Connect a Device
Connecting a device to Zinley is deliberately boring: install the app and sign in. The device registers itself — there's no pairing code, no token to copy, nothing to configure.
Connect a PC (macOS, Windows, Linux)
- Get the desktop app. In the web app, choose Get Zinley app and download the build for your operating system.
- Install and open it.
- Sign in with the same account you use on the web.
That's it. The moment you sign in, the machine appears under Configure → Devices as a connected device. Give it a name you'll recognise with ✎ (e.g. Work MacBook, Home PC) — you'll use that name when you tell Zinley where to run something.
One dedicated machine is a great setup. Install Zinley on a computer that's usually on, let it run, and your agent always has a real machine to work on.
Connect a phone (iOS, Android)
- Install the mobile app. It's rolling out via waitlist right now — see Download & install for how to get on it.
- Sign in with your Zinley account. The phone registers itself as a device.
- Allow push notifications when prompted. This is how Zinley reaches you on the phone — for updates on a task, a question it needs answered, or a ring from a live voice session.
Once it's connected, Zinley can use what's on the phone: contacts, reminders, photos, camera, clipboard, location and maps, the calendar, and composing an email, SMS, or call from the device. Each of those asks for the matching iOS/Android permission the first time it's used — see the full tour.
Staying online
A connected device checks in with Zinley about once a minute while the app is running. That check-in is what puts a fresh Last seen time on the device and makes it show as online.
- Running in the background counts. The app doesn't need to be in front of you.
- Quitting the app doesn't disconnect the device — it just stops checking in, so the device goes quiet until the app runs again.
Wake on demand
A quiet device isn't a dead device. When Zinley needs a machine that's asleep — a scheduled task is due, or you message the agent from Telegram and it needs your desktop — it wakes the app, usually in about 10 seconds, then carries on with the job.
You don't trigger this; it happens on its own. What you do control is the cross-device toggle — a device switched off is never woken or reached from elsewhere. See Devices overview.
Wake-up nudges the Zinley app, not the hardware. If the computer itself is powered down or fully asleep at the OS level, there's nothing to wake — keep the machine you rely on awake (or set it to never sleep) if you want tasks to land on it around the clock.
Troubleshooting
The device shows offline (or an old "last seen")
- Make sure the app is running on that device and you're signed in — a signed-out app doesn't check in.
- Check the machine isn't asleep or powered off.
- Confirm the device's cross-device toggle is On if you're trying to reach it from somewhere else.
- Give it a minute — check-ins are roughly once per minute, so a just-launched app can take a moment to look online.
I reinstalled the app and now I see two of the same device
That's expected: reinstalling creates a new device entry. The old one stops checking in and disappears from your lists after 30 days of inactivity. If the duplicate bothers you sooner, delete the stale row with 🗑 — just make sure you're deleting the one with the older Last seen date.
My phone doesn't notify me
Re-check notification permission for the Zinley app in your phone's system settings. Without push permission the device still works as a device — Zinley just can't reach out to you on it.
A task ran on the wrong machine
Name your devices clearly, then say where you want the work done: "On my Home PC, back up the project folder." See What you can do across devices.
Related
- Devices overview — the cloud + devices model and the device list.
- What you can do across devices — everything a connected device unlocks.
- Download & install — web app, desktop app, mobile waitlist.
- Common issues — other things that go wrong, and fixes.