Support

The table doesn’t show up

Don’t wait for it. On the start screen tap Enter code and type the four letters from the host’s lobby, or tap Scan QR and point your camera at the host’s QR code.

At an online table both work even when the list stays empty. The host’s lobby says Online under the code when the table is online.

A table lists itself under Join a table for devices on the same Wi-Fi. What stops that:

• Podlink is not looking yet. If the start screen shows Find tables near you, tap Continue.
• One of you is on another Wi-Fi, or on mobile data.
• Local Network is off for Podlink on one of the two devices, if it is an iPhone or iPad. Turn it on in Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Local Network. If the start screen offers Open Settings, tap that and switch Local Network on.
• The Wi-Fi keeps devices apart. Guest networks do, and so do many shops. Use the code there.

If the scanner ignores the QR code, it is showing its browser side. The host taps it until the line under it reads App · tap for browser.

If there is no Scan QR button, or the scanner says camera access is off, turn Camera on for Podlink in Settings, or type the four letters instead.

If the host’s lobby says Wi-Fi only, the table has no internet. Join it from the host’s Wi-Fi.

My friend can’t join

The app says why. Here is what to do about each.

“That table has already started.”

Everyone joins before the host starts the game. After that nobody new can join and no seat can be added. To let a friend in, the host opens the game menu and taps End game. That ends this game and takes everyone back to the lobby, where the friend can join before the next one starts.

Someone running late? Add a guest seat for them before you start, and the table keeps their life. They can join on their own device before the next game.

“That table is on a different version of Podlink.”

Update Podlink on both devices in the App Store, then try the code again.

“That table is full.”

A table has 7 seats, guest seats included.

“No table called … is online or nearby.”

Check the four letters with the host. If the host’s lobby says Wi-Fi only, join from the host’s Wi-Fi.

“Couldn’t reach table …”

Podlink tried to reach the table over the internet and got no answer. Check that the device has internet, on Wi-Fi or mobile data, and check the four letters with the host. Then tap Enter code and try again. If the host’s lobby says Wi-Fi only, join from the host’s Wi-Fi.

The Foil sheet comes up instead

Joining a linked table is free, in the app or in a browser, and never brings up the Foil sheet. The sheet comes up when a device without Foil, with its free nights used, opens a table of its own: only the host needs Foil. To join a friend’s table, close the sheet and use the list under Join a table, Enter code or Scan QR. See Podlink Foil below.

My friend doesn’t have the app

Friends without the app join in a web browser, on any phone, tablet or computer. It is free, and any number of friends can join that way, up to the table’s 7 seats.

• The host’s lobby shows the address under No app? They join in a browser. The button beside it shares it.
• Or the host taps the QR code to turn it to its browser side, and the friend scans it with their camera.

A browser seat has to be taken before the game starts. It changes life, deals hits, tracks counters and passes the turn. It has no dice, game log, mana pool or smart tokens.

A friend with no device to hand? The host taps Add guest in the lobby. A guest seat has no device, and anyone at the table can track its life.

It says “Reconnecting…”

Your device has lost its link to the table and is getting it back by itself. Keep playing. Your own changes show at once and are sent when the link returns; the line counts them, as in 3 to sync. Passing the turn waits until the link is back.

If it stays:

1. Check that the device has internet, on Wi-Fi or mobile data.
2. If you joined the table, open the game menu (the … button) and tap Leave table. During a game your seat is kept. Then join again with the code. If you opened the table, go on to step 3.
3. Close Podlink and open it again. It goes back to the table by itself.

An iPhone or iPad lets go of the table whenever Podlink leaves the screen, and picks it up again when you come back.

A device went off

A flat battery, a closed app, a lost signal: the seat is not lost. The other players see device off under that player’s name.

After a minute the table keeps that seat’s totals. From then on anyone at the table can change them, whatever the table’s rules say, and the game log says so.

When the device is back, open Podlink. It returns to the table by itself. If it doesn’t, tap Rejoin under Join a table, or type the code. The seat and its totals go back to that device.

If it was the host’s device

At a table that runs on Podlink’s server the game keeps going, and the host gets the seat and the table’s controls back on return. At a table the host’s own device runs (every Wi-Fi only table, and an online one the server could not take when it was opened) the other devices say “Reconnecting…”, keep playing, and catch up when the host’s device is back.

If Podlink closed by itself

Open it again. It goes back to the game, and at a linked table your seat and totals are kept. Then update Podlink to the newest version, and please send me the crash report: on an iPhone or iPad, open Settings, then Privacy & Security, Analytics & Improvements, Analytics Data, and share the newest entry that starts with Podlink.

Ways to play

One device in the middle

Tap Play on this phone (on an iPad it reads Play on this iPad). Add the players and start. Each seat gets its own panel, turned to face its player. For 2 to 7 players. It is free, and nothing leaves the device.

Everyone’s devices, linked

Tap Link everyone’s devices. You get a table with a four-letter code. Friends join from the list under Join a table, with Enter code, or with Scan QR. When everyone is seated, the host starts the game. Up to 7 seats. Opening a linked table is part of Podlink Foil: only the host needs Foil, or one of the host’s free nights. Friends join free, in the app or in a browser.

A guest seat

In the lobby the host taps Add guest. The seat has no device, and anyone at the table can track its life.

A browser seat

Friends without the app join from a web browser. See My friend doesn’t have the app above.

Podlink Foil

• Free: playing on one device, for 2 to 7 players, with every counter and token, commander damage, poison, tax, monarch, initiative, day and night, dice, undo, the game log and the Ember style. And joining a friend’s linked table, in the app or in a browser.
• Foil adds: linked tables of your own, saved pods, smart tokens, and four more styles: Relic, Prism, Scorepad and Voltage.
• One payment, not a subscription. The app shows the price in your own currency, on the start screen and on the Go Foil button.
• At a linked table, only the host needs Foil, or one of the host’s free nights. Friends join free, in the app or in a browser, and a guest seat needs nothing.
• On your own device, saved pods, smart tokens and the four styles come with your own Foil, or one of your free nights. Sitting at a friend’s table does not switch them on.

Free nights

Each iPhone or iPad gets 3 free Foil nights. A night gives everything Foil for 12 hours. It starts when you tap Try it free tonight, or when you start a linked game as the host without Foil. It covers every game you host in those 12 hours, and a game in progress always plays out.

Each device counts its own nights. Joining a friend’s table never uses one of yours. Trying a style, saved pods or a token with Try it free tonight does use one. Deleting the app does not bring nights back.

What a pod pays

Once. Whoever hosts needs Foil, and everyone else joins free, in the app or in a browser. The host’s device has its 3 free nights first.

One Apple Account

Foil covers one Apple Account, on every iPhone and iPad signed in to it. It is not shared through Family Sharing, and it does not carry over to other app stores. Nobody needs it to join your table: someone else needs Foil of their own only to host, or for the extras on their own device.

Stores, leagues and events

Foil is for your own tables. Running Podlink for a store, a league or an event? Write to support@getpodlink.app.

How long online tables will run

An online table, one whose lobby says Online under the code, is reached through Podlink’s server and nearly always runs on it. If the server is out of reach or is taking no new tables when one is opened, the host’s device runs the table and the server only links it. That server will run for at least three years from Podlink’s launch. Online tables are the only part of Podlink that needs it. A game on one device uses no network and always works. Linked tables on the same Wi-Fi do not need the server either: they keep working without it, as Wi-Fi only tables.

Restore purchase

On another iPhone or iPad, Foil normally comes back by itself. If it doesn’t, tap the Foil line on the start screen, then Restore purchase, signed in with the Apple Account that bought it.

Buying Foil does not go through

If the Go Foil button is grey, the price has not loaded, and the sheet says Can’t reach the App Store right now. Check the internet and open the sheet again. If the sheet says Waiting for approval., the purchase needs someone’s approval (Ask to Buy), and Foil turns on once it is given.

Refunds

Apple takes every payment, so refunds go through Apple: ask Apple for a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com. After a refund Foil switches off. Your games and everything free stay.

Counters and tokens

• Tap a total for 1, hold for 10.
• Podlink counts poison, commander tax, energy, experience, rad and storm, and every token: Treasure, Food, Clue, Blood, Map and Powerstone.
• Commander damage is kept for each commander, partners too, and comes off the player’s life; 21 from one commander knocks a player out.
• With turn tracking on, storm goes back to zero when a player passes the turn.
• Monarch, initiative, and day and night belong to the whole table.
• With Foil on your own device, smart tokens use one in a tap: eat a Food for 3 life, crack a Clue, and at a linked table crack a Treasure into your mana pool.
• Anyone can undo the last change, and the game log shows every change.

Screen and battery

Podlink keeps the screen on while a table is being played. After 30 minutes with no touch and no change, it lets the screen lock again. Once someone has won, it does so after 10 minutes. A game on one device uses no network. A linked table sends one small keep-alive when it has been quiet: every 15 seconds on Wi-Fi, every 30 on mobile data.

Android

Podlink for Android is in testing and is not on Google Play yet. Until it is, friends on Android join from a browser, which is free and needs no app.

Privacy

No account, no ads, no tracking. What Podlink keeps, what it sends and who can see it: read the privacy policy.

Write to me

Email support@getpodlink.app. Podlink is made by one person, Aaron Binner. To get a useful answer the first time, include:

• your device and its system version (on an iPhone or iPad: Settings, General, About);
• the table code, if it is about a linked table;
• what you tapped, and what happened instead of what you expected.

A screenshot helps. For payments and refunds, Apple is the one to ask: I cannot see or change purchases.