Introduction

The indis.io app is how you see and control your devices day to day — on your phone, tablet, desktop, or in a browser. It talks directly to your devices in real time, so a reading or a status change updates live without refreshing.

This guide covers the app itself: getting it, signing in, connecting to a device, and finding your way around. For everything that happens on the website — creating an account, adding a device to it, installing a service, billing — see the indis.io User Guide instead; the app and the website work together, they just each own a different half of the process:

• The website is where a device gets added to your account and a service gets installed onto it (see Adding a device in the User Guide).
• The app is where you use a device once it’s already set up — check on it, control it, view its history.

What you can do here

• Get the app on your platform.
• Sign in — always a handoff to your browser, never a form inside the app.
• Connect directly to a device on your local network, without an account.
• Navigate between your devices and their dashboards.
• Check platform differences for what varies by device, and Troubleshooting if something isn’t working as expected.

Getting the app

Web

The fastest way to get started — no install at all. Open your organization’s indis.io site in a browser (desktop or mobile) and sign in. Everything in this guide works there, with the platform notes in Platform differences called out where the web version differs.

Desktop & mobile

Native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android are still on their way to formal app-store and signed-installer distribution. If you need a native build before that’s ready, ask your indis.io contact for a current one. Once store distribution is live, this page will point you straight to it.

The native app gives you a couple of things the web version can’t: a system-level login (rather than a page redirect) and the ability to connect directly to a device on your local network by address, not just to devices reachable through your account.

Signing in

Tap or click Login (in the app’s main menu, next to your account). Signing in always happens in your browser, never in a form inside the app itself — this is deliberate, and how it looks varies a bit by platform:

• Desktop — the app opens your system’s default browser to complete sign-in, and shows a “Complete sign-in in your browser…” dialog while it waits. Finish signing in there and switch back to the app; it picks up automatically.
• Web — the whole page redirects to sign in, then brings you back.
• Mobile (iOS/Android) — a secure in-system browser view opens (not a plain embedded web page), you sign in, and you’re returned to the app.

Once you’re signed in, if you’re already a member of an account, you’ll see your devices. If you’re new, see Creating an account in the User Guide — account creation and device setup both happen on the website, not in this app.

Staying signed in

The app remembers your session, so you shouldn’t need to sign in again each time you open it. If you’re ever asked to sign in unexpectedly, your session may have expired — just sign in again the same way.

Signing out

Use the account menu to sign out. This only affects the app on the device you’re using (this phone, this computer) — it doesn’t change anything about your indis.io account or devices.

A note on some setups

A few specialized indis.io installs (for example, a fixed kiosk display) don’t support signing in at all — on those, you’ll see a message that sign-in isn’t supported on that platform. That’s expected for that kind of setup, not an error.

Connecting directly to a device

Most of the time you’ll reach your devices through your signed-in account (see Signing in). But you can also connect straight to a device on your local network — useful if the internet is down, or the device isn’t on your account at all yet.

1. In the main menu, find the Device row and tap Connect.
2. This opens Connect Directly. Type the device’s address (it defaults to localhost:3031, useful if you’re running a service on the same machine as the app).
3. On desktop and mobile, you can tap Discover instead of typing an address, to search your local network for devices automatically.
4. Tap Connect.

On the web

The web version of the app can only connect directly to localhost — your own browser can’t scan your local network for other devices the way the native app can. If you need to reach a device elsewhere on your network directly, use the native app instead, or connect to it through your account.

What this does and doesn’t do

Connecting directly shows you that device’s dashboard, live — but it doesn’t add the device to any account. If you want a device to show up for your whole team, be reachable remotely, or have someone manage updates for it, it still needs to be added on the website — see Adding a device in the User Guide.

Navigating the app

The main menu (a slide-out drawer on most platforms) is your starting point for everything:

• Your account — shows your sign-in status; tap through for account pages like Team and Billing (the same ones the User Guide describes).
• Device — the connection you’re currently viewing, if any. Shows About and Close once connected, or Connect if not — see Connecting directly to a device.
• Bookmarks — save any screen you visit often for one-tap access later. Empty until you add one (“No bookmarks yet”).
• Devices — every device your account can reach, the same list as the website’s Devices page. Tap one to open its live dashboard.
• Cloud Apps — if your account has access to any hosted (cloud) services rather than devices you own, they show up in their own section here.

Opening a device

Tap a device in the list to open its dashboard — see A device’s dashboard for what that shows. What you see there is defined by that specific device’s own software, so it looks different from one device to the next; the navigation described on this page is what stays the same everywhere.

Going back

Use your platform’s normal back gesture/button, or the app’s own back arrow where shown, to move back up through whatever you’ve navigated into.

A device’s dashboard

Once you open a device, what you see is defined by that device’s own software — readings, controls, charts, forms, whatever that particular service needs to show. Because of that, there’s no one screenshot that covers every device; instead, here’s what stays consistent across all of them.

It’s live

Values update in real time as they change on the device — you’re not looking at a snapshot that needs refreshing.

Settings & forms

Where a device has configuration, it shows up as an ordinary settings form within its dashboard — fill it in and save, the same as any form. Some settings may be restricted to certain team roles; if you can’t see or change something you expect to, check with whoever manages your account (see Team members in the User Guide).

About this device

Tap About on the Device row (see Navigating the app) for details on the specific connection you’re viewing: the service’s type and version, which software module is rendering its dashboard and where it came from, and which update channel it’s following. If you’re a device admin, you’ll also find controls here for resetting the device’s local administrator password and viewing its logs — useful when troubleshooting alongside Troubleshooting.

App & device settings

A few settings live at the app level, separate from any one device.

About the app

Open About from your account section of the main menu to see which version of the app you’re running.

• On the web, use Refresh app to pick up the latest version — the web app updates by reloading, not by installing anything.
• On desktop and mobile, the app checks for updates itself; when one’s ready, you’ll see a message like “a new version is available — open About to install it.” From there you can also install an update from a file directly, if you were given one that way.

On-screen keyboard

If you’re using a touch device with a physical or Bluetooth keyboard attached, you can control whether the app’s own on-screen keyboard button appears — Automatic (the default), Always show, or Always hide. Look for this in the app’s top action bar.

Your account password

If your account uses a local password (rather than single sign-on), you can change it from the Change Password option, where shown.

Platform differences & what’s not there yet

The app aims to work the same everywhere, but a few things genuinely differ by platform today — worth knowing up front so nothing feels like a bug when it’s actually just where things stand.

No push notifications yet

The app doesn’t send system notifications (the kind that appear even when the app isn’t open) on any platform yet. Alerts from your devices show up inside the app — you’ll need to have it open (or open it periodically) to see them, rather than getting a phone notification.

Mobile: the app pauses in the background

On iOS and Android, moving the app to the background (switching to another app, locking your phone) will suspend its connection to your devices before long. Bring it back to the foreground to reconnect. This means it isn’t currently reliable for something you need running unattended in the background on mobile — for that, a desktop or web session is a better fit today.

Finding devices on your local network

Discover (automatic local-network device search) works on desktop and mobile, but not on the web version — browsers can’t scan the local network the way a native app can. On mobile, this may also need location/local-network permission granted to the app the first time you use it.

Installing the web app to your home screen (Android)

You can install the web version to your Android home screen like an app. This path is newer and still being verified across devices — if it doesn’t launch correctly after installing, opening it from your browser instead will always work.

A couple of things not built yet

• Bluetooth device connections aren’t available on any platform yet — only network-connected devices (through your account, or directly by address) work today.
• Kiosk-style installs (a fixed display running the app with no sign-in) don’t support any login — see the note in Signing in.

Troubleshooting

Sign-in doesn’t complete

• Make sure you actually finish signing in in the browser window/tab that opened — closing it before finishing leaves the app waiting.
• Switch back to the app after signing in; on desktop, it picks up automatically once you do.
• If it still doesn’t complete, close and reopen the app and try again.

A device shows as disconnected in the app, but I can see it’s online on the website

• If you’re on mobile and the app was recently in the background, this is expected — see Platform differences. Bring the app to the foreground to reconnect.
• Otherwise, check your own network connection first — the app needs a live connection to reach a device the same way the website does.

“Discover” isn’t finding a device on my network

• Discovery isn’t available on the web version — see Platform differences.
• On mobile, make sure the app has been granted local-network/location permission.
• Make sure the device and the app are actually on the same local network — discovery doesn’t cross networks (e.g. your phone on cellular data won’t find a device on your home Wi-Fi).
• If discovery still doesn’t find it, connect by typing its address directly instead.

I don’t see a device/setting I expect to

Access to devices and settings is controlled by your account and your role in it, not by the app. See Team members in the User Guide, or check with whoever manages your account.

Still stuck?

Reach out at [email protected] with what platform you’re on (phone, desktop model/OS, or web browser) and what you were trying to do — that’s usually enough to track down what’s wrong without a lot of back and forth.