# Desktop app (Mac and Windows) URL: https://synquic.tech/docs/getting-started/desktop-app.md Download the free Synq desktop app for Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel) or Windows, open it for the first time, connect it to your Synq panel, switch panels or sign out, keep it updated, and uninstall it. The desktop app opens **your Synq panel** in its own window: the panel you already use in the browser, for example `https://panel.example.com`, with your servers, projects and team. You sign in with your normal email, password and two-factor code, and the app keeps you signed in. It is only a window onto the panel. Nothing of Synq runs on your computer, and your servers and projects stay on the panel. To run Synq itself, [install it on a server](/docs/getting-started/install-on-a-server). The app is a free download and needs no install key. ## What you need - **A Synq panel to sign in to**, and your login for it: the address the installer printed, such as `https://panel.example.com`. - **A Mac** with macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer, Apple Silicon (M1 and later) or Intel, or - **A Windows PC** with 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Windows on Arm runs the same build under its x64 emulation. ## Download Open [the download page](https://synquic.tech/download#desktop-app) and click the download for your computer. The page puts the build that matches your computer first when your browser says which one it is; the others are listed under it. To see which Mac you have, open the Apple menu > **About This Mac**: **Chip: Apple M…** is Apple Silicon, **Processor: Intel** is Intel. | Your computer | File | | --- | --- | | Mac, Apple Silicon | `Synq-arm64-.dmg` | | Mac, Intel | `Synq-x64-.dmg` | | Windows | `Synq-win32-x64-.zip` | Each file has a SHA-256 checksum beside it on the site (the same name with `.sha256` added), if you want to check your download. If you have the [Synq CLI](/docs/cli), `synq install` does the same from a terminal: it downloads the latest build for your computer from the site, checks it against its `.sha256` file (and refuses to install on a mismatch or a missing checksum), installs it and opens it. `synq install --version 1.2.3` picks an older version the site still has. There is no Linux build; on Linux, use your panel in a browser. ## First launch on a Mac The app isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so macOS blocks it the first time you open it. 1. Open the `.dmg` and drag **Synq** onto **Applications**. 2. Open **Synq** from Applications. macOS says it can't check the app; click **Done** (or **Cancel**). 3. Open **System Settings** > **Privacy & Security**, scroll down to the message that Synq was blocked, click **Open Anyway** and confirm with your password. Or clear the download flag in Terminal, then open Synq as usual: ```bash xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Synq.app ``` You do this once. Updates the app installs itself are not blocked again. ## First launch on Windows 1. Right-click the `.zip` and choose **Extract All**. Extract it to a folder you keep, for example `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Synq`, not to a temporary folder, and don't run the app from inside the zip. 2. Open the folder and run **Synq.exe**. 3. The app isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen says **Windows protected your PC**. Click **More info**, then **Run anyway**. To start it from the Start menu, right-click `Synq.exe` and choose **Pin to Start** (on Windows 11, under **Show more options**). There is no installer yet: the app is the folder. ## Connect to your Synq panel The first time you open the app it shows **Connect to your Synq panel**: 1. Type your panel's address in the address field, replacing anything already there (for example `panel.example.com`; `https://` is added for you). 2. Click **Connect**. The app checks that the address answers as a Synq panel before it opens it: - **Couldn't reach ...**: the address is wrong, or this computer is offline or can't reach it. - **That address isn't a Synq panel**: something answered, but it isn't Synq (check the address), or the panel's API is down. 3. The panel's sign-in page opens. Sign in as you do in the browser, with two-factor if your account has it. The address must use `https://`. Plain `http://` only works for a panel on the same computer (`localhost`), for development. The window title shows which panel you are connected to, and so does **Synq** > **About Synq** on a Mac. Links to other sites (docs, your deployed apps) open in your default browser. Signing in with GitHub or Google, and connecting GitHub, happen inside the app so they return to the panel signed in. The panel gets no access to your computer beyond copying to the clipboard. ## Switch panels or sign out Use the app menu: on a Mac, **Synq** in the menu bar; on Windows, press **Alt** in the panel window to show the **File** menu. - **Switch Panel / Change Connection…** goes back to the first screen, where you can enter another panel's address. You stay signed in to the panel you were using; connecting to it again doesn't ask you to sign in. - **Sign Out of This Panel…** signs you out and clears what the app stored for the panel (cookies and site data). The next time, you sign in again. - **Check for Updates…** asks synquic.tech for a newer version of the app. ## Updates When the app starts, it checks `https://synquic.tech` for a newer version (no key or account involved). If there is one, a small window offers it: **Update now** installs it, **Later** skips that version until you ask with **Check for Updates…** in the app menu. Updates come from synquic.tech whichever panel the app is connected to. (The panel's own **Settings** > **Updates** is about the panel's server, not this app.) **Update now** downloads the new version from synquic.tech only and checks it against the SHA-256 checksum published with it before anything is changed: - **Mac**: the new version replaces the app in Applications and Synq restarts. - **Windows**: the new `.zip` is saved to your **Downloads** folder and shown in Explorer. Quit Synq, extract it, and replace the contents of your Synq folder with it. Your panel sign-in is kept. ## Updating from version 1.2.5 or earlier Versions up to 1.2.5 needed an install key and could also run a separate Synq on your computer or install one on a server over SSH. Later versions only connect to a Synq panel: - An older app still updates itself as before; the key it sends is simply ignored now. - If the app was running Synq on your computer, it opens on the connect screen after the update, with a note that the data of that local Synq is still on your computer. The app doesn't use or change it. To keep anything from it, run version 1.2.5 again and use **Settings** > **Instance** > **Export / Import data**; otherwise [delete it](#uninstall). - A saved install key is no longer read. It is removed with the rest of the app's data (below). ## Where your data is Everything the app stores (its settings and your panel sign-in, and from versions up to 1.2.5 the local Synq's database and the encrypted install key) is in one folder: | System | Folder | | --- | --- | | Mac | `~/Library/Application Support/Synq` | | Windows | `%APPDATA%\Synq` | Replacing or removing the app doesn't touch it. The local Synq that versions up to 1.2.5 could run kept its database in the `data` folder inside it. ## Uninstall **Mac**: quit Synq (**Synq** > **Quit Synq**), then drag **Synq** from Applications to the Trash. To remove your data too, including the data of a local Synq from version 1.2.5 or earlier: ```bash rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Synq ``` If you used an install key with an older version, also delete the **Synq Safe Storage** item in **Keychain Access**. **Windows**: quit Synq, then delete its folder. To remove your data too, delete `%APPDATA%\Synq` (paste it into the Explorer address bar). ## Troubleshooting macOS says this about some unsigned apps that still carry the download flag. Run `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Synq.app` and open Synq again. When the panel doesn't load (offline, the panel is down, or its certificate isn't valid), the app says so and offers **Try Again** or **Change Connection…**. It never skips a certificate check. The site couldn't read the current version. Try again in a moment.