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Backing Up and Restoring Your Vault

To ensure you never lose your carefully categorized collection, GIF Vault includes a full backup and restore system. You can save your entire vault as a single file, transfer it to a new device, or restore it if needed.

💾 Premium Feature: Exporting and importing backups is a premium capability. You must upgrade to GIF Vault Pro to use it.

 

How to Export a Backup

  1. Navigate to the Settings tab (the gear icon) in GIF Vault.
  2. Scroll down to the Maintenance section.
  3. Tap Export a Backup.
  4. The app will compile your local database and all saved images into a secure, zipped file with a .gvexport extension.
  5. A system document picker will appear. Select a destination (such as iCloud Drive, On My iPhone, or email) to save or share your backup file.
⚠️ Important: Make sure you have enough free storage space on your device to create and save the backup.

 

How to Restore from a Backup

Restoring a backup will overwrite your current vault. Please ensure you are restoring the correct file.

  1. Navigate to the Settings tab and scroll to the Maintenance section.
  2. Tap Import a Backup.
  3. The system document picker will open. Browse and select your saved .gvexport file.
  4. A confirmation warning will appear: "Would you like to replace the contents of your vault with the selected backup file?"
  5. Tap Replace.
  6. Once ready, a success alert will show: "Your backup is ready to restore. GIF Vault will now quit - please open it again to finish restoring your vault."
  7. Tap OK. The app will close automatically.
  8. Relaunch the app manually. During the relaunch, the app will unpack the backup and apply it. Your restored vault will now be fully loaded!
⚠️ Critical Warning: Restoring a backup completely replaces the current database and deletes all current images. If you have any new images that are not in the backup, they will be lost. Back up your current vault first if you wish to preserve it!