Perplexity Spaces Not Syncing Across Devices

What You'll Learn

• Why Perplexity Spaces fail to sync between desktop and mobile
• Five step-by-step fixes verified by the Perplexity community in 2026
• How the March 2026 Perplexity Computer update affected sync stability
• How to prevent sync failures through correct save behaviour and App Connector setup

Why Perplexity Spaces Stop Syncing

Perplexity Spaces use real-time cloud synchronisation tied to your authenticated session. When that session token becomes stale or mismatched — after an app update, a long period of inactivity, or a network interruption — sync silently fails. You open Spaces on your phone and the thread you just started on your laptop simply isn't there. Custom instructions appear to have applied on one device but not the other. In extreme cases on the macOS app (version 2.260423.0 and earlier), creating new topics within Spaces consistently times out entirely.

The March 2026 "Perplexity Computer" update introduced new agentic browsing capabilities that changed how Spaces interact with session state — a known source of the increased sync reports since that update rolled out. The five fixes below resolve 95% of sync failures according to community-verified troubleshooting.

5 Verified Fixes for Perplexity Spaces Not Syncing

Fix 1 — Verify Identical Accounts on All Devices

The most commonly overlooked cause. Spaces are account-scoped — any account mismatch breaks synchronisation entirely. If you signed in with Google on desktop and with Apple on mobile, those are technically separate accounts even if they share an email address. Tap your profile icon on each device and confirm the displayed email is identical across all platforms. If they differ, sign out of both and sign back in using the same method (same Google, Apple, or email account) on every device.

Fix 2 — Refresh Session Tokens (Sign Out and Back In)

Stale tokens are the most common technical cause. Sign out of Perplexity on both devices. On browser: clear cache and cookies for perplexity.ai. On mobile: clear app data (Android) or offload and reinstall the app (iOS). Then sign back in fresh. This forces a clean token re-issue and restores the cross-device WebSocket connection. Cross-device sync is not instant — allow 30–60 seconds after logging in for Spaces to propagate. Pull to refresh on mobile or press F5 on the web if the Space sidebar hasn't updated.

Fix 3 — Disable VPN and Browser Extensions for Perplexity

Perplexity Spaces depend on WebSocket connections for real-time sync. VPNs frequently block these — particularly if the VPN exit node is geographically distant from Perplexity's US-based servers (which adds round-trip latency and can cause WebSocket timeouts). Ad-blockers and Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection flag Perplexity's streaming requests as trackers and silently terminate the connection. To isolate the cause: open an incognito window with all extensions disabled and test whether Spaces sync. If they do, your extension or VPN is the culprit. Whitelist perplexity.ai in your ad-blocker; in Firefox, click the shield icon in the address bar and toggle protection off for the domain.

Fix 4 — Force Save Your Space Instructions

Perplexity does not auto-save Space configurations. Custom instructions only persist to the server when you explicitly click Save. If the save action was interrupted — by a network hiccup, tab close, or app crash — those instructions exist only locally and will never propagate to other devices. Fix: open the affected Space on your desktop, navigate to its instructions or settings panel, re-enter or confirm your custom instructions, and click Save explicitly. Even if the instructions appear present, re-saving forces the server to register the latest version and push it to all linked devices.

Fix 5 — Repair App Connectors (Google Drive and OneDrive)

If your Space is connected to Google Drive or OneDrive files and those files aren't appearing on other devices, the App Connector OAuth token has likely expired or been revoked. Go to Space settings, disconnect the App Connector, and re-authorise the connection from scratch. This is separate from your Perplexity account login and must be done on each device independently.

What Are Perplexity Spaces?

Perplexity Spaces (previously called Collections) are dedicated research environments within Perplexity where you can save threads, maintain persistent context, set custom AI instructions, and connect external file sources like Google Drive and OneDrive. They function as persistent research workspaces rather than individual chat sessions — the key distinction being that a Space retains context and custom instructions across all sessions, on all devices. Perplexity's 22 million monthly active users increasingly rely on Spaces for structured, long-form research workflows that would be unwieldy in a standard chat interface.

Thread history within a Space is saved automatically. Space configurations and custom instructions are not — they require an explicit save action. This distinction is the source of most user confusion and most sync failures. If you rely on Spaces for deep research, building a habit of explicitly saving after any instruction edit is the single most effective preventive measure.

Conclusion

Perplexity Spaces not syncing is a solvable problem in all but the rarest account-level cases. Check for account mismatches first — it's the most common cause and the fastest fix. If accounts match, refresh session tokens by signing out and back in on both devices. If that doesn't work, disable your VPN or ad-blocker for perplexity.ai. Always save Space instructions explicitly — never assume Perplexity auto-saved. If you recently updated the macOS app, check status.perplexity.com before troubleshooting locally to confirm the issue isn't platform-side.

Last Updated: May 19, 2026 | Sources: Perplexity API Platform Forum, FixAIErrors, TechSifted, PerplexityAI Magazine, YouTube community reports