Creating and Restoring Backups

Your Trails data (tracks, waypoints, tags, and photos, if taken within Trails) is saved in a local file on your phone. If you use a passcode, it is encrypted by the system automatically. Nothing is backed up by Trails automatically.

iCloud & iTunes Backups

You can use system backups to back up your Trails data. There are several potential issues that we cannot fix because they are inherent to the iOS backup process:

  • Restoring Trails data means restoring your entire device
  • iCloud only keeps one backup at a time
  • If you intervene while restoring (e.g., reinstalling an app before it has finished restoring), data may get lost

Trails Backups

For the problems mentioned above, we recommend to create separate Trails backups via Trails > Settings > “Backup and restore”. Keep this file in a safe location and you can always go back to it.

Notes

Your Pro subscription status is not part of the backup file, but is backed up in system backups. It is also stored in iCloud (if enabled). If you want to sync your subscription to another device, consider creating a Trails.io account, which can store your subscription status (but not your tracks database).

Your settings are stored in system backups, but are not part of the backup file.