Sharing an Aircraft

aeroLogbook lets several people keep one shared set of records for the same aircraft. Everyone sees the same flights, trends, squawks, and service entries, and everyone's entries show up on everyone else's devices.

This guide covers how to set that up, how to add and remove people, and what to do when something doesn't look right.

The one rule that matters most

Everyone else invited to the aircraft is a participant — that's the word iOS uses on the sharing screen, and this guide uses it the same way.

“Owner” means the owner of the records, not the airplane

This is iCloud's word, and you'll see it on the sharing screen under your own name. It describes who created and controls the shared records in aeroLogbook — nothing more.

The airplane itself might be owned by a flight school, a multi-member LLC, a partnership, or a single person who never opens the app. None of that changes who the Owner is in aeroLogbook. The Owner is simply whoever set up the aircraft and manages who can see it. In practice that's often the club manager, the maintenance officer, the partnership's recordkeeper, or the school's chief instructor — but it can be anyone the group agrees on.

Being the Owner in aeroLogbook gives no one any claim on the aircraft, and holding title to the airplane doesn't make you the Owner in the app.

What doesn't work

Already made this mistake? See We each created the same aircraft below.

Before you start

Everyone who will share the aircraft needs:

• aeroLogbook installed on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and an active subscription. Participants need their own subscription — being invited to someone else's aircraft doesn't cover the app.
• An Apple Account, signed in to iCloud, with aeroLogbook turned on under Settings → [your name] → iCloud.
• An internet connection. Invitations and updates travel through iCloud — nothing syncs while a device is offline.
• Their own Apple Account. Don't share one Apple Account between people. That causes problems well beyond aeroLogbook.

Owner: create the share

Do this once per aircraft.

1. Open aeroLogbook and select the aircraft you want to share.
2. On the aircraft screen, tap the share button — the person-with-a-plus icon in the toolbar at the top.
3. The sharing screen opens. You'll see yourself listed under Participants, labeled Owner.
4. Tap Add Participant, then choose how to send the invitation:
   • Messages — fastest, if you have their phone number or Apple Account email.
   • Mail — good for someone you only have an email address for.
   • Copy Link — paste the invitation anywhere you like.
5. Send the invitation. You can invite more people at any time — come back to this screen and tap Add Participant again.

Participants: accept the invitation

1. Install aeroLogbook first. If you tap the invitation before the app is installed, you'll land on a webpage or the App Store instead of in the app. Install it, open it once, then go back to the invitation.
2. Tap the link in the message or email.
3. Confirm that you want to open the shared aircraft in aeroLogbook.
4. The aircraft appears in your aircraft list, alongside any aircraft of your own. Give it a few moments the first time — the flight history has to download.

On a Mac: the flow is the same, with clicks instead of taps. If aeroLogbook isn't installed on that Mac yet, the link opens a webpage rather than the app. Install aeroLogbook, then click the link again.

Important: don't create your own copy of the aircraft while you're waiting for the invitation. Just wait.

Owner: remove someone

When a partner sells their share, a renter moves on, or an instructor finishes with you:

1. Open the aircraft and tap the share button.
2. Tap the person's name under Participants.
3. Tap Remove Access, then confirm.

Owner: stop sharing altogether

1. Open the aircraft and tap the share button.
2. Tap Stop Sharing, then confirm.

Every participant loses access, and the aircraft goes back to being yours alone. Your records are untouched — nothing is deleted from your device.

Participants: leave a share

If you're on someone else's aircraft and want off it:

1. Open the shared aircraft and tap the share button.
2. Tap your own name under Participants, then choose Remove Me.

The aircraft disappears from your devices. The Owner keeps everything, including the entries you made. If you change your mind, they can invite you again.

Back up before you change anything

aeroLogbook can write all of an aircraft's records to a single file: on the aircraft screen, tap the Options menu (•••) and choose Create Backup. That produces a JSON file holding everything for that aircraft, and it can be imported later into a different aircraft or under a different account.

It's worth doing before you delete an aircraft, before you remove yourself from a share, and any time you're about to reorganize who owns what. It takes seconds, and it's the only safety net there is.

FAQ & troubleshooting

We each created the same aircraft — how do we fix it?

This is the most common problem, and it has to be sorted out by hand. There is no merge — a backup file can't be combined into an existing aircraft, so records that exist only in the extra copy have to be re-entered manually.

1. Decide who the Owner will be. Usually whoever has the most complete records.
2. Everyone else: open your copy and tap Options (•••) → Create Backup. Keep the file as your safety net.
3. Everyone else: note the entries in your copy that the Owner's copy doesn't have.
4. Everyone else: delete your copy of the aircraft.
5. The Owner: share the aircraft, following Create the share.
6. Everyone else: accept the invitation, then re-enter the entries from step 3.

Tedious, yes — but it's a one-time fix, and once you're on a single shared aircraft it stays that way.

Does being the “Owner” mean I own the airplane?

No. “Owner” is iCloud's term for whoever created the shared records and controls access to them. It carries no meaning about title, registration, or who pays the bills. A flight school can own the airplane while an instructor is the Owner of the records in aeroLogbook — that's a perfectly normal setup.

Our aircraft belongs to an LLC, club, or school. Who should be the Owner?

Whoever is responsible for the records day to day — a club manager, maintenance officer, or chief instructor is typical. Pick someone who'll still be around in a few years, since handing the role to someone else means rebuilding the aircraft from scratch.

I sent an invitation and they never got it

• Check the address. Send it to the phone number or email attached to their Apple Account.
• Check their spam folder, if you sent it by email.
• Send it again. Tap the share button, then Add Participant — or use Copy Link and send it through any app you both use.

They tapped the link and it opened a webpage instead of the app

aeroLogbook isn't installed on that device yet, or it's installed but has never been opened. Install the app, launch it once so it can finish setting up, then tap the link again.

The link says the invitation is no longer valid

• It was already accepted, on that device or another of theirs — check whether the aircraft is already in their list.
• The Owner stopped sharing, or removed that person, after sending it.
• They're signed in with a different Apple Account than the invitation was addressed to.

The fix in every case is the same: the Owner sends a new invitation.

A flight I entered isn't showing up on the other person's device

aeroLogbook syncs every time the app launches and every time it returns to the foreground. There's no pull-to-refresh and nothing to tap — but the other person does have to open the app.

1. Have them open aeroLogbook. If it's already open, switch to another app and back — that triggers a sync.
2. Check both devices are online. No connection means no sync.
3. Check both are signed in to iCloud, with aeroLogbook turned on in iCloud settings.
4. Turn off Low Power Mode. It delays background activity on iOS.
5. Force-quit and reopen aeroLogbook on both devices. A fresh launch forces a full sync.

Can a participant invite someone else?

No. Only the Owner manages who's on the share. A participant who wants to add someone needs to ask the Owner to send the invitation.

Can we change who the Owner is?

Not directly. The role stays with the person who created the aircraft. Moving it to someone else means the new Owner creates the aircraft fresh, re-enters the history, and shares it — the same process as the duplicate-aircraft fix above. Worth a little thought up front, especially for a club or school where people come and go.

Do participants need their own subscription?

Yes. Each person needs an active aeroLogbook subscription of their own. Being invited to a shared aircraft doesn't cover the app — it only grants access to that aircraft's records.

Does shared data use up my iCloud storage?

The records live in the Owner's iCloud account, so they count against the Owner's storage, not each participant's. Aircraft records are small — text and numbers — so this rarely matters.

What if two of us edit the same flight at the same time?

The last change saved wins. In practice this is rare, but if you and a partner are both entering the same flight from the same trip, it's worth a quick text about who's logging it.

Can I share more than one aircraft?

Yes. Each aircraft is shared separately and can have a different group of people on it. You can be the Owner of one aircraft, a participant on another, and keep a third entirely private.

Is this the same as Family Sharing?

No. aeroLogbook sharing is per-aircraft and works with anyone, related or not. Family Sharing doesn't grant access to aeroLogbook records, and turning it on doesn't share aircraft.

I deleted a shared aircraft by accident

If you're a participant and you remove the aircraft, you're only removing your own access. The Owner still has everything, and they can invite you again.

Nothing here fixed it

When you write in, it helps to include:

• Whether you're the Owner or a participant on the aircraft
• What you see on each device
• Roughly when the problem started