Help and support

The phone talks to your PC directly, so something on the way is usually off. Go through these in order:

1. Check the PC is on and DRL-FileSync is running. Look for the blue F icon in the tray, near the clock. If it is not there, start DRL-FileSync.
2. At home, make sure the phone is on the same Wi-Fi as the PC (not a guest network, and not mobile data).
3. Tap the PC icon at the top of the app (green means connected, amber means not) to try again.
4. Open DRL-FileSync on the PC. If it shows "Phones can't reach this PC on your Wi-Fi", press Fix. That lets DRL-FileSync through Windows Firewall.
5. Some routers have "client isolation" or "AP isolation" switched on, which stops devices on the Wi-Fi talking to each other. Switch it off, or use the main network.
6. Turn off any VPN on the phone or PC while you test.

Away from home the phone connects over the internet instead. That needs a plan that includes access from anywhere, and the PC must be on and online.

1. Install DRL-FileSync on your Windows PC from the Download page of our website and sign in with your account.
2. On the PC, choose Add a phone to show a QR code.
3. On the phone, sign in with the same account, then open Windows clients in the menu, tap Add Windows client and scan the code.
4. That is all. You only do this once for each phone and PC.

That is normal. A phone only counts as connected while it is doing something with the PC, such as backing up or opening your photos. It does not need to stay connected all the time. Open the app and it connects within a few seconds.

If it never connects, follow "My phone says it cannot reach my PC" above.

1. Install DRL-FileSync and sign in with your account.
2. Pair with your PC again by scanning the QR code (Windows clients, then Add Windows client).
3. Photos already on your PC are recognised and are not uploaded again.
4. If you use encryption, nothing more is needed on the phone: your PC gets your key from your account. Keep your recovery key safe (Settings, Privacy and security, Show recovery key).

The old phone may still be listed as a device. You can remove it from Windows clients on the phone, or from your account page on the website.

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password, or open the Forgot password page on our website, and follow the email.

Resetting your password does not delete your encryption key. After you sign in with the new password, Settings, then Privacy and security, shows your recovery key again.

The line at the top of the Gallery says what it is waiting for. The usual reasons:

1. The PC is off or not reachable. See "My phone says it cannot reach my PC".
2. A rule in Settings, then Backup settings, is holding it back: Only on Wi-Fi, Only while charging, Only at set times, or Pause.
3. DRL-FileSync does not have permission to see all your photos. Open Android Settings, then Apps, DRL-FileSync, then Permissions, and allow all photos and videos.
4. Android is limiting DRL-FileSync in the background. In Android Settings, then Apps, DRL-FileSync, then Battery, choose Unrestricted. Also switch on "Keep backing up when the app is closed" in Backup settings.

Look at the small cloud on each photo: a white cloud with a tick means it is safe on your PC. No cloud means it has not been backed up yet.

Also check that:

1. The photo is in a folder that is switched on for backup (Gallery, then Folders).
2. "Include videos" is on in Backup settings, if it is a video.
3. Your PC drive has free space.
4. Backup has finished: leave the app open on the same Wi-Fi as your PC for a little while.

That photo was backed up once, but it is no longer on your PC (it was deleted or moved there). Settings, then Backup settings, shows how many there are and what you can do about them.

1. Open Gallery, then Folders, and choose a folder.
2. Tap Free up space.
3. DRL-FileSync only removes photos from the phone after your PC has confirmed it holds every one of them. Android may ask you to confirm.

The photos stay in your gallery and open from your PC when you view them. Deleted photos wait 30 days in the Bin.

Open Bin in the app's menu. Deleted photos and files wait there for 30 days, on the phone and on the PC, and can be restored. After 30 days they are gone for good.

DRL-FileSync shows a quick small picture first and then the full photo once it has loaded. For photos that are only on your PC, that depends on the connection to your PC.

In Settings, then Storage, you can change Preview quality (Low, Medium, High) or switch Quick preview off.

Videos that are only on your PC are streamed from it. Check the PC is on and reachable. On your Wi-Fi they play much faster than over the internet. If your Wi-Fi signal is weak, move closer to the router.

When encryption is on, your PC keeps your key in memory only, never on its disk, and fetches it from your account each time DRL-FileSync starts. Until it has the key (for example right after a restart when the PC has no internet), it cannot read your encrypted photos and some features wait.

1. Make sure your PC is online for a moment so it can fetch the key. It does this by itself within about a minute.
2. If your PC has to start with no internet at all, turn on Offline mode (phone Settings, then Connection). The PC then keeps the key safely on its own disk and opens your files without the internet.
3. If a PC is lost or its Windows is reinstalled, use your recovery key with the DRL-FileSync Recovery tool to open the files.

Offline mode makes DRL-FileSync stop using the internet, on your phone and on your PC. They talk only over your Wi-Fi, and your PC can start and open your files without the internet. Signing in, adding phones, share links, plan changes and reaching your PC away from home wait until you turn it off. Once a day your PC asks the website only what your plan includes and when it ends; it sends nothing else.

1. Turn it on while you are online: on the phone in Settings, then Connection, then Offline mode (or on the PC in Settings, then Offline Mode).
2. If your files are encrypted, your PC then saves your key on its own disk, protected by its security chip (where it has one) and your Windows account, so anyone who can sign in to that Windows account could open your files. Save your recovery key first.
3. To leave it, switch it off on the phone (on the same Wi-Fi as the PC) or click the Offline Mode badge at the top right of the Windows app. The saved key is deleted.

Settings, then Privacy and security, shows it again after you enter your account password. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. It is the only thing that can open your encrypted files if you lose access to your account.

Please keep your recovery key safe. It is the one thing that can open your encrypted files if you lose access to your account.

Use DRL-FileSync Recovery, a separate small Windows program. You can use it on any PC, even one without DRL-FileSync installed.

1. Open DRL-FileSync Recovery.
2. Either sign in with your account email and password, or choose "I have my recovery key" and paste the key.
3. Choose the folder with the encrypted files, and a folder to save the readable copies in.
4. Press Decrypt. Your original files are never changed.

If it says the key does not open the files, they belong to a different account, for example another person in your household.

The PIN belongs to your account. You can change it in the Locked folder if you remember the old one. If you do not, contact us using the details below and tell us your account email.

"Share to PC" only shows up while a PC is paired with your phone. If you have just paired, or just signed in, open DRL-FileSync once and give it a few seconds with internet access.

1. Check Windows clients in the app's menu: a PC should be listed.
2. Share something again. If the entry is still missing, tap More or Show all in the share menu.
3. Make sure you are signed in to DRL-FileSync on the phone.

1. DRL-FileSync must be running on the PC (the blue F icon in the tray).
2. The phone needs to reach the PC. On the phone, the card says "Could not send" if it cannot. Try again once the PC is reachable.
3. Windows may be hiding pop-ups because of Focus assist or Do not disturb. Open the tray icon and choose From Phone to see everything that arrived.

The "Open this link on your PC?" pop-up stays for 25 seconds. The link is kept in the From Phone window for 30 days.

They are saved in the From Phone folder of your Drive on the PC, and they are listed in the From Phone window. Open that window from the DRL-FileSync tray icon, or with the small download icon on your phone's card in DRL-FileSync. Programs and scripts always ask before they run.

Chat goes through your PC. Messages wait on your phone and are sent as soon as the PC is reachable again. Check the PC is on and DRL-FileSync is running.

1. On your PC, right-click a file in Windows Explorer and choose Send to Phone. On Windows 11 it is in the menu itself in the Store version of DRL-FileSync; in the installed version it is under Show more options (or hold Shift while you right-click).
2. If only one phone is paired, the file goes to it straight away and Windows shows a notification saying it was sent (or why it could not be). If you have several phones, a DRL-FileSync window lists them: click the one you want. You can also open that window from the DRL-FileSync tray icon, or with the Send to Phone icon on a phone's card in DRL-FileSync. There you can type a link or a message instead of choosing a file.
3. On the phone, a banner or notification appears. Open From your PC (Settings, then From your PC) to open a link, copy a message, or save a file to Downloads/FileSync.

If the phone is off or away, nothing is lost. It is kept on your PC and arrives when the phone connects. The window shows whether the phone is connected now.

In Chrome, Edge or Brave you can also right-click selected text, a link, an image or a page and choose Send to phone, or click the DRL-FileSync button in the toolbar to send the page you are on. This needs the DRL-FileSync browser extension (the browser_extension folder of DRL-FileSync) and DRL-FileSync running on the PC.

Nothing opens by itself on the phone. A link opens only when you tap Open, and a file is only fetched from your PC when you tap Save or Open.

1. On Windows 11 with the installed version of DRL-FileSync, look under Show more options (or hold Shift while you right-click the file, or press Shift and F10).
2. Open DRL-FileSync on the PC, go to Settings, and make sure "Send to Phone in the right-click menu" is on. DRL-FileSync must have been started at least once for the entry to exist.
3. In the Microsoft Store version the entry is in the Windows 11 menu itself, and only shows while DRL-FileSync is signed in on this PC. If it is missing, open DRL-FileSync and sign in.
4. You can always use the Send to Phone icon on a phone's card in DRL-FileSync, or the tray menu.

1. Check "Receive from PC" is on in the phone's Settings, under From your PC.
2. Open DRL-FileSync on the phone. It checks for new items every few seconds while the app is open. Pull down in From your PC to check at once.
3. With the app closed, items arrive only if Settings, then Notifications, is on and Android is not limiting DRL-FileSync in the background (Battery: Unrestricted).
4. Your PC must be on and DRL-FileSync running. If your files are encrypted, the PC also needs your key: it fetches it when it has internet, or has it saved if Offline mode is on.

In the Send to Phone window, "Sent recently" shows where each item stands: waiting for the phone, the phone has it, or opened or saved.

1. Turn it on: Settings, then People, then "Find people in my photos". It is off until you do.
2. Leave DRL-FileSync running on the PC. Your PC looks through your photos in the background, and a big library can take a few hours the first time.
3. If your files are locked (see above), the scan waits until the PC can read them.
4. People only appear when a face is clear and facing the camera. When it is not sure, it asks you "Is this the same person?" instead of guessing.

Settings, then People, then Delete all face data. Your PC forgets every face, person and name. Your photos are not touched. Face recognition happens only on your PC, and nothing is sent to us.

Closing the window hides DRL-FileSync to the tray (near the clock) so your phone can keep working. Click the blue F to open it again. To really quit, right-click it and choose Quit.

1. In DRL-FileSync, press Fix if you see the warning "Phones can't reach this PC on your Wi-Fi". Windows asks for permission.
2. If you use another antivirus or firewall, allow DRL-FileSync (FileSyncClient.exe) on private networks. Phones connect to port 47800.
3. Make sure your Wi-Fi is set to Private in Windows, not Public.

In the working folder you chose when you set up DRL-FileSync, in a folder for each phone. Unless encryption is on, they are ordinary files you can open in Windows Explorer. You can change the folder, and add more photo folders or backup folders on other drives, in DRL-FileSync's settings on the PC.

In DRL-FileSync on the PC, open the folder settings and add another photo folder on a drive with more room. DRL-FileSync uses the next folder when the first drive is full. You can also add a backup folder on a different drive so every photo has a second copy.

1. Install DRL-FileSync on the new PC and sign in with the same account.
2. Plug in or copy over your photo folder. DRL-FileSync recognises its own library and takes it in, without uploading again.
3. Pair your phones again by scanning the new QR code.

1. In the app, open Settings, then Notifications, and switch it on.
2. Allow notifications for DRL-FileSync in Android Settings.
3. In Android Settings, then Apps, DRL-FileSync, then Battery, choose Unrestricted so Android does not stop it in the background.
4. DRL-FileSync keeps a quiet notification while this is on. That is what keeps messages arriving.

To unpair, open Windows clients in the app, tap the three dots next to the PC and choose Unpair. To delete your account, use your profile page on the website.

Your photos stay on your PC either way. They are yours, in your own folders.

Access from anywhere depends on your plan. On a plan without it, DRL-FileSync works whenever the phone and PC are on the same Wi-Fi. Open your profile (the card at the top of Settings) to see your plan. Also check the PC is on, online, and that DRL-FileSync is running.