FeaturesHow it worksPricingSupport
← Back to support
Help

iCloud backup: saving your habits and getting them back

Last updated:

Habit Tracker Grid backs up your habits, history included, to your own iCloud. Out of the box this happens on its own whenever the app goes to the background. Getting the backup back is up to you, because it is a backup and not a sync.

Backing up and restoring are part of the free version, which covers up to 2 habits. If the backup holds more than 2 habits, a restore without Premium brings back only the first 2. What Premium costs is on the pricing page.

Where to find it

The “Settings” tab has a section called “Backup & data”. For iCloud it holds:

  • “Auto backup to iCloud”: this switch is on out of the box. The app then backs up whenever it goes to the background.
  • “Backup to iCloud”: backs up right away.
  • “Restore from iCloud”: brings the backup back.

One backup slot, each backup replaces the last

Your iCloud holds exactly one backup slot for Habit Tracker Grid. Every new backup overwrites the previous one, whether it runs automatically or you tap “Backup to iCloud”. The app keeps no older versions.

The automatic backup only runs when there is at least one habit in the app. A freshly installed, empty app therefore does not overwrite your backup on its own. As soon as you add a habit, though, the next automatic backup replaces the old one, the next time the app goes to the background.

On a new iPhone: restore first

So that your backup is not overwritten, restore first on the new iPhone and only then get going:

  1. Sign in on the new iPhone with the same Apple Account as on the old one. Apple explains how.
  2. Install Habit Tracker Grid. Do not add a habit yet, and do not tap “Backup to iCloud”.
  3. Open the “Settings” tab and tap “Restore from iCloud” under “Backup & data”.
  4. The app asks “Replace all data?”. Tap “Replace”.

According to Apple’s documentation, iCloud passes the storage the app uses for the backup on to every device with the same Apple Account. Your backup should therefore be waiting on the new iPhone too. If you want to be completely sure, also write a JSON backup before you switch and keep the file.

What a restore does

Before the app changes anything, it asks: “This replaces your current habits and their history with the contents of the backup. Your existing data cannot be recovered afterwards.” Only when you tap “Replace” does it take over the backup. Your habits are replaced, not merged.

If the backup holds more than 2 habits and you do not have Premium, the app first offers you Premium. If you get it there, the app takes over all of them. Otherwise it takes over the first 2 and tells you so in a note titled “Habit limit reached”. The first 2 are the two that sat at the top of your list when the backup was made.

Important while you do not have Premium: After such a restore only the first 2 habits are in the app. The next backup, automatic or through “Backup to iCloud”, then replaces your iCloud backup with exactly those 2, and the others are no longer in it. So switch off “Auto backup to iCloud” before you restore, and do not tap “Backup to iCloud”. Safer still is a JSON backup from your old iPhone, because the file keeps every habit.

If the app finds no backup, it says “No backup found in iCloud”. Check that you are signed in with the same Apple Account you backed up with, and do not add a habit in the meantime.

Good to know

  • The backup sits in your own iCloud. We never see it.
  • If you switch “Auto backup to iCloud” off, the app only backs up when you tap “Backup to iCloud”.
  • If no Apple Account is signed in on the iPhone, Apple says the backup stays on that device only.
  • For a backup file you keep yourself, use the JSON backup.
  • What changes when your subscription runs out is covered in When Premium ends.