Vita
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Using Vita on more than one device

The first question most people ask after "is it really free?" is:

Can I use this on my phone and my laptop?

Yes. The way you do it is a little different from the apps you're used to. The reason it's different is the same reason nobody can read your data.

How it works in a normal app

Sign up with an email. Log in on the new device with the same email and password. Your data is on the company's server, so both devices just point at the same server and see the same thing.

This is convenient. It's also why every app like that can — in theory and sometimes in practice — read your data, sell it, or lose it in a breach. There's a copy of your stuff on a server, and that copy is the whole point.

How it works in Vita

There is no server with a copy of your stuff. So "logging in on another device" doesn't really apply. Instead, you pair the two devices once — they introduce themselves to each other directly.

You open Vita on both devices and tap Pair. One device shows a QR code; the other scans it with the camera. After a short check (a few digits that should match on both screens, so you know you scanned the right one), they're connected.

Vita · pair Vita · scan 742 851 742 851 existing device scan once new device
One QR code, one quick scan, one matching verification number on both screens — and they're paired.

From then on, when you mark a habit done on one device, it shows up on the other a moment later. Same data, two screens — and you didn't have to create an account anywhere.

The link between the two is end-to-end encrypted. That's jargon for "the only computers that can read what's flowing between them are the ones you paired". The little server that ferries the data sees only scrambled bytes; it couldn't read your habits even if someone asked it to.

The catch: what happens if you lose every device?

Here's the question a normal app dodges and Vita has to answer straight.

If a normal app's user loses their phone, they buy a new one, log in with email + password, and their data is right there — because the data was on the company's server all along.

Vita has no such server. The key that decrypts your data lives only on devices you've paired. So the answer is direct: pair a second device. Two paired devices means two independent copies of the key. Phone drops in a lake? Laptop still has the data. Pair a new phone to the laptop and you're back.

If you lose every paired device at once, your data is gone. That's the structural cost of nobody being able to read it — the math that keeps the relay from reading your habits also keeps it from helping you recover. We genuinely can't help.

The trade, said plainly

A normal app:

  • Convenience. Log in from any new device, forever, with email and password.
  • Cost. The company can read your data, and is one breach (or one policy change) away from leaking it.

Vita:

  • Privacy. Nobody can read your data. There is no "us" with a copy.
  • Cost. You're responsible for your own backup. If you lose every paired device, your data isn't recoverable.

This isn't a bug we plan to fix. It's the structural cost of nobody being able to read your data. The two go together.

In practice it's not as scary as it sounds. Pair a second device on day one and you've got the backup baked in.

A few honest notes

  • The pairing QR times out in five minutes. So you can't leave it visible on a screen and have someone walk by hours later and pair themselves in. If it expires, just tap Pair again.
  • You can see and disconnect every paired device from Settings → Sync. Sold your old phone? Disconnect it; the local copy goes too.
  • Sync is opt-in. If you only use Vita on one device, you don't have to pair anything — but you also won't have a backup if the device dies. That's a tradeoff you can make consciously.
  • Two paired devices already act as a backup. If your phone drops in a lake but your laptop is fine, your data is still on the laptop. Pair a new phone to the laptop and you're back.

A small practical sequence

If you're setting up for the first time:

  1. Open Vita on one device, set up your habits.
  2. Open Vita on a second device (phone or laptop), pair it.
  3. Carry on.

Two paired devices covers both "I dropped my phone" and "I want this on more than one screen". Don't skip step 2; pairing is much easier done early than figured out after a loss.

That's the last of the feature posts. Up next, three rewrites of the earlier overview pieces in this same plain-English voice: Meet Vita, How Vita works, and a polish pass on the existing Encryption post.