Managing individual PACs manually can be a tedious task once a POCA instance is deployed across dozens or hundreds of devices. For communities that opt in to internet access, PAC Manager publishes updates over the internet for fleet-wide content delivery. The Publishing screen is called Reaching the People: one archive, carried to every device your People hold. Every release is sealed with your People's own mark, and devices refuse anything that is not. Everyone receives the same content per release, while each device's personal configurations (name, profile information) remain unchanged.

Connect your People's server (one time)

  1. Open your POCA instance, then go to Publishing.
  2. Under Where your People's server lives, type the server's web address. It was given to you when the server was set up; a typical address looks like https://ota.poca.org.
  3. Paste the publishing pass from your server keeper. It stays hidden as you type.
  4. Press Connect. PAC Manager reaches the server, confirms it belongs to your community, and confirms the pass is accepted before anything is saved.
  5. The next card announces Your mark is made, showing a four-part fingerprint. From now on, every release you publish is sealed with a mark that belongs to your People alone. Devices accept updates that carry this mark and refuse everything else.

The publishing pass is kept safe in your computer's Keychain. It never leaves your computer except to speak with your People's server.

Publish, try, then share

Releases move in two gentle steps: first to your own PAC, then to everyone.

  1. When the board has moved since your last release, the top card reads The board has moved and offers one button: Publish to your try-out lane. (If any cards still show errors, settle those first; the button waits.)
  2. While it works, the card shows three stages: Sealing (your mark is applied), Carrying (only the pieces the server doesn't already have travel, so repeat releases are quick even on a slow connection), and Checking (the server verifies everything arrived whole).
  3. The release lands on your try-out lane: your own PAC receives it on its next check-in, before anyone else. Look it over on the real device.
  4. When it feels right, find the release in the Releases list. Releases are named by their day, like Release of July 19, 2:41 pm. Rest on its Trying chip; it becomes Share with everyone. Press it, read the confirmation, and confirm.
  5. From that moment, every registered device receives it on its next check-in, usually within six hours.

Sharing is a deliberate second step, and it is a proud one. Nothing is sent twice: the try-out and shared copies are the same sealed content.

The beadwork band at the foot of the screen tells the same story without words. The loom sits empty when everything is with the People; a single bead drifts while something waits; a diamond blooms while your mark is applied; the beads fill left to right as the pieces travel; a shuttle sweeps across while the server checks the work; and when a release goes out, a feather is woven across the band.

Watch it reach every device

The Every device section closes the loop. It shows how many devices have received the shared release, and one quiet row per device: Current (has the shared release), Try-out lane (your own PAC), Behind (hasn't checked in since you shared), or Away (hasn't been heard from in a few days). Away is normal life, not a failure: the device is likely away from wifi and catches up the next time it finds a connection. Nothing needs fixing on your end.

A quiet line in the corner of every screen keeps you oriented without visiting the screen: With the People when all is out, or an invitation like On your try-out lane, waiting to be shared or The board has moved since the last release.

Update one device's settings without a new release

A device's personal settings (owner information, user type, and which apps are on or off for that person) travel separately from content. You can change them any time, with no new release.

  1. Go to Media & Devices and find the device under Registered devices.
  2. Press the pencil, labeled Edit device config.
  3. Adjust Profile name, Owner name, Role, or Birth date. Under Apps: tap to cycle inherit / on / off, tap an app's pill to force it on, tap again to force it off, and once more to return it to the People (instance) default.
  4. Press Save profile.
  5. Back on the device's row, press the broadcast button labeled Publish this device's config over the air. A message confirms the settings were published and that the device picks them up on its next check-in.

This button appears only for devices marked Registered. A new device joins by entering an enrollment code. Press the ticket button, New enrollment codes, to make fresh ones; each works once and lasts 24 hours. The link One for your own PAC… mints a try-out lane code, so the steward's own device receives releases the moment they are published, before they are shared with everyone.

What the device shows

Whenever a registered device reaches the internet, it quietly checks in. If a newer shared release is waiting, it verifies the People's mark, downloads only the pieces that changed, and installs them safely. If interrupted mid-update, the process resumes once connection stabilizes, without corruption to data. Once complete, the apps refresh with the new content. Personal settings arrive the same way and never disturb the content itself.