The Neconyan handbook
Your guides Miso, Taro & Nori
Choose each guide's gender to change their artwork and pronouns. Your choices stay in this browser, separately from the app.
Open it on your phone¶
You can install Neconyan on an iPhone or Android phone, or open it in a browser while it runs on your computer.
For browser access, this guide uses the same trusted home network. The computer must stay awake with Neconyan running.
Use the standalone iPhone app¶
The project now includes a standalone iPhone app. It bundles Node.js, the server and the interface, so your chats and settings live on the phone and no computer needs to run Neconyan. It needs iOS 17 or newer, isn't an App Store build, and is sideloaded with a tool such as iloader, which signs it with your Apple account.
A free Apple account has to re-sign the app every seven days and allows three sideloaded apps. Install a newer IPA over the old one with the same Apple account to keep your chats; deleting the app deletes them with it, so export an account backup first if you're changing tools.
Download the file ending in -ios-unsigned.ipa from the release page. If your chosen release has no IPA, use the browser setup below.
Imports keep going when you switch apps or lock the phone. Pick the backup with the app's Import Backup ZIP button, confirm, and the server takes it from there. Allow about twice the backup's size in free space while it is copied in. Replies keep going the same way: if you leave mid-reply, the page plays a silent sound until the reply is written, saved and its after-reply Agents have run. You might see 'Neconyan is finishing a reply' on the lock screen, and music from another app can pause until it's done. iOS can still close the app when the phone runs short of memory. The iPhone setup notes cover the build and its limits.
If two starts in a row don't finish, the next load offers a safe start. On iPhone and iPad it turns low-memory mode on automatically unless you've set it off, and that setting is saved until you change it. The button then reads Start without low-memory mode. Read crash report works before the app loads. Something went wrong lists the other buttons.
If the page stops, a page load fails or the local sign-in doesn't finish, the app stops retrying by itself and shows a recovery screen with what happened. Try again starts the server and loads the page again; Share startup log prepares a report you can send or save. Both buttons stay available when you come back from another app, so you can look something up without losing the screen. The startup log survives relaunches and records the last startup step, timings, the device and recent activity, hides credentials Neconyan recognises, and can be shared even when the local server never started. The shared report ends with the last part of the server log. The app also clears a data folder lock left behind by a run iOS closed.
The documented build checks use Apple's iPhone simulator; they don't establish that every feature works on a physical iPhone.
Allow connections from your network¶
- Stop Neconyan on the computer.
- Open its config.yaml in a text editor. Use the actual configuration beside your installation, not the template inside the default folder.
- Change the existing settings below, keeping the indentation. Replace the example username and password with your own.
listen: true
basicAuthMode: true
basicAuthUser:
username: 'your-chosen-name'
password: 'replace-with-your-own-long-password'
These are selected settings, not a replacement for the entire file. Don't add a second copy of a key that's already present. Save, then start Neconyan again.
If your firewall asks, allow the connection on your private home network.
Find the computer's address¶
Find its local IPv4 address in your network settings. It commonly begins with 192.168., 10. or 172.16. through 172.31..
In a terminal, run:
Look for the IPv4 address under the Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection you're using.
Open your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection details in System Settings and find the IP address.
On the phone, open the address below, replacing the example IP with the computer's address:
Sign in with the credentials you set. Your existing chats should be there because you're opening the same server.
If access is forbidden¶
The default address allow-list includes common 192.168. and 172.16.-172.31. home networks. If your actual network uses 10., add its range to the existing list in the configuration, retaining the other entries:
Restart the server after changing the configuration. Guest Wi-Fi can isolate devices from one another; use a network that permits the phone to reach the computer.
Add it to your Home Screen¶
On iPhone, open Neconyan in Safari, open Share and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, use the browser's install or Home Screen option when available. This gives you an app-like window; it still needs the server to be running.
On iPhone Safari, turning Movable panels off no longer leaves an empty band above the keyboard. The Home Screen app reserves space for the home bar once, rather than leaving a doubled gap. On Android browsers, returning from another app keeps the composer inside the visible screen, including when Movable panels is on.
Some app-install and browser features require HTTPS, a secure web address. Plain HTTP on a home network may not expose every browser feature.
Notifications¶
Open Settings → System & Device → Notifications and turn on Push notifications. It's off by default, belongs to this device and account, and asks for permission when you turn it on.
In a browser, notifications need HTTPS or localhost, browser push support and a service worker. The plain home-network HTTP address in this guide doesn't provide them. On iPhone and iPad, an HTTPS Neconyan site also needs to be added to the Home Screen and opened there. The standalone iPhone app uses native notifications instead; allow them when asked and keep its local server running. Message previews can appear on the lock screen. If the system blocks them, allow notifications in iOS settings, then turn the switch on again. Conversation's device notifications covers the shared limits.
Keep an Android browser tab open¶
In an Android browser, Settings → System & Device → Leaving the tab offers Stay open in the background. It's off by default and applies to that device only. Turning it on plays a sound too quiet to hear while Neconyan is hidden, so Chrome is less likely to unload the tab when you switch away.
It uses more battery, shows a media notification and can pause music in other apps. Start with a short reply to see how your phone's battery manager reacts before relying on it for a long scene. The switch is hidden in the Android app, which manages its own background work.
Away from home¶
The local address above won't work from mobile data. Use an authenticated HTTPS hosting setup or a private network connection to your server. Don't expose the example HTTP port directly to the internet: this local-network recipe doesn't configure encrypted public hosting.
If the page loads but replies fail, your phone connection is working. Continue with model connection troubleshooting.