Why does AnkiMobile look different from my Anki on desktop?
I thought it autosynchronizes?
If not, if I click the button “synchronize” will it ask me to synchronize from desktop to phone or vice versa? Or will it automatically sync in one direction?
I don’t want my anki cloud data to be erased by my phone.
You have to initiate a sync from Anki Mobile manually. It will just sync, in case there are conflicts it will ask you what to do. Please read: Syncing with AnkiWeb - Anki Manual.