Backup & restore

Because Thrift keeps everything on your device and nowhere else, a backup is how you stay safe against a lost phone — and how you move to a new one. It’s one file, and only you can open it.

Making a backup

Create a backup and Thrift writes an encrypted snapshot of your whole ledger, sealed with a passphrase you choose. Save or share it wherever you like — iCloud, Drive, a folder — through the normal share sheet. It only leaves the app when you send it somewhere.

What’s inside

The file holds everything — transactions, accounts, budgets, goals, investments — encrypted. Without your passphrase it’s meaningless, so where you store it matters far less than remembering the passphrase.

Keep the passphrase safe. There’s no server and no reset. A backup you can’t unlock can’t be recovered — that’s the same design that keeps it private.

Restoring

On a new phone (or a fresh install), open the backup file and enter the passphrase. Thrift decrypts it and the book comes back exactly as it was.

Single-device by design

Thrift doesn’t sync across devices — that’s deliberate, and it’s what keeps your finances off any server. A backup is the bridge between devices, on your terms.

Moving between versions

A backup made on an older version of Thrift restores cleanly into a newer one, so an out-of-date backup is still a good backup.