Troubleshooting

Do I Need an Account?

No account is required to use the free tier. All core features — Compassion Breaks, the practice library, the Compassion Journal, mood check-ins, and reminders — work without signing in. Your data is stored locally on your device.

An account (Google Sign-In or Apple Sign-In) is only required if you subscribe to Plus and want to sync your data across multiple devices. You can sign in at any time from Settings > Account without losing your local data.

Offline Mode

The Self-Compassion app is designed to work offline. The following features are fully available without an internet connection:

• All Compassion Breaks
• Guided practices from the library (content that has been previously loaded)
• Compassion Journal (writing, reading, and searching entries)
• Mood check-ins
• Daily reminders (scheduled locally, no server dependency)
• Progress tab and streak tracking

If you are a Plus subscriber, any journal entries or mood check-ins created while offline will sync automatically the next time the app is open with an internet connection. Nothing is lost during offline periods.

Login and Sync Issues (Plus Tier)

Symptom: You can't sign in, or your journal and progress data don't appear after signing in on a new device.

What to check:

1. Confirm you are signing in with the same account (Google or Apple) you used when you subscribed. Using a different account will create a new profile without your data.
2. Ensure you have an active internet connection during sign-in. Sync requires connectivity on first login.
3. If sign-in fails with an error, force-close the app and try again. Briefly toggling airplane mode off and back on can clear stale connection state.
4. On iOS, if Apple Sign-In fails, go to Settings > [your name] > Password & Security > Apps Using Apple ID and verify the app is listed. If it isn't, unlink and re-link your Apple ID via the app's Settings screen.
5. If sync completes but data is missing, wait 60 seconds and pull down to refresh the Journal and Progress tabs. Large journals may take a moment to sync after a long offline period.

If the problem persists: Contact support with your account email and a description of what you're seeing. Do not delete and reinstall the app before contacting us — local data that has not synced may be lost.

Practice Streaks Not Showing Correctly

Symptom: Your streak shows zero, resets unexpectedly, or doesn't increment after completing a practice.

What to check:

1. A streak increments when you complete at least one practice per calendar day in your device's local time zone. Verify your device time zone is set correctly in your OS settings.
2. The streak count updates after the practice completion screen. If you closed the app immediately after a practice, wait a moment and reopen — it should show the updated count.
3. If you completed a practice just after midnight, it counts for the new day. A break on the previous calendar day will reset the streak even if only a few hours passed.
4. Streaks are stored locally on the free tier and sync with Plus. If you switched devices without signing in, your previous streak cannot be recovered.

Known behavior: Streak recovery is not supported. If you miss a day due to a technical issue (for example, the app crashed mid-practice), contact support with the date and we can investigate.

App Runs Slowly on Budget Android Devices

Symptom: The app lags, animations stutter, or audio content is slow to start on older or mid-range Android phones (such as the Galaxy A14 or similar Snapdragon 400-series devices).

What to try:

1. Close other apps running in the background before opening Self-Compassion.
2. In app Settings, look for Reduce Motion or Simplified Animations under Accessibility. Enabling this reduces UI animation overhead.
3. For guided audio practices, tap the practice and allow a few seconds for content to buffer before pressing play. Starting playback immediately on slow connections or slow storage can cause choppy audio.
4. If the Journal editor is slow to respond when typing, try shorter entries and save frequently. Very long entries (1,000+ words) can cause noticeable lag on low-RAM devices.
5. Ensure the app is updated to the latest version via the Play Store.

If slowness persists on a specific device, please report it via support with your device model and Android version — this helps us prioritize performance work for the most common affected hardware.

Journal Entries Not Syncing Across Devices

Symptom: You wrote a journal entry on one device and it doesn't appear on another.

What to check:

1. Confirm you are signed in on both devices with the same account. Open Settings on each device and verify the account email displayed is identical.
2. Journal sync requires an internet connection on both devices. Check connectivity on the device where the entry is missing.
3. On the device where the entry is missing, pull down to refresh on the Journal tab. Sync is near-real-time but may take up to 30 seconds after reconnecting.
4. If you were offline when you wrote the entry, it will sync the next time the app is open with an internet connection. The entry is not lost — it's queued.
5. Journal sync is a Plus feature. If your subscription lapsed or failed to renew, sync may have paused. Check your subscription status in Settings.

Reminders Not Arriving

Symptom: You set a daily practice reminder but notifications never appear.

What to check:

1. iOS: Go to Settings > Notifications > Self-Compassion and confirm notifications are allowed. Check that Allow Notifications is on, and that Sounds and Badges (or Banners) are enabled.
2. Android: Go to Settings > Apps > Self-Compassion > Notifications and confirm that notifications are not blocked. On Android 13+, the app must be explicitly granted notification permission.
3. Confirm the reminder time is set in the app: open Settings > Daily Reminder and verify the time and toggle state.
4. Do Not Disturb or Focus modes on your device can suppress notifications even when the app has permission. Check if a scheduled DND period overlaps with your reminder time.
5. Battery optimization settings on Android can prevent background processes that deliver notifications. If the app is in your battery optimizer's "restricted" list, move it to "unrestricted" or "no optimization."

If reminders worked before but stopped: try toggling the reminder off and back on in Settings, then confirm the new permission prompt appears (on Android 13+).

Practice Not Completing or Saving

Symptom: You finished a guided practice or Compassion Break but it doesn't appear in your history or streak.

What to check:

1. A practice is recorded when you reach the completion screen (the confirmation you see after the final step). If you closed the app mid-practice or before reaching that screen, it will not be logged.
2. On the Progress tab, pull down to refresh. The practice log updates after the completion screen — if you navigated away quickly, give it a moment and refresh.
3. If your device was very low on storage when you completed the practice, the save may have failed silently. Check your device storage in OS settings and free up space if needed.
4. If the Compassion Break button appeared to complete but the history shows zero, check whether the app crashed (it would have restarted). This is rare but worth reporting.

Known behavior: Practices cannot be manually added to history after the fact. If a practice wasn't logged due to a technical issue, contact support with the date and we will investigate.

Ads Appearing in the Wrong Place

Ads are only shown on the Home screen and Practice list for free-tier users. They should never appear during:

• An active Compassion Break or guided practice session
• A journal entry (while writing, reviewing, or using guided prompts)
• A mood check-in
• Any screen where you are actively engaged in practice

If you see ads in any of these contexts, this is a bug. Please report it via Settings > Contact Support or email support@edgeless.dev with a screenshot and the screen name where the ad appeared. This is a high-priority issue and we will address it promptly.

Upgrading to Plus removes all ads immediately and completely.

AI Coaching (Pro Tier)

AI-guided coaching — a personalized, conversational coaching layer — is planned for a future version of the app as the Pro tier. It is not currently available. If you see references to Pro or AI coaching in the app, those reflect the product roadmap, not a currently purchasable feature.

At this time, the available tiers are Free and Plus. When AI coaching launches, existing Plus subscribers will receive advance notice.

Upgrade Not Activating After Payment

Symptom: You completed a purchase for Plus but the app still shows free-tier features or ads.

What to try:

1. Force-close the app completely and reopen it. Subscription status is verified at launch.
2. If that doesn't work, go to Settings > Subscription and tap Restore Purchases. This re-checks your subscription state against the App Store or Google Play.
3. Make sure you are signed in to the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) with the account you used to purchase. Subscriptions are tied to that store account, not just the app account.
4. On iOS, open the App Store, tap your profile, go to Subscriptions, and confirm Self-Compassion Plus shows as active.
5. Allow up to 5 minutes after purchase for the subscription to propagate. If you just completed payment, wait briefly and then restart the app.

If none of these steps resolve it, contact support with your purchase receipt (screenshot or email confirmation) and we will manually verify and activate your subscription.

Exporting Your Data

You can export your journal entries and mood data from Settings > Privacy > Export My Data. This generates a JSON file containing your full journal history, mood check-in records, and practice log. The file is saved to your device's Downloads folder (Android) or Files app (iOS).

Data export is available to both free and Plus users. Exported files do not include audio or practice content — only your personal entries and tracking data.

Contacting Support

Use Settings > Contact Support to send a message. Please include:

• Your device type (iPhone/Android/Web) and OS version
• A brief description of the problem and when it started
• Any error messages you saw (a screenshot is helpful)

You can also email us at support@edgeless.dev. We aim to respond within 2 business days.

For account or billing issues, include the email address associated with your account and your purchase receipt if relevant.