Setup and help

Six steps, about ten minutes. The app walks you through the same steps the first time you open it, with the same short walkthroughs. This page has them in writing too, plus what to do when something goes wrong.

1Download and sign up

Download UniOne, open the file and drag UniOne to Applications. It is signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens on a double click. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 13 or later. There is no Windows version yet.

Open it and create your account: your name, your email address and a password, typed twice.

  • Your password needs 8 to 128 characters and cannot be your email address.
  • It is kept only as a hash, so nobody can read it back, us included. Pick one you will remember.
  • Your email is how you sign in. We email it a 6-digit code from hello@mail.unione.study, subject "Your UniOne code", to confirm it is yours. Type the code into UniOne to finish. It works for 30 minutes, and Resend code sends a new one.
Use whatever email you want, just not your uni one: uni inboxes block UniOne's emails, so the code never arrives.

Check Junk if the code is not there in a minute. Still nothing? Email hello@unione.study.

Apart from that code, UniOne emails you only when you ask for something: a code to reset your password, or a note when UniOne access is on for your account.

Set up UniOne with an invite code before?

Your Mac stays activated. The app asks once for a password to keep your access, emails a 6-digit code to the address you gave with your code to confirm it, and links your account to the code you already used.

2Connect Canvas

UniOne reads Canvas with an access token: a long code you make in your own Canvas settings, which works like a password for apps. Here is how, then the same steps in writing.

  1. Sign in at canvas.sydney.edu.au, choose Account at the top of the left menu, then Settings. Or go straight to your Canvas settings.
  2. Scroll down to Approved Integrations and choose + New Access Token.
  3. For Purpose, type UniOne. Pick an expiry date up to 90 days away, and a time.
  4. Choose Generate Token, then copy the token straight away. Canvas shows it only once.
  5. In UniOne, paste it into the Canvas field and choose Connect. It goes into the macOS Keychain.
Canvas tokens last 90 days at most.

UniOne asks when yours expires, reminds you a week before, and says so plainly when it has run out. A new one is the same five steps, and the app plays this same walkthrough.

UniOne only reads your units, deadlines, marks, modules, files and announcements. It never submits, posts or changes anything. The token itself can do more than UniOne asks of it, so treat it like a password and delete it in Canvas if it ever leaks.

3Add your timetable

Your classes come from your university's timetable site as a calendar link that UniOne keeps up to date. At the University of Sydney that is Sydney Timetable:

  1. Sign in to Sydney Timetable with your University account.
  2. Select Subscribe to your timetable.
  3. Copy the calendar link it gives you, not the address of the page you are on. It starts with webcal:// or https://.
  4. In UniOne, paste it into Timetable, Calendar link, and choose Connect.

Classes appear once they are allocated to you. UniOne refreshes the link each time it opens, so a class swap shows up by itself. Sydney Timetable's download button gives a spreadsheet or text, not a calendar file, so use the link. If a new semester's classes do not appear, copy the link again.

At UTS, sign in to My Timetable, scroll to the bottom of the home page and copy your calendar link. At ANU, sign in to MyTimetable and copy the iCal URL. UniOne shows the steps for your university when you add your timetable.

Keep your calendar somewhere else? Outlook, Google Calendar and iCloud all work, and so does any calendar that gives you a subscription link. Choose where it comes from in Timetable and UniOne shows how to copy the link.

4Choose a notes folder

UniOne keeps your notes as plain Markdown files in a folder you choose, one folder per unit. Put that folder in iCloud Drive or OneDrive and your notes follow you to your other devices. Here is how, then the same steps in writing.

  1. In UniOne, under Where your notes live, pick iCloud Drive, OneDrive or This Mac only.
  2. Choose Choose folder. Your Mac's picker opens: pick the same place in its sidebar.
  3. Choose New Folder, call it UniOne and choose Open. A folder you already keep notes in works too: nothing in it is moved.
  4. UniOne checks the folder and says how it syncs: Syncs through iCloud Drive, Syncs through OneDrive, or On this Mac only.

Where your notes live

  • iCloud Drive is the simplest if you have an iPhone or another Mac. If your Mac already syncs its Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud, UniOne's suggested folder, UniOne inside Documents, is in iCloud Drive already and there is nothing to change.
  • OneDrive works with a personal Microsoft account or your uni one. Install the OneDrive app and sign in, and OneDrive appears in the sidebar.
  • This Mac only means no syncing: your notes stay on this Mac and nowhere else, so back the folder up yourself, with Time Machine or a copy.

How it syncs

UniOne writes each note as a file in your folder. iCloud Drive or OneDrive copies those files to your other devices the way it copies any file: to your other Mac now, and to UniOne for iPhone when it arrives. UniOne's server never stores your notes. Part of a note goes to an AI only when you ask Ori and press Send, after you see exactly what goes.

Edit a note in one place at a time. If the same note changes on two devices before they catch up, iCloud Drive or OneDrive keeps both copies side by side, so nothing is lost and you choose which to keep.

So UniOne can always read your notes, even offline, keep the folder downloaded: in Finder, Control-click it and choose Keep Downloaded (iCloud Drive) or Always Keep on This Device (OneDrive).

A uni OneDrive belongs to the University.

It is usually deleted some time after you graduate. For notes you want to keep, a personal OneDrive or iCloud Drive is safer.

If you use Obsidian, point it at the same folder. You can move the folder later in Settings.

5Choose your AI

AI is optional. It runs asking Ori about your units, Make, drafting cards and checking a draft against its rubric. Everything else works without it, and one switch in Settings hides every AI feature. You have three choices, and you can change your mind later in Settings, AI.

Use your own key

Paste a key from Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok, and every AI feature runs on it. You pay that company directly for what you use. Requests go straight from your Mac to them, only when you press Send or a tool.

Claude, from Anthropic

  1. Go to platform.claude.com and sign in, or create an account.
  2. In Settings, Billing, choose Buy credits and add a small amount. It is pay as you go.
  3. In Settings, API keys, choose Create key and name it UniOne.
  4. Copy the key. The Console shows it only once.
  5. In UniOne, open AI, choose Claude, paste the key and choose Check key.

Then set a monthly spend limit in Settings, Billing, under Spend limits, so a busy week cannot surprise you. A Claude Pro plan does not include API credit. Max and Team plans do: link your Console organisation under Settings, Billing on claude.ai and skip buying credit.

OpenAI

  1. Go to platform.openai.com and sign in, or create an account.
  2. Add credit under Billing. It is pay as you go.
  3. On the API keys page, choose Create new secret key, name it UniOne and copy it. It is shown only once.
  4. In UniOne, open AI, choose OpenAI, paste the key and choose Check key.

Gemini, from Google

  1. Open the API keys page in Google AI Studio and sign in with a Google account.
  2. Choose Create API key, then copy it.
  3. In UniOne, open AI, choose Gemini, paste the key and choose Check key.

A new key starts on Google's free tier, with lower limits. On the free tier Google may use what you send to improve its products, and people may review it. Choose Set up billing in AI Studio to move to the paid tier, which Google does not use that way.

Grok, from xAI

  1. Go to console.x.ai and sign in, or create an account.
  2. Add some credits. It is pay as you go.
  3. On the API Keys page, create a key, name it UniOne and copy it.
  4. In UniOne, open AI, choose Grok, paste the key and choose Check key.

Or ask for access from UniOne

No key? In the AI step, or Settings, AI, choose Request access and add a note if you like. UniOne can turn on AI for you on its own account, up to a limit, and you get an email when it is on. Your AI features then run through UniOne's own Claude account, and the app shows what is left. He may say no. You can add your own key at any time instead.

On UniOne access, what you send passes through the UniOne account server on its way to Anthropic. It is not stored there: the server keeps only how much each request cost. More on this.

Or skip AI

Choose Skip AI for now. Today, Calendar, Deadlines, Units, Revise and your notes all work without it, and you can add AI later in Settings.

6Get help

In the app, choose Need a hand? on any setup step, or Settings, Help. Write what is wrong and press Send. It goes to the UniOne team by email with your account's email address, so we can reply to you. You can add the app version and the screen you were on, and the form shows exactly what that adds.

Signed out, or cannot open the app? Email hello@unione.study.

Forgot your password

We email you a 6-digit code to choose a new password.

  1. In UniOne, choose Forgot password on the sign-in screen and enter your email address.
  2. Find the email from hello@mail.unione.study, subject "Reset your UniOne password", and enter its 6-digit code.
  3. Choose a new password and type it twice.

The code works for 30 minutes. Setting a new password signs your other Macs out. Nothing arrived? Check your Junk folder, then press Resend code; a new code can go once a minute.

If email is not getting through, we can still make a one-time reset code by hand: email hello@unione.study. Choose Forgot password, then Have a reset code?, and enter it with a new password. That code works once and expires after three days. Once one has been made for you, your old password stops working, so use the code rather than trying the old one.

Signed out?

UniOne checks that your account is still active when it opens, and about once a day while you are online. Offline, it keeps working for up to 7 days before it needs to check again.

If your account has been deactivated, the app signs you out at its next check and says so. Your notes folder is untouched either way.

Revoking access

  • Canvas: Account, Settings, Approved Integrations, then delete the token.
  • Your AI key: delete it where you made it: Settings, API keys in the Claude Console; the API keys page at OpenAI; API keys in Google AI Studio; or API Keys in the xAI Console. Clearing it in UniOne's Settings, AI removes it from this Mac.
  • This Mac: Settings, Account, then Sign out.

Each one stops working straight away and nothing else is affected.

Removing everything

  1. Revoke your Canvas token and your AI key as above.
  2. Move UniOne to the Bin and remove ~/Library/Application Support/com.joshbotha.unione.
  3. Delete your notes folder, or keep it. It is just Markdown.

To delete your account, write to hello@unione.study. That removes your email, your name, your password hash and the list of your Macs, and signs every Mac out. What your account holds.