Support

We read everything: sconce@zone7studios.com

First thing to check: same Wi-Fi

Your phone and your TV device have to be on the same Wi-Fi network, and they have to be allowed to talk to each other on it. That is the whole trick: the pictures travel from the phone to the TV directly, so if the two can't reach each other, nothing else in the app can fix it. If your home has two network names (a main one and a guest one, or a “2.4G” and a “5G” that your router keeps separate), put both devices on the main one.

Sconce found my TV, but the pictures never arrive

That is the classic one, and it is almost always the router rather than either device: your TV can see the app, but it can't reach your phone. Your router is probably keeping devices apart. Put both on your main Wi-Fi and try again. In practice it is one of four things:

• Client or AP isolation: a router setting that stops devices on the same Wi-Fi from talking to each other. It is often on by default on newer routers, and it is sometimes called “client isolation”, “AP isolation” or “device isolation”.
• A guest network: guest Wi-Fi is isolation with a friendlier name. Move the phone (and the TV, if it is on one) to the main network.
• Different subnets: some setups put wireless and wired devices, or two access points, on separate networks that can see the internet but not each other. A TV on the wired network and a phone on Wi-Fi is the usual shape of this one.
• A firewall or VPN app on the phone: a VPN sends the phone's traffic somewhere else entirely, and a firewall app can block the TV's request. Turn it off while the photos play and try again. There is more on VPNs just below.

A VPN on your phone will stop the pictures

This one looks like a broken app and is not. Your phone is what serves the pictures: your television is handed your phone's address on the Wi-Fi and fetches each one from it. A VPN that captures Sconce takes that reply into the tunnel, and the television waits for something that never arrives. Sconce watches for this and says so on the phone: “A VPN is on. Stay on the same Wi-Fi as your TV, and turn the VPN off, or let it skip Sconce.”

Background sound is the red herring here. Those sounds are fetched by the television from sconce.zone7studios.com and never touch your phone, so they play perfectly while nothing else does.

There are two fixes and both are in the VPN app rather than in Sconce. Turn the VPN off for as long as you are watching, which is the quicker answer. Or tell the tunnel to leave Sconce alone: in WireGuard that is Excluded applications, and other apps call the same setting split tunnelling or app exclusions. It is remembered, so it is done once.

Sconce cannot fix this from its own side and does not pretend to: no app can ask to be let out of another app's tunnel. Once Sconce is excluded the reminder stops appearing, because that phone casts perfectly.

iPhone asks whether Sconce may find devices on your local network

Allow it. That is how Sconce finds your Chromecast, and casting will not work without it. If you said no, turn it back on in iOS Settings under Sconce.

iPhone: it never finds anything at all

iPhone asks one question the first time you tap Cast: whether Sconce may find devices on your local network. If that was answered with Don't Allow, or dismissed, iPhone will not ask again, and Sconce cannot find your Chromecast at all. There is no way for an app to re-ask, so it is a trip into Settings:

Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → Sconce, and switch it on. Then open Sconce and tap Cast again.

One aside worth knowing: iPhone only asks that question when the app is in front of you. If casting is ever started from somewhere other than the app itself, the request can be refused silently, without a dialog.

Can I lock my phone while photos are playing?

While photos are playing, yes: the pictures are handed to the TV before playback starts, so the television has what it needs and keeps going on its own. Sconce tells you on screen when it is safe to lock.

During a video, no. A video is streamed from the phone to the TV as it plays, so the phone has to stay awake, stay on the Wi-Fi, and keep Sconce running until the video is over. If the video stops, the TV will say so and ask you to wake your phone.

Which videos will my TV play?

Televisions and streaming sticks are fussier than phones. The safe format is H.264, the ordinary video most phones record; a 4K, HEVC or HDR clip can be refused by the TV even though the phone plays it happily. When that happens Sconce offers to convert it on the phone into a TV ready H.264 copy, using the phone's own video chip, and keeps that copy in its own storage so it is only done once. A phone that cannot do that conversion in hardware says so instead of guessing.

Playback stopped on its own

A few ordinary things end playback: the phone left the Wi-Fi, another app on the phone or another person in the house started casting to the same TV, or the phone's battery saver stopped Sconce in the background. Some TV devices also switch themselves off after a few hours of what they consider inactivity, which is a TV setting rather than an app one. Open Sconce again and it will offer to pick up where it stopped.

Can I put a sound behind the photos?

Yes. Open the collection's settings and pick a background sound: one of the five that come with the app, or an audio file of your own from this phone, up to 10 MB. It is set per collection, so one collection can have a sound and the next can be silent.

Two things worth knowing. A video takes the sound completely while it plays, and the background sound picks up where the video interrupted it. And the loudness is a percentage under your television's own volume, so the TV remote still has the last word.

Background sound is part of Sconce Pro. Without it a collection plays silently, which is what Sconce has always done.

Can I change what my TV shows around a photo?

Yes, on the Looks screen. Your photo is fitted inside the TV screen, and the look is what fills the space around it. There are six: the blurred, dimmed copy of the photo itself that Sconce has always drawn, the same thing with the corners taken down, and four solid surrounds that hold the picture off the edges like a mount, in warm white, warm black, cool grey and a soft paper colour.

The blurred fill is where every install starts. The other five are part of Sconce Pro, and if a purchase is ever refunded the television goes back to the blurred fill with your choice still remembered.

My photo does not fill the whole screen

That is deliberate, and it is what Sconce does unless you say otherwise: the whole picture is fitted inside the panel so nobody loses the top of their head, and the space around it is filled by the look you chose. If you would rather it filled the panel, turn on Fill the screen on the Looks screen. It is there for everybody.

It is a zoom, and Sconce says so on the switch. A tall photo on a wide TV loses the most, because it is a plain centre crop and nothing is being clever about faces. Filling the screen also covers up a surround, so if you chose one of the four bordered looks the border goes while the fill is on, and Sconce tells you which look it is costing you.

What is on the TV after I press stop?

A quiet Sconce page rather than your TV's home screen: the lamp, the name and the web address, breathing slowly. It stays for a few minutes and then Sconce hands the television back on its own, so the TV goes wherever it normally would. That page is silent, whatever was playing.

Sconce Pro can make it the name on its own, or a dark screen with nothing on it at all. One thing to know: pick the page before you stop. Changing it while that page is already up does not land until the next cast.

I have no Chromecast. Can I use Sconce at all?

Yes, with Play here. It runs the same collection on the phone or tablet in front of you, with the same timings, the same transitions and the same background sound. It is also the honest fallback for a router that will not let your TV reach your phone, and a real use for an old tablet propped on a shelf.

Does it do AirPlay, or mirror my screen?

No. Sconce casts to Chromecast and Google TV. It does not use AirPlay, and it does not mirror your screen. Your notifications, messages and whatever else is on the phone never appear on the television. Only the photos and videos you picked do.

Do my photos go to the internet?

No. They go from your phone to your TV over your own Wi-Fi. Your TV does load Sconce's TV screen from sconce.zone7studios.com, and casting uses Google's Cast framework, which is covered by Google's privacy policy.

Why does it want to send a notification?

So you can pause or stop playback from your lock screen. Say no and playback still runs.

What is free, and what is in Sconce Pro?

The free Sconce makes one collection of up to 30 photos and videos, casts it or plays it here, keeps the photos turning with the phone locked, loops and shuffles it, fills the screen if you ask, and converts a video your TV cannot play and keeps the copy. Sconce Pro is one purchase, for good: as many collections as you like with as many items in them as you like, the other five looks, the background sound, how long each photo stays up and the order they play in, and converting a whole collection in one go. Nothing renews.

I paid for Pro and I'm on a new phone

Open Sconce, go to Settings, tap Sconce Pro and then Restore purchase, while signed into the store account that bought it: the Google account on Android, the Apple Account on iPhone. Pro is a one-time purchase tied to that store account, not to a device.

Can I get a refund?

Refunds are handled by the store you bought Sconce Pro from, under its own policy: Google Play refunds or Apple refunds. If a purchase is refunded, Pro locks again. We never see your payment details, so we cannot issue one ourselves.

Where does my data live, and what does uninstalling do?

Your collections, the smaller copies Sconce makes of your photos and any converted TV copies live in Sconce's own storage on the phone; your original photos and videos stay exactly where they were. On Android the collections ride your phone's own backup to a new device. Uninstalling removes Sconce's copies and collections and touches none of your originals. Sconce Pro stays with your store account, so restore it after a reinstall.

How do I get Sconce?

Sconce is on Google Play. Install it from the Google Play listing. On iPhone, Sconce is available on TestFlight, and updates arrive through TestFlight.

Found a bug? Have a thought?

Email us any time at sconce@zone7studios.com. For bugs, include your device model, the Android or iOS version, the Sconce version, which is shown in Settings, and which TV device you're casting to. Feature ideas are welcome too.