Android device sync

What is Android device sync?

Your phone is where most of what you capture ends up: photos, screenshots, documents, downloads, the receipt you snapped, the chart someone shared, the file a colleague sent. It all piles into one place, sorted by date, and becomes impossible to scroll back through. Android device sync brings your photos and files from your Android phone into Fabric, where they're read, understood, and made findable by the text and content inside them. You choose what syncs, so you can bring in everything or just what matters.

Screenshots are the sharpest example of the problem. You take one, a wifi password, a confirmation number, a post you wanted to keep, and it vanishes into a gallery of thousands. But it's the same for the photo you took of a whiteboard, the PDF you saved, or the picture with the detail you now need. Device sync makes all of it findable.

What you get when you connect Android device sync

Connecting your Android phone means the things you capture stop disappearing the moment you take them. Your photos and files sync into Fabric, get read by the AI, and become part of your searchable library, available not just on your phone but on your tablet and the web too. The photo you took last spring, or the file you saved months ago, is findable from your laptop today.

You stay in control of what comes in. Sync your whole gallery and files and let them flow in automatically, or choose the ones worth keeping. Either way, what arrives in Fabric is searchable by its contents from the moment it lands.

Search your Android photos and files by text and content

Fabric reads the text inside your images, recognises what a photo shows, and reads the contents of your documents, so you can search your phone by what things contain rather than by date or filename. Describe what you need, "the screenshot with the wifi password," "that bar chart from the deck," "the photo of the whiteboard," "the address someone sent me," and semantic search surfaces it, with no tags or labels to add first. Google Photos sorts by date and reads little of what an image holds; the Files app finds things only by name.

Because your photos and files share a library with everything else you save, they also connect outward. The screenshot of a quote sits near the article you clipped and the note you wrote on the same idea, since Fabric maps the relationships across everything you keep. You can point the AI assistant at your synced content too, and ask it to pull the detail you need out of an image or document, or gather the ones related to something you're working on.

When you want to use what's synced, copy it out

Your synced photos and files are there to find and reference; the originals stay on your Android phone. When you want to do something with one inside Fabric, build on it, add it to a project, work from the text in it, you copy it into your library. The copy is yours to use however you like, while the original stays untouched on your phone.

How people use it

Designers sync screenshots and photos of interfaces, type, and colour they like, so a visual reference turns up when they describe it, instead of being lost among everything else on their phone. It pairs with how Fabric works for designers.

Researchers and students bring in photos of slides, passages, and figures, and the documents they save on the go, so everything's searchable alongside their reading and notes, as part of a wider study system.

Anyone running their life off their phone syncs receipts, confirmations, passwords, addresses, and the files that land there, and relies on Fabric to surface the right one by what's in it when they need it.

Content creators save posts, captions, references, and shots as photos and screenshots, and find them again by describing what they showed, rather than hunting the gallery.

The longer you use it, the more it holds. As more of your phone's photos and files flow in and join the rest of your library, Fabric builds a richer map of how everything you capture relates, so what surfaces grows with what you save.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Android device sync connection do?

It syncs the photos and files from your Android phone into Fabric, where they're read by the AI and made searchable by their contents. You can find any photo or file by the text or thing inside it, and reach it from all your devices, rather than scrolling your phone.

Can I search my photos and files by what's in them?

Yes. Fabric reads the text in an image, what it depicts, and the contents of your documents, so you can find something with semantic search by describing it, without having labelled anything.

Does everything sync, or can I choose?

Your choice. You can sync your whole gallery and files automatically, or pick what you want to bring into Fabric.

Can I edit synced photos and files inside Fabric?

The synced items are read-only in Fabric, and the originals stay on your Android phone. When you want to work with one, you copy it into your library, and the copy is yours to use and build on however you like.

Does connecting this change or delete anything on my phone?

No. Your photos and files stay on your Android phone exactly as they are. Fabric brings in a synced, searchable copy and never alters or removes anything on your device.

Are my synced photos and files available on my other devices?

Yes. Once synced, they live in your Fabric library, which is on every device, so they're on your tablet and the web as well as your phone, with search that works the same everywhere.

Can the AI assistant work with my synced content?

Yes. The AI assistant can pull a detail out of an image or document or gather the ones related to what you're working on, alongside the rest of your library.

Is my data secure in Fabric?

Everything in Fabric is encrypted in transit and at rest, with AES-256 encryption on stored content. The details are in the privacy and security guide and Fabric's privacy commitment.

Is there an iPhone version of this?

Yes. Fabric has an iOS device sync connection that works the same way for an iPhone or iPad.

Does Fabric work with other tools alongside this?

Yes. Android device sync is one of many connections. You can also bring in Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, and Gmail, and search across them all together.

How is this different from searching in Google Photos or the Files app?

Google Photos sorts by date and does only limited reading of what's in an image, and Files finds things by name. Fabric reads the text and content of your images and documents, searches them by meaning, and connects them to the rest of what you've saved, so you find what you want by describing it rather than scrolling.