Your Obsidian vault is a folder of plain-text files, which means Git can version it, sync it, and give you full change history across every device — for free. This guide sets up a phone that pulls your vault automatically and publishes your edits with one review step, on iOS or Android.

Written by someone who runs this daily: my automation commits notes into a git-synced vault every evening, and this setup is how I read them from my phone.

Part 1 — iPhone (Obsidian + Working Copy)

Requirements

Install the following iPhone apps:

  • Obsidian
  • Working Copy

Working Copy allows repositories to be cloned and pulled for free. Committing and pushing changes from the phone requires Working Copy’s one-time Pro unlock.

1. Create the Obsidian vault

  1. Open Obsidian on the iPhone.
  2. Create a new vault.
  3. Give the vault the same name as the Git repository, or another clearly identifiable name.
  4. Turn Store in iCloud off.
  5. Store the vault under On My iPhone.

Do not configure Obsidian Sync. Git will be used to synchronize the vault, so an Obsidian account is not required.

2. Connect Working Copy to GitHub

  1. Open Working Copy.
  2. From the repository clone screen, select GitHub from the provider list.
  3. Sign in using the GitHub account that has access to the repository.

GitHub accounts can also be added from Working Copy → Settings → Hosting Providers.

Working Copy uses a separate SSH key for each device. When prompted, allow Working Copy to upload the iPhone’s SSH key to the GitHub account. The uploaded key can be reviewed in GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys.

An account-level SSH key may provide access to every repository available to that GitHub account. For more limited access, use HTTPS authentication with a fine-grained personal access token restricted to the specific repository.

3. Clone the repository

  1. In Working Copy, select Clone Repository.
  2. Choose the repository containing the Obsidian vault.
  3. Complete the clone process.

In Working Copy:

  1. Open the cloned repository.
  2. Select the More menu.
  3. Choose Setup Folder Sync.
  4. Link the repository to Files → On My iPhone → Obsidian → [Vault Name].

The Working Copy repository and the Obsidian vault will now use the same files. Changes made in Obsidian will appear in Working Copy, and files pulled through Working Copy will appear in Obsidian.

5. Configure Git commit identity

In Working Copy, open the repository configuration and set the Git identity:

  • Name: your preferred commit author name
  • Email: the email address associated with your Git activity

Use the same Git identity across all devices. This is especially important when another application, reporting process, or automation identifies commits based on author name or email. Commits created with a different identity may be omitted from reports or summaries.

6. Automatically pull when Obsidian opens

Use the iPhone Shortcuts app to pull the latest repository changes whenever Obsidian is opened.

  1. Open Shortcuts.
  2. Select Automation.
  3. Create a new personal automation.
  4. Choose App as the trigger.
  5. Select Obsidian.
  6. Choose Is Opened.
  7. Add the Working Copy action Pull Repository.
  8. Set the repository parameter explicitly to the correct repository — do not leave it as Ask Each Time.
  9. Set the automation to Run Immediately.

Each time Obsidian opens, Working Copy will pull the latest committed changes into the vault.

Daily iPhone workflow

Reading. Open Obsidian normally. The Shortcuts automation pulls the latest repository changes before or as the vault opens.

Editing. Make changes in Obsidian as usual.

Publishing phone changes. After editing:

  1. Open Working Copy.
  2. Review the changed files.
  3. Create a commit.
  4. Push the commit to the remote repository.

Pulling can be automated, but committing and pushing should normally remain manual so changes can be reviewed before publication.

Part 2 — Android

Android has no Working Copy, but it has something iOS doesn’t: apps that can sync fully automatically in the background. Three options, best first.

Option A — GitSync (recommended)

GitSync is a free, open-source mobile Git client built specifically for this workflow. It can sync your vault every time Obsidian opens or closes — the closest thing to “it just works” on Android.

Setup:

  1. Install Obsidian and GitSync (Play Store, or the GitHub releases).
  2. Create the vault in Obsidian first, stored on local device storage (not a cloud-synced folder).
  3. Open GitSync and complete the welcome flow: accept notification permissions (used to show background sync activity) and the All files access permission — GitSync needs it to read/write the vault folder. (Android’s scoped-storage API is too slow and incomplete for reliable vault sync; this is why the permission is required.)
  4. Authenticate with your Git host — GitHub OAuth is simplest; HTTPS with a fine-grained personal access token (restricted to the vault repository) is the least-privilege option; SSH also works.
  5. Clone the vault repository and point GitSync at the Obsidian vault folder.

Automatic sync on app open/close:

  1. In GitSync, enable the accessibility service when prompted — this is how it detects Obsidian opening and closing.
  2. Add Obsidian to GitSync’s application list.
  3. Enable sync on app(s) opened and sync on app(s) closed.

Now the vault pulls when you open Obsidian and commits/pushes when you leave it. GitSync also offers scheduled syncs, a quick-settings tile, and a home screen widget if you prefer manual control.

Important: if you use the obsidian-git community plugin on desktop, disable it on the phone — open the vault’s Git plugin settings on the phone and enable Disable on this device. Two Git clients fighting over one repository causes conflicts.

Note: unlike the iPhone flow, GitSync’s automatic mode commits and pushes without a review step. If you want the same review-before-publish discipline as Working Copy, skip the “sync on app closed” trigger and push manually from GitSync instead.

Option B — Obsidian Git Android

obsidian-git-android is a native app using JGit with a hybrid clone approach: it keeps an internal Git clone for reliable operations and mirrors files to your vault through Android’s storage framework.

  • Auth via personal access tokens (GitHub/GitLab), stored encrypted
  • Background sync on a schedule (5/15/30/60 minutes)
  • Conflict detection with prompts
  • Can import an existing local vault into a cloned repository

Setup is guided: install → grant storage permission → select vault folder → enter repository URL → add token → clone. Slightly less immediate than GitSync (interval-based rather than open/close-triggered), but very reliable.

Option C — Termux (advanced users)

Real git in a terminal, maximum control, most footguns. If you go this way, one rule is non-negotiable:

Keep the .git directory off shared storage. Android’s shared-storage filesystem (FUSE) corrupts Git metadata. Clone with:

git clone --separate-git-dir=$HOME/vault.git <repo-url> \
  /storage/emulated/0/Documents/YourVault

so the working tree lives where Obsidian can see it but the repository internals live on Termux’s native filesystem.

Additional hardening that experienced users report as essential:

  • .gitattributes with * text eol=lf to prevent line-ending conflicts across Windows/Linux/Android
  • Git LFS for images and PDFs so the repository stays small
  • Termux:Widget for one-tap sync scripts from the home screen

If those bullets sound like fun, you’ll be happy here. If not, use GitSync.

Android filename caveat

Android forbids some characters in filenames that macOS/iOS allow — most notably :. If a note title contains one, sync will fail on Android only. Keep titles portable: letters, numbers, dashes, spaces.

Part 3 — Multi-device synchronization guidelines

Exclude device-specific Obsidian files

The repository’s .gitignore should exclude Obsidian files that contain device-specific workspace state, such as workspace.json, workspace-mobile.json, graph.json, cache files, temporary files, and device-specific plugin data.

A good starting .gitignore:

.obsidian/workspace.json
.obsidian/workspace-mobile.json
.obsidian/graph.json
.obsidian/cache
.trash/
.DS_Store

Only stable configuration should be shared, such as core plugin configuration, daily note settings, template settings, appearance settings, and other intentionally shared vault preferences.

Do not begin tracking workspace files unless there is a specific reason to do so. Workspace state changes frequently and commonly causes Git conflicts when the vault is used across multiple devices.

Push changes before switching devices

A phone can only pull changes that have already been committed and pushed to the remote repository. Before continuing work on the phone:

  1. Commit completed work on the computer.
  2. Push the commits to the remote repository.
  3. Open Obsidian on the phone to trigger the automatic pull.

Likewise, after editing on the phone, commit and push the changes before continuing on another device.

When switching devices, follow this sequence:

  1. Commit local changes.
  2. Push to the remote repository.
  3. Move to the other device.
  4. Pull before editing.
  5. Resolve any conflicts before making additional changes.

Avoid editing the same note on multiple devices before either device has pushed its changes.

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