan the library if the file was moved.

Subtitles are off when I asked for forced-only

That is on purpose. "Forced only" shows the forced track when the file has one and shows nothing when it does not, so you can tell the setting worked. Pick a full track from the subtitles menu in the player when you want one.

Skip Intro doesn't appear

The button needs a marker. Plex makes one when its intro detection is on and has run for that show; where the server has none, Synctuary asks a community database, which does not have every show. Nothing you can set in the app changes this.

Artwork is missing but everything else loads

Almost always Sonarr or Radarr with Forms authentication turned on: the artwork lives outside the API and gets answered with a login page. Synctuary works around it by requesting artwork through the API instead. If posters are still blank, Settings → Library shows the artwork cache and clears it; reopening the screen then fetches every poster again.

Notifications aren't arriving (iPhone and iPad)

• Check notifications are allowed for Synctuary in the iOS Settings app.
• In Settings → Setup & Help → Notifications, confirm the events you want are switched on.
• Synctuary registers webhooks with your services automatically. If a service was offline when you enabled notifications, open that screen again to retry.
• Notifications are optional. With them off, Synctuary still checks periodically in the background; you'll hear about things a little later rather than not at all.

Widgets aren't updating

iOS decides how often widgets may refresh, and it is not on a fixed schedule: a widget can legitimately be a few minutes behind. Opening and leaving the app prompts a refresh. If a widget says it can't reach your server, check that service in Settings first.

Synctuary PRO

Watching is free: Home, Library, Search and the player. Running your server is PRO: the Calendar, Discover, Activity, Server Downloads and Offline tabs, and adding the services behind them. PRO is a monthly or annual subscription, each with a free trial, or a one-time lifetime purchase, all bought through the App Store at Settings → Synctuary PRO.

• Bought it on another device, or reinstalled? Open Settings → Synctuary PRO and choose Restore.
• A subscription is managed and cancelled in your Apple ID settings, not in the app. Apple allows one free trial per Apple ID.
• Started a trial and want lifetime instead? Cancel the trial in your Apple ID settings and buy lifetime; nothing is charged twice.

Profiles

Every profile in your Plex Home is offered at launch, or at Settings → Profiles. A profile with a PIN asks for it on a keypad. A profile Plex marks as restricted sees only the watching screens; that is set in Plex, not in Synctuary.

Trakt

Connect at Settings → Trakt: the app shows a short code, you type it at trakt.tv/activate, and that is all, on the television too. While connected, what you play is recorded on your Trakt account and a title's page shows your Trakt rating and history. Disconnect in the same place.

The Apple TV app

• Set services up on your phone first, then open Settings → Setup & Help → Transfer Setup on both devices. It copies everything across on your own network; one device shows a code and the other types it, so nothing is typed with the remote.
• Home refreshes itself whenever it is opened. The other screens carry a Refresh button in their top row, since tvOS has no pull-to-refresh.
• Send to TV. On your phone, a title's Manage menu offers Play on Apple TV while the Synctuary app is open on the television. The first time, the television shows a four-digit code and the phone asks for it; after that the two just work.
• The top shelf on the Apple TV home screen shows Continue Watching and Recently Added, but only while Synctuary sits in the top row of that screen. That is how tvOS works.

Apple Watch

The watch shows what is playing on your server, what is downloading, and the week ahead. The phone sends it, so open Synctuary on the phone once after installing the watch app, and again if the watch looks stale.

Offline downloads (iPhone, iPad and Mac)

The download button on a title's page saves a copy to the device; the Offline tab lists them and plays them without a server. Settings → Offline holds the quality and the mobile-data choice. A show's Manage menu offers smart downloads, which keep the next few unwatched episodes ready and drop the ones you have watched.

Reporting a bug

The quickest way is the form at Settings → Setup & Help → Report a Bug. It fills in the app version, the device and which kinds of service you use, shows you exactly what it will send, and sends nothing else. Reports are anonymous and one-way, so say everything in the report; if you want a reply, email info@synctuary.ca instead with:

• What you did and what happened instead
• Your device and OS version, and the Synctuary version shown in Settings
• Which service is involved, and its version

Please don't send API keys, passwords or tokens. They are never needed to diagnose anything.

Requesting a feature

Ideas go through Settings → Setup & Help → Request a Feature: the part of the app it's about, the idea in one line, and as much more as you like. It sends no details about your device. Like bug reports, requests are anonymous and one-way, so put everything in the request.

The Mac app

Synctuary on the Mac is the same app in a window, with its sections in the sidebar. Space plays and pauses, the Playback menu holds the player's other commands, and offline downloads work there too. The Mac has no notifications, widgets or Siri.

Starting over

Settings → Setup & Help → Reset erases everything the app has stored on that device, keys included, and returns it to the welcome screen. It asks twice first. It touches nothing on your servers.

Privacy

Synctuary collects no personal data. See the privacy policy.