Docs · Linking your devices
Use PearPie on more than one device
Link a second device so your conversations follow you around, and so your phone can borrow your home computer's brain when you're out.
In this guide
What "linking" actually does
Each PearPie install has its own cryptographic keypair, generated on the device the first time you open the app. "Linking" two devices means each one adds the other's public key to its list of trusted peers, with whatever permissions you grant on each side. Once they trust each other, they find each other directly over the network and connect peer-to-peer.
After linking, two devices can:
- Sync your conversations directly to one another, without any cloud backup in the middle.
- Share AI processing power: a smaller device can ask a more powerful trusted device to handle a chat.
The connection is direct. There's no intermediate server holding copies of your messages.
How to link a new device
The basic idea: one device shows its public key, the other device connects to it. Both sides confirm what they want to allow.
- On the device you want to be reached (usually your main computer), open Settings and show your device key. It appears as a QR code, and as text you can copy.
- On the device you want to add, choose to connect to an existing device. On a phone, scan the QR code. On a computer, paste the public key. Pick what you want this connection to be allowed to do (sync chats, use the other device's GPU, both, etc.) and tap connect.
- Back on the first device, a popup appears saying a device wants to connect, with the requesting device's public key. Pick what you want to allow on this side, and approve. Or deny.
Once both sides approve, each device has added the other's public key to its trusted-peer list, with the permissions each side granted. From then on, they can find each other and sync directly.
Using a powerful device from a small one
If your home desktop has a strong GPU but you're on the train with your phone, you can ask your phone to use the desktop's models instead of its own — provided you allowed that when linking. In the model picker, you'll see your linked devices listed alongside the regular local options. Pick one and the chat happens through your home machine, with the response coming back over a direct, encrypted connection.
This only works while the other device is on and connected to the internet. If it's asleep or offline, that option won't appear.
Removing a device
If you lose a device, sell it, or just don't want it linked anymore, open Settings on any of your other devices, find the device in the linked list, and remove it. That removes the device's public key from your trusted-peer list. From that moment, the removed device can no longer sync with the rest. Conversations that were already on the removed device stay there locally until that device's app is wiped — PearPie has no way to reach in and delete them remotely.