Backup and restore.

Why backups exist#

Kata is local-first, so we never hold your data and cannot restore it for you. A backup is the bridge: it carries everything to a new device, or brings it back if you clear the app. Setting a new phone up is: back up on the old one, install on the new one, restore.

What a backup contains#

Everything: your settings, all your logs, the coach's memory and decisions, and your photos, serialized into one versioned envelope (a kata-backup file, schema 1). The version means a backup made today will still be readable by a much later app.

iCloud on iPhone#

On iOS, Kata writes your backup to iCloud Drive when the iCloud entitlement is available, so it rides your Apple account to any device. Until iCloud Drive is enabled for the app, it falls back honestly to the app's Documents folder, which the device iCloud backup already carries. Kata tells you which of the two is active rather than pretending.

Android device backup#

On Android, Kata writes into the app files directory that Android Auto Backup ships with your Google device backup, so a new phone restored from Google brings Kata's data with it.

Automatic frequency#

Choose how often Kata backs up on its own: daily, weekly, monthly, or manual only. When an automatic backup runs, a quiet pill shows its progress and gets out of the way.

Back up now, and the stages#

Tap Back up now any time. The progress moves through clear stages: collect your data, gather photos, write the file, verify it, done. The verify step re-reads what it wrote, so a backup that says done is a backup that is actually good.

Export, import, restore#

• Export raw data: save the whole envelope as a file you keep wherever you like.
• Import: load an envelope (or a legacy raw export) on any device to bring that data in.
• Restore from backup: pull your latest automatic backup on a fresh install and pick up exactly where you were.