Settings, Backup & Sync

Settings on Pilot EFB Desk is one console for every preference, account control and data control. Press Cmd+, (Ctrl+, on Windows) from any page to open it, or click Settings at the foot of the sidebar. Everything saves as you change it - the Autosave on chip in the top bar is the only save control there is - and the app-wide disclaimer sits on the landing pane, as it does on the phone.

Find your way around

The console is two panes at desk width. The rail on the left holds your account card and the folders; the pane on the right shows whatever folder is selected, opening on General.

Above the folders, the account card shows your name, your Base and Rules facts, a Pilot EFB Desk plan card with its state chip, and Edit profile and Manage plan buttons. Below them, general aviation and student profiles get a More settings panel whose Show all settings switch reveals the airline FTL regime and crew-rest options, and Sign out sits at the very foot.

The top bar carries the Search settings field: press / or Cmd+F to jump to it, Esc to clear it. Matching rows arrive from every folder as you type; when nothing matches it says "No settings match" your words.

The General pane is a grid of cards you edit in place: Appearance, Desk stations (the hand-picked watch list the Overview desk and the alert watches read), Home base, Time & format, Units & measurement and Accessibility, with a strip of the values currently set across the top. Every other folder is one column of sections in catalog order, each with a live glance of its data or its quick controls inline and the full page one click away; a destructive row sits last on its own red-striped panel. Below 768 px the console folds into a single column.

Four rows stay on the phone: App lock, Widgets & Live Activity, Search & index (Spotlight) and Offline maps are iPhone and iPad features, so the web catalog drops them rather than showing switches that do nothing here.

The foot of the General pane is the app's standing disclaimer, verbatim, under the heading Disclaimer v1.0: "Pilot EFB is NOT a certified Electronic Flight Bag. It is an informational and organisational tool only. All outputs: weather, NOTAMs, FTL calculations, descent planning, and any other aviation data are for personal reference and planning purposes only. Pilots must always verify all data against official, certified sources before making any operational decisions. The developer accepts no liability for decisions made based on information displayed in this app."

How to manage your account

Profile & Account is laid out as a crew record: a licence-card head band, sections with live read-out chips, and a context rail.

1. Click Edit profile on the rail's account card. In the head band, Add photo or Change photo sets the picture on your record; Remove photo clears it.
2. Fill the Pilot section (your name), your operator section and the Fleet section, whose chips are the types you fly.
3. Under Set-up, click Finish your set-up to finish a step the first-run wizard skipped, or Personalise again to run the whole set-up again with your current answers in place. Nothing is wiped.
4. Under Sign-in & security, open Change email, enter the New email and click Send confirmation links - the card asks you to check both inboxes. In the password card, enter New password and Confirm new password; Sign out other devices is offered after.
5. Under Session, Sign out backs up your data first, then signs out this browser; the confirm reads Back up and sign out. Your other devices stay signed in until you sign them out from Your devices.

The context rail on the right shows This browser (browser, sign-in method, last sync), Subscription (the Pilot EFB Desk card with its Active or Locked chip and Manage subscription - see Plans & billing) and Related links.

Your devices (under Data & storage) lists every device that has synced to your account, with This device marked; the About this list note is exact: "Last synced" is the last successful sync by that device, and it is a list of devices that have synced, not live login sessions. Sign out on a row or Sign out everywhere at the foot both back up first; a remote device loses access at its next connection, not instantly.

How to sync with your phone

1. Open Settings > Data & storage > Cloud Sync.
2. Read the Sync status card: an Online or Offline badge, last synced, last backed up, and how many changes are still pending.
3. Click Sync now. It checks your entire logbook, duties, flights and saved weather/NOTAM history against your account every time, then uploads only what is missing or newer on this device. Crew name fields are never uploaded.
4. Turn on Auto-sync in the background under Live sync. Desk then syncs on its own when the tab comes back to the foreground and when the connection returns, through the same path the button uses. Your data-saver settings still apply.
5. In a fresh browser, click Restore from account under Restore & devices. Server entries merge in and only entries that are genuinely newer on the server update your local copy; local data is never deleted.

The Cloud storage card meters your photo and PDF attachments against the 2 GB allowance and opens Manage attachment storage; attachments added in the browser upload to the same account storage the phone uses.

How to save a backup file

1. Open Settings > Data & storage > Save a backup file. The Backup status line shows when you last exported; reminders are an iOS feature, and the line says so.
2. Optionally name the file under BACKUP NAME (OPTIONAL).
3. Enter a PASSPHRASE and repeat it under CONFIRM PASSPHRASE. The strength meter fills as you type.
4. Click Save backup file. The browser's save picker opens where it exists; otherwise the .pefb file downloads.

The What's included manifest lists what goes in: Logbook & duties, Flights & notes, Settings & personal config, Airports and Weather & NOTAM history. Not included: data the app re-fetches on its own (cached airport info, exchange and per-diem rates), and on the web, photos and PDFs - they stay in your account via Cloud Sync.

How to restore or verify a backup file

The Restore from backup panel is four numbered steps:

1. Choose a backup file - nothing is read until you pick one; the file picker opens when you click a Run button in step 4.
2. If data already exists on this device - pick Merge (adds entries the browser does not already have; nothing already here is changed or deleted, and your current settings are kept) or Replace (wipes this browser's logbook, duties, flights, notes and all saved app data, then restores everything the backup contains, including its settings). The Replace card carries its own band: "This deletes the data that is on this device now".
3. Passphrase this backup was created with - type it.
4. Run - click Choose backup & restore, or Verify backup (no changes) to decrypt and count the file without changing anything.

Snapshots are re-checked against their integrity hashes as they restore; any that fail are skipped, never overwritten. A phone backup that carries photos and PDFs restores its data here and says how many attachments stay on iOS. After a Replace, a Recovery point panel holds an encrypted copy of this device from just before it: Undo last restore (until you restore again, close, or reload the tab) and Download safety copy, which restores with the passphrase you entered for that restore.

How to keep your credentials dated

1. Open Settings > Pilot & aircraft > Credentials.
2. Read the list: each credential shows its type and expiry, a countdown in days, and a chip reading Current, Renew soon, Expired or No expiry.
3. Click Add credential, or click a row to edit it. The dialog asks for Type (Medical, Licence, Type Rating, Inst. Rating, OPC, LPC, Line Check, SEPT, AVSEC, Dangerous Goods and more), a Label, an Issue date, an Expiry date (leave blank for no fixed expiry) and Notes for the authority or certificate number.
4. Click Save credential. The type cannot be changed after creation.

The module's own framing, from the module disclaimers: "Personal record - verify against official records."

How to set your profile, duty rules, logbook, alerts and appearance

The logbook rows are covered in Logbook; the alert rows in Notifications & alerts.

How to manage network use, cache and privacy

Under Data & storage: Network & data holds Manual refresh only (weather and NOTAMs then update only when you refresh or open a briefing) and Data saver; offline, saved data shows with a stale-data badge, never a blank screen. Offline cache shows the Live response cache, your Saved snapshots and their Retention; Storage & maintenance the Database file and a Snapshot integrity check. Under Privacy & security: API usage lists the third-party calls made on your behalf in the last 30 days; Analytics is one switch, Send anonymous event counts - no flight data, no airport codes, no times, no logbook content - with the Events we collect listed; Diagnostic logs holds Logging and an Export.

How to delete all data in this browser

1. Open Settings > Data & storage and click the red Delete all data row.
2. Read What this does - "Wipes everything on this device": logbook entries, duty periods, flight folders, snapshots; all preferences and settings; cached weather and NOTAM responses; disclaimer acceptance and onboarding state. The app returns to the first-launch flow.
3. Read What is kept - Your cloud data is kept: records synced to your account stay on the server and are restored the next time you sign in; anything not yet synced is permanently lost. Delete account instead sits beside it for erasing the cloud copy too.
4. Under Confirm, tick I understand this wipes this device and unsynced changes cannot be recovered. The button stays disabled until you do.
5. Click Delete all data and confirm the Delete everything? dialog. You are signed out and the browser returns to the first-launch disclaimer.

How to delete your account

1. Open Profile & Account and scroll to the Delete account card ("Permanent. Removes your account and everything on this device.").
2. Read What deleting does: it deletes your account on the servers, then wipes everything on this device and returns the app to first launch. There is no recovery once it has run.
3. Tick I understand this cannot be undone. and click Delete account.

How to find help, the disclaimers and the licences

1. Open Settings > Help & about > Help & onboarding. Guided tour holds Tour the desk (Esc skips, Enter advances; it needs a window at least 860 px wide) and Tour the Watch desk; if you hid the tour key from the top bar, Show it again is here. Guides & references lists FAQ, App Guide (this manual), Learn & Reference and Tools & calculators; More holds About & disclaimers and Send feedback.
2. Open About Pilot EFB for the Build you are running, the Disclaimer v1.0 in full, Legal (Module disclaimers, Privacy policy, Terms of Service), What's new, Rate Pilot EFB, Send feedback and Acknowledgements under Third-party licences.
3. Click Module disclaimers for the verbatim caveat each module shows beside its data: Weather - "Reference only - verify officially." NOTAMs - "May be incomplete - verify officially." Flight & duty time - "Personal planning only." Logbook - "Personal record only." Descent planning - "Approximate - use approved procedures." Credentials - "Personal record - verify against official records." The list continues for every module.

On iPhone and iPad

The phone keeps the four rows the desk hides, its backup file can include photos and PDFs with a backup reminder, and Auto-sync in the background there needs Pilot EFB Pro on iOS - the Desk subscription does not cover it. Settings, Backup & Sync on iPhone covers the phone's folders.

Troubleshooting

Sync now is greyed out. The button is disabled while the Offline badge shows and while another sync, backup or restore is running.

My phone did not pick up an edit I made at the desk. Cloud Sync uploads it; the phone pulls it on its next sync. Live automatic sync on iOS needs Pilot EFB Pro; otherwise run Sync now on the phone.

I lost my backup file passphrase. There is no recovery and no reset. Save a fresh backup with a passphrase stored in a password manager.

Replace removed data I wanted. Use Undo last restore on the Recovery point panel before you restore again, close, or reload the tab, or restore the downloaded safety copy with that restore's passphrase.

Delete all data brought my records back at the next sign-in. That is by design: the wipe is browser-local and your cloud data is kept. To erase the cloud copy, delete the account instead - after cancelling Desk.

Where next

• Plans & billing - the Subscription page, the Stripe portal and cancelling.
• Logbook - the logbook settings rows in depth: aircraft, templates, custom fields, imports and the signature.
• Notifications & alerts - the weather and NOTAM alert rows and where alerts reach you.
• Keyboard & command deck - Cmd+, and every other chord on the desk.