When two devices edit at once (conflicts & merging)

The normal case: automatic merge

When visualOS finds a newer version in the folder and unsaved changes of its own, it doesn’t make you choose sides. It performs a three-way merge against the last state both devices agreed on, item by item:

• A note edited on the iPad and a photo added on the Mac? Both survive — they’re different items.
• Moved on one device, reworded on the other — even edits to different aspects of the same element merge cleanly.
• Deleted on one side but edited on the other? The edit wins. You can always delete again; a lost edit is gone forever, so visualOS errs on the side of keeping work.

Afterwards you’ll see a small message like “Changes from two devices were merged automatically — nothing was lost.”

The rare case: the same thing changed on both sides

If the exact same content — say, one note’s text — was edited on both devices, there’s no “right” answer a computer should guess silently. visualOS keeps your version in place and puts the other version right next to it on the canvas as a visible conflict copy. You glance at both, keep what you want, delete the rest. No dialog to answer, no data gambled.

Belt and suspenders

• Before any merge or replace, both incoming versions are snapshotted — restorable via version history.
• If a whole-file decision is ever needed (it’s rare — e.g. no common ancestor exists), visualOS shows a clear dialog, and the version you don’t pick is saved as canvas-data.conflict-….json in your folder.
• iCloud sometimes creates its own duplicate files (like canvas-data 2.json) when it’s unsure. visualOS detects these, backs them up, and merges their changes back in automatically — you’ll see a toast when that happens.

Keeping conflicts rare

• Let a device reach “Saved” (top bar) before you close the lid and switch devices.
• Set the folder to Keep Downloaded everywhere — most “conflicts” are really just one device reading stale placeholder data.
• Work on one device at a time when you can; visualOS handles overlap, but it doesn’t aim to be Google-Docs-style live co-editing.