Backup & restore

3-minute read · Free for Full Export, Pro for restore

AssetVault data lives on your phone. There's no cloud sync, which means there's no automatic remote backup. You are responsible for keeping your own backups. Two ways to do it:

Quick reference

JSON Backup — fast, small, restore-ready. Same-device + same-account-on-new-device.
Full Export ZIP — everything bundled (CSV + JSON + photos). Cross-device, cross-app, future-proof. Free at every tier.

JSON Backup

Settings → Backup. AssetVault writes a single AssetVault_backup_YYYY-MM-DD.json file and opens the share sheet. Save it to iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Files, or email it to yourself.

📤 OS share sheet over the Backup screen — AssetVault_backup_2026-04-25.json with Save to Files / Drive / Mail destinations

The system share sheet appears with the backup file ready to land wherever you keep your data.

What's in it: every item, every aux table (maintenance logs, condition timeline entries, AI Pre-Grade assessments). What's not: the photo files themselves — only their paths. JSON Backup is best for restoring on the same device or a fresh install on the same account where photos are still in your phone's storage.

Restoring from JSON

Settings → Restore (Pro). Pick the JSON file. Confirm. AssetVault wipes the current database and inserts everything from the backup. Item IDs are preserved so all aux-table relationships (maintenance logs, condition photos, AI Pre-Grade entries) re-link correctly.

If a photo path in the backup points to a file that doesn't exist on this device, that photo is skipped silently. The item is still restored.

Full Export ZIP

Settings → Full Export. AssetVault bundles a ZIP with:

🗜️ Full Export confirmation — "Export complete: 247 items, 312 photos, 18.4 MB" with Share ZIP button

Confirmation after Full Export finishes. Tap Share ZIP to drop the bundle into any cloud folder.

items.csv — human-readable spreadsheet. Open in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, anything.
full-backup.json — same machine-readable backup as above.
photos/ — every item photo, every receipt photo, every condition-timeline photo. Filenames include item name + a short ID + (for timeline photos) the captured-at date.
README.txt — explains what's in the ZIP for whoever opens it later.

This is the "leave AssetVault forever" archive. It's the same ZIP whether you stay or go — your data is portable.

Moving to a new phone

Old phone: Settings → Full Export. Save to iCloud Drive / Google Drive.
New phone: install AssetVault, sign in with the same App Store / Play Store account.
Settings → Restore. Pick the JSON inside the ZIP (or upload the ZIP, AssetVault will find the JSON). Confirm.
The photos folder needs manual migration — easiest path is to airdrop / cloud-sync the unzipped photos/ folder to your new phone, then re-link in a future update. (We're shipping auto-photo-relink in a follow-up.)

Backup cadence — recommended

Open AssetVault and run JSON Backup once a month. It takes 10 seconds and the file is tiny. After you add a big batch of items (post-show pickups, after a CSV import), run a Full Export so your photos are in the cloud too.

Some users set a calendar reminder for the first of the month. Not built into the app intentionally — we don't want to pester you.

What about iCloud / Google Drive backup integration?

Coming in a future release. The current pattern (manual share-sheet save) is simple and gives you full control over where your data lands. The next version adds an opt-in "auto-save backup to my chosen folder weekly" toggle. AssetVault will never have access to your cloud — it'll just write into the OS share sheet's destination.