Getting Started
Welcome tour
The first time you open the app, you'll see a 6-page welcome tour:
- Welcome to YUCTS — Travel articles about Japan and Taiwan, trip tools, and a traveler community, all in one place.
- Choose a Layout — Every layout includes "Trip"; they differ in tab combination and Home content. You can pick Travel, Marketing, or Community right on this page.
- Everything centers on your trip — The "Trip" tab is the Travel Hub; boarding passes, PDFs, and calendar files can be imported directly and are parsed on your device.
- Forum and Chat — Browse boards by region and topic and hide boards you don't want to see; share a link from another app to send it as a YUCTS message.
- Sync Trips with iCloud — Requires signing in to iCloud; syncing between devices can take a few minutes; syncing full-resolution photos requires a YUCTS account.
- You Decide on Notifications — The tour never asks for any permission.
How to use it:
- Swipe left or right to turn pages, or tap "Next" at the bottom right.
- Tap "Skip" at the bottom left to end the tour right away.
- On the last page, tap "Start exploring" to enter the app.
You can watch it again anytime from "Profile & settings" → "Help & support" → "Replay Welcome Tour" (the button on the last page becomes "Done"). If you updated from an older version, you'll only see the newly added pages (marked "New").
Choosing a layout
- You can pick a layout on page 2 of the tour. If you skip it, a full-screen "Choose a Layout" screen appears after the tour, and you'll enter the app once you've chosen.
- Tabs in each layout:
| Layout | Bottom tabs |
|---|---|
| Travel | Home / Trip / Explore / Forum / Authors |
| Marketing | Home / Trip / Deals / Forum / Authors |
| Community | Home / Feed / Chat / Forum / Trip |
- To change it later: person icon at the top left of Home → "Profile & settings" → "Appearance" → "Layout". The layout is stored on this device only.
Notification and ad-tracking prompts
Only after the tour and layout choice does the app ask, in this order:
- The "Get the latest updates" explainer → tap "Turn on notifications" to see the system notification prompt, or tap "Maybe later".
- The "Your privacy is in your hands" explainer → tap "Continue" to see the system's "Allow tracking" prompt.
Declining notifications or tracking doesn't affect basic use of the app. See Privacy & Permissions.
Guest vs. signed in
You can use the app right away as a guest, without registering:
| Feature | Guest | Signed in |
|---|---|---|
| Read articles, unified search, reading history, offline download, recommendations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Customize Home, layout, free color themes, appearance mode | ✅ | ✅ |
| Trip tools (itinerary, bookings, expenses, lists, diary, documents, etc.) | ✅ (stored on device and in your iCloud) | ✅ |
| Browse forum boards and topic previews | ✅ | ✅ |
| Read full topics, post, reply, react, message, forum search | — | ✅ |
| Bookmark articles and topics | — | ✅ |
| Remote push notifications and push preferences | — | ✅ |
| Cloud AI assistant, AI Conversations, cloud translation | — | ✅ |
| Full-resolution photo sync across devices, itinerary share links, cloud collaboration | — | ✅ |
| Buy or restore Yucts Plus | — | ✅ |
Anything that requires an account brings up the sign-in screen automatically. For sign-in options, see Account & Sign-in.
Profile & settings
Tap the person icon at the top left of Home to open "Profile & settings". Sections from top to bottom:
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| Profile card | Signed in: avatar, name, and role; tap for "My Profile", plus "My Card". Signed out: "Log In Now" |
| Member | "Upgrade to Yucts Plus" or "Yucts Plus member" |
| Account | Sign in, Profile & notifications, Signed-in devices & passkeys, push preferences (including the notification sound), phone verification, identity verification, and more |
| Appearance | Color Theme, Layout, Customize Home, Forum Boards, Appearance Mode, App Icon, Launch Animation |
| Language | Language Settings, Auto-Translate Articles |
| Travel & Sync | iCloud Sync, iCloud Sync Items, My Bookmarks, Offline Articles, Reading history |
| App Permissions | System Notification Permission, Ad Tracking, Ad Privacy Options (shown only in some regions) |
| Local Storage | Cache sizes, Image cache limit, Clear Re-downloadable Cache |
| Help & support | Official Announcements, User Guide, System Status, Contact Us, Replay Welcome Tour, About Yucts (version info and "Our Services") |
| Sign out / Danger zone | Sign out, Delete Account (shown when signed in) |
- "Official Announcements", "User Guide" and "System Status" open as full pages.
- "Our Services" shows "Available in: …" under each app; tap "View countries and regions" to expand the full list.
Appearance
Under "Profile & settings" → "Appearance", you can adjust:
- Appearance Mode: Auto (follows the system) / Light / Dark. With iCloud Sync on, it syncs to your other devices on the same Apple ID.
- Color Theme: 10 "Free" themes, 5 "VIP Exclusive" themes (Yucts Plus required), and "Holiday Themes". Holiday themes can only be applied during their holiday period; turn on "Switch to Holiday Themes Automatically" to have them applied for you.
- App Icon: choose "Classic" or "Sakura" (Sakura requires Yucts Plus). Festival icons are applied automatically only during festivals and can't be chosen manually.
- Festival icons: 24 designs. Choose Japan or Taiwan under "Festival region" (only one; it doesn't affect the holiday calendar). From 5 days (3 days for some festivals) before to 3 days after a festival in that region, your Home Screen icon switches to the festival icon automatically and switches back to your chosen icon afterwards; an icon you pick during a festival is marked "After the holiday". The page shows the icon in use and the next festival icon, and you can tap "Restore default icon".
- Restore original icon: during a festival, tap "Restore original icon (until this festival ends)" under "Current icon" to switch back to your chosen icon early. This applies to this festival only; the next festival switches automatically as usual. To use the festival icon again, tap "Use the festival icon again".
- Icons switch automatically only after you've finished the welcome tour and while the app is in the foreground. iOS can only change the Home Screen icon while the app is open, and shows a system message when it does.
- Launch Animation: "Travel Stamp (original)" (the stamp screen fades into Home; default), "Departure", "Postcard Sent", or "Random". You can preview each one first.
- Layout, Customize Home, and Forum Boards: see Home & Content and Forum Community.
Language
The app supports 7 interface languages: 繁體中文（台灣）, 繁體中文（香港）, 简体中文, 日本語, English, 한국어, and Tiếng Việt.
- There's no language menu inside the app; the interface follows your iOS settings. Tap "Profile & settings" → "Language" → "Language Settings" to open iOS Settings, where you can set a language just for Yucts.
- "Auto-Translate Articles" (shown only on iOS 18 or later, on by default) automatically translates forum and blog content into your system language. For how translation works and where data goes, see AI Assistant & Translation.
Since 3.0.2, a new install of the app opens in Japanese the first time. To use another language, open iPhone Settings, tap Yucts and choose "Language" (or tap "Language Settings" above to go there directly). If you updated from an earlier version, your language stays the same.
iCloud Sync
Your trips and travel data are stored in your iCloud and sync across devices using the same Apple ID; you need to be signed in to iCloud on the device first. The app uses two sync channels:
- iCloud Database: travel data such as trips, places, bookings, expenses, lists, diary entries, general document fields, and companions.
- Quick Sync: a quick sync of preferences plus trips, luggage, expenses, shopping, diary, and bookmarks.
"Profile & settings" → "Travel & Sync" has an "iCloud Sync" switch:
The in-app description says: when on, the Quick Sync of preferences, trips, luggage, expenses, shopping, diary, and bookmarks is sent to your other devices on the same Apple ID; turning it off only stops Quick Sync; full-resolution photos are uploaded only when you're signed in to a YUCTS account.
In other words, turning this switch off does not stop iCloud Database syncing. To stop syncing completely, go to iOS Settings → [your name] → iCloud and turn off iCloud for Yucts.
Tap the status row under the switch to open the "iCloud Sync" page, where you can see "Current status", tap "Sync now", and check "How each kind of data syncs":
| Data | How it syncs |
|---|---|
| Trips (name, dates, budget) | Quick Sync + iCloud database; shared trips also through YUCTS collaboration |
| Expenses, packing list, shopping, diary, saved locations, custom categories | Quick Sync + iCloud database |
| Places, bookings, documents, companions | iCloud database; places and companions in shared trips also through YUCTS collaboration (on this device only for now, until the iCloud server supports it) |
| Photos | Photo info via the iCloud database; originals are uploaded only when you're signed in to a YUCTS account |
| Transport choices, flight seats and other extra details | On this device only |
Syncing between devices can take a few minutes. Settings such as Layout, Customize Home and Reading history stay on this device by default; you can choose to sync them under "iCloud Sync Items" (see below).
iCloud Sync Items
"Profile & settings" → "Travel & Sync" → "iCloud Sync Items" lets you choose which settings sync through iCloud across devices using the same Apple ID:
| Group | Items |
|---|---|
| Always synced | Trips and travel data (iCloud private database), Saved articles and forum threads, Quick sync for travel data (controlled by the "iCloud Sync" switch) |
| Optional sync (this device) | Color Theme, Layout, Customize Home, Forum Boards, App Icon, Notification Preferences, Notification sound, Reading history |
| This device only | Push tokens and notification permission, Offline article content, Forum search history |
- Each device decides for itself what to sync. Items turned on on your other devices are shown, and you can tap "Turn on for this device too".
- Turning an item off only stops syncing; nothing is deleted from iCloud or this device. If both devices changed something, the latest change wins.
- When another device changes the app icon, the "App Icon" page on this device asks whether to apply it (iOS needs your confirmation to change icons).
Cross-Platform Trip Sync (YUCTS account)
"Cross-Platform Trip Sync", at the bottom of the "iCloud Sync" page, syncs the trips on your iPhone/iPad through the YUCTS server with Android devices signed in to the same YUCTS account that also have sync turned on.
The Android version of Yucts Travel hasn't been released yet, so there are no Android devices to sync with for now. To sync trips between iPhone, iPad and Mac, use iCloud Sync above.
- Optional and off by default: you need to be signed in to a YUCTS account, and nothing is uploaded until you tap "Agree and Turn On" — just opening the page sends no data. Once on, the app first uploads this device's current data, then downloads data from your other devices.
- Synced: trips and places; bookings (without confirmation codes); expenses (without receipts); travel companions (without email); shopping lists and the travel journal (without photos).
- Not synced: confirmation codes (PNR), companions' email addresses, travel documents (numbers and images), receipt images, trip and journal photos, how you travel between places, extra flight details such as seats, and packing lists.
- The data is stored on the YUCTS server (Cloudflare) and tied to the YUCTS account you're signed in with; signing in with another account turns sync off until you agree again.
- Only items you delete on a device are deleted through sync; if both sides changed something, the latest change wins. A Mac gets its data from your iPhone/iPad through iCloud and doesn't sync separately.
- "Turn Off" only stops syncing on this device and keeps the data in the cloud and on this device. "Turn Off and Delete Cloud Data" deletes the synced data on the server; data on this device and in iCloud isn't affected.