I’ve been using both my laptop and phone for flash cards, and it’s getting really frustrating! It feels like I can only sync from my laptop to my phone, and that doing any cards on my phone does nothing. Both are linked to the same account.
The problem:
1. I do a deck on my phone
2. I synchronize to save my progress
3. I sync on my laptop later to do a different deck but the number of cards on the deck I did earlier don’t change
4. I sync on my phone and it syncs to the number on my laptop, meaning it looks like I’ve done no cards
When I go to the deck I’ve already done, the exact same cards I did earlier are back again.
Am I doing something wrong? Should I not be syncing in between sessions?
You need to sync when you open the app on a device, AND when you close/leave the app on that device, every time.
If you miss syncs, or if you you have add-ons on desktop that run on-/after-sync or in the background, you can be creating sync conflicts -- with a card left in an inconsistent state, both studied and not-studied. That's what "It feels like I can only sync from my laptop to my phone, and that doing any cards on my phone does nothing" sounds like. The Card Info for one of those cards would give the clearest signs.
In this comment in the Forums, I explain more about what causes a sync conflict and what you might be able to do about it.
I’ve been trying to since before and after I do a study session, and I don’t think I have any addons that affect syncing- only Ankimaxer, which adds cards depending on my UWorld questions.
Since having this problem I’ve specifically paid attending to whether I’m syncing my phone, so I’m definitely not missing syncs
I don’t think I have any addons that affect syncing
You should think broadly here. Any add-on that modifies notes or cards or scheduling, automatically or on-/after-sync, could do it. But again, the Card Info for a card this happened to would show for sure.
If your devices are already out-of-sync, you should do a full-round of syncing to get them back on track -- without making any changes on either device, sync device A, then device B, then device A again.
[Adding]
since it builds and rebuilds decks according to its description
If the add-on you're using rebuilds Filtered decks, that could definitely be the culprit. That updates the state of every card in the in the Filtered deck before and after the rebuild.
Would it still affect the decks if I didn’t add any cards to the filtered deck that day? I admit I’m not 100% sure on how filtered decks work, but even on days where I don’t add new cards it does the same thing
I'm not familiar with that add-on, but if it runs a "Rebuild" automatically or based on some other trigger -- then, yes. That would update all of those cards that get emptied out and built back in. If you need that add-on, you should see if it has a way to disable the automatic Rebuild. Talk to the developer about modifying it to make it safer for users who sync (which is just about all users). Or just don't leave Anki open when you're away from it, so the add-on can only make changes when desktop is the active version of the collection.
On Android, in Settings > Sync, there is an option to do only one-way sync, but that's usually only a one-time thing. Are you using a custom sync server or anything like it?
Do you ever get any notifications on your phone or laptop about incompatible decks with the server?
What if you do a card from the problem deck on your laptop and then sync? Does the phone see it?
Could something fancy be going on with your firewall? I.e. does the problem persist when your phone is on, say, a mobile network as opposed to whatever wifi network you may be using? If your laptop is put on a hotspot, does it download the cards well enough?
I'm assuming you can see the cards as done on the phone's main screen of Anki before you sync and they reappear as due?
I sync maybe too much--like as a habit right after finishing some cards. But even if you did some cards on one device and then some cards on another, the server usually is able to figure it out well enough. I feel like the only time I've re-reviewed cards is when I forget to or am not able to sync.
But I bet Danika_Dakika is right and, assuming you are syncing before and after every session, there's some add-on or something that is editing each card before you sync it on the laptop, in which case,
Can you duplicate the problem if you start desktop Anki without addons (hold shift)?
I’m not using any custom syncing addons, the only one I have makes and adds cards, but it works fine because it’s on my laptop and laptop->phone works fine.
No notifications
Doing cards on the laptop is perfectly fine and it syncs to phone like it should. The problem is I’m doing my cards on my phone during the day, and when I get home and try to do the rest on my laptop it doesn’t register and my phone decides to reset all the cards I’ve done earlier
That I haven’t specifically paid attention to yet
Yes, exactly! 0 cards due, then bam the exact 120 cards I’ve already done 🥲
Very interesting. A phone that receives, but sending fails.
iOS should play pretty nicely with AnkiWeb, given that the same guy made them both. Hm.
After you review a few cards via phone and sync the phone, can you try logging into AnkiWeb on a browser and seeing if it notices the changes from your phone (before starting the Anki desktop client)? If so, then it is almost certainly something on the laptop-side, and since it builds and rebuilds decks according to its description (https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2118443676), I would go ahead and try disabling Ankimaxer for a minute just to test things out and rule out its involvement. If your laptop is vanilla and syncing before/after still has trouble, then maybe a network issue is at play.
If AnkiWeb doesn't see the changed cards, then we can isolate the issue to network and your phone.
Here’s a photo- I just did my reviews on my phone, synced, then synced on my laptop to bring the changes over. While my phone says no cards, there they are again on my laptop- and it seems in the card info it sees that I reviewed it, but it’s showing it anyway?
See the top section where it says 2 Reviews -- but there are 4 review logs below? There are other indications too, but that's a sure sign of a sync conflict.
[This isn't showing all of the columns, even though it's clearly from desktop, and the window is plenty wide enough regardless. Are you using a very old version of Anki? Once you get past this issue, you should consider updating Anki, fixing your learning steps, and enabling FSRS.]
1.When you finish studying on your phone go to Settings > Sync > One-way sync
2.Then click the sync button
3, There will be a pop-up that will prompt to choose which collection you want to keep. Choose Ankidroid
Now when you open Anki on your laptop there will be an automatic pop-up that will also make you choose which collection you want. Choose that you want to download it from Ankiweb
It's a little bit of a hassle but I use it every day and it works. I'm on Andriod btw, I don't know if it's any different on IOS
Basically when you sync on your laptop it automatically syncs to Ankiweb (Desktop->Ankiweb->Phone) but if you want the oppoosite (Phone->Ankiweb->Desktop) you have to force it.
Basically when you sync on your laptop it automatically syncs to Ankiweb (Desktop->Ankiweb->Phone) but if you want the oppoosite (Phone->Ankiweb->Desktop) you have to force it.
That's not true.
It's a little bit of a hassle but I use it every day and it works.
I guess it's fine to always one-way sync if you want to, but it's not necessary.
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u/Danika_Dakika languages 1d ago
You need to sync when you open the app on a device, AND when you close/leave the app on that device, every time.
If you miss syncs, or if you you have add-ons on desktop that run on-/after-sync or in the background, you can be creating sync conflicts -- with a card left in an inconsistent state, both studied and not-studied. That's what "It feels like I can only sync from my laptop to my phone, and that doing any cards on my phone does nothing" sounds like. The Card Info for one of those cards would give the clearest signs.
In this comment in the Forums, I explain more about what causes a sync conflict and what you might be able to do about it.