AlcoLog keeps your data on your iPhone. The iCloud backup saves a copy of it to the private iCloud storage of your own Apple Account, so a reinstall or a new iPhone does not mean starting again. It is a snapshot, not live sync: a copy is taken once a day, and you can restore any of your three most recent copies.
Backing up needs Premium. Restoring does not: if your Premium ends, you can still bring your backups back.
# Step 1. Check what you need
- Premium for new backups, automatic or manual.
- Signed in to iCloud on your iPhone. If you are not, the backup card shows “Sign in to iCloud in the Settings app to back up AlcoLog.” If iCloud is signed in but not responding, it shows “iCloud is not available right now. Try again later.”
- Free iCloud storage. The backup counts against your own iCloud storage plan. If your storage is full, the card shows “Your iCloud storage is full, so the backup could not be saved.”
There is no AlcoLog sign-in or email involved. The backup lives in your Apple Account, and that is the only account it needs.
# Step 2. Open the iCloud Backup card
Go to Settings > Data & Privacy. The iCloud Backup card sits below the anonymous data section and above Export Data.
The card has three parts: the Back up automatically switch, a status line that tells you when the last backup ran, and two buttons, Back Up Now and Restore.
# Step 3. Turn on automatic backup
With Premium, Back up automatically is on by default. Leave it on, or switch it back on if you turned it off. Without Premium the switch shows a PREMIUM badge, and tapping it opens the upgrade sheet.
Automatic backup runs when you leave the app (switch to another app or go to the Home Screen), as long as at least 24 hours have passed since the last backup. So on any day you open AlcoLog, you get at most one automatic backup, taken as you close it. On days you do not open the app, nothing changes, so nothing needs backing up.
AlcoLog keeps your three most recent backups. Each new backup replaces the oldest one.
# Step 4. Back up now
Tap Back Up Now any time you want a fresh copy, for example just before you delete the app or move to a new iPhone. The button reads Backing Up… while it works and ✓ Backed Up for a few seconds when it has finished. A manual backup also counts toward the three kept, so it replaces your oldest one.
If a backup fails, the reason appears in red under the status line, such as “No connection to iCloud. AlcoLog will try again later.”
# Step 5. Check your last backup
The status line on the card shows Last backup: followed by how long ago it ran, for example “3 hours ago” or “yesterday”. If you have never backed up on this iPhone, it reads No backup yet.
To see every backup AlcoLog is keeping, tap Restore. The list shows each one with its date and time, how many sessions it holds and the app version that made it. Tap Cancel to leave without changing anything.
# Step 6. Restore after a reinstall or on a new iPhone
Install AlcoLog, make sure the iPhone is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account, and open the app. If AlcoLog finds a backup, it offers it before onboarding starts, on a Welcome back screen.
- Tap the backup you want. The newest is at the top.
- Confirm with Restore when asked Restore this backup?
- AlcoLog loads your sessions, drinks, Sober Mode and settings, and skips onboarding, because your settings already have it done.
If you would rather begin with an empty app, tap Start Fresh and confirm. Your iCloud backups stay where they are, and you can restore one later from Settings > Data & Privacy. Once daily backups start on the new install, though, each new one replaces the oldest, so decide within a few days.
If you set up your new iPhone from a backup of your old one and AlcoLog already opens with all your data, you can skip this step.
If the app cannot reach iCloud within a few seconds of that first launch (it often is not ready yet on a freshly set up iPhone), onboarding goes ahead, and AlcoLog asks iCloud again the next time you open it. Until the offer is settled, no automatic backup runs, so your old backups cannot be overwritten in the meantime.
# Step 7. Restore from Settings
You can also restore at any time from Settings > Data & Privacy. First end any session that is running: while one is active, Restore is grayed out and the card says “End your session to restore a backup.”
- Tap Restore. The Restore from iCloud sheet lists your backups, newest first.
- Tap the one you want.
- Read the warning, “Everything currently on this device will be replaced. This cannot be undone.”, then tap Restore.
Restoring replaces everything in the app with the backup: anything you logged after that backup was taken is gone. If you are unsure, tap Back Up Now first, so the current state is one of your three backups (remember it replaces the oldest).
# Step 8. Know what is and is not in a backup
Included: your sessions and drinks, Sober Mode (your days, evening check-ins and the cravings you rode out), medication doses, favorite drinks, scanned products, and your settings, such as your goal, alerts and display choices.
Not included:
- Apple Health data. AlcoLog writes to Apple Health but never stores Health data in the backup. Your Health data is kept by Apple Health itself. See How to Sync with Apple Health.
- Permissions. Notification and Apple Health permissions belong to each iPhone. After a restore from the reinstall offer, AlcoLog asks for notifications if you have not answered yet, and for Apple Health access if Health sync was on in the backup.
- Things that describe this one iPhone, such as your chosen app icon and the Back up automatically switch itself.
- Your Premium purchase. Premium belongs to your Apple Account, not to the backup. On a new iPhone, tap Restore Purchase on the Premium card in Settings.
If a backup was taken while a session was still running, the restored session is ended at the time of its last drink, so it does not come back as live with a timer of several days.
# Step 9. Understand where your backup lives
Backups are saved in the private iCloud database of your own Apple Account. AlcoLog runs no server for them, never receives them and cannot read them, so it cannot restore or recover them for you either. Only an iPhone signed in to your Apple Account can see them.
Backups are separate from the optional anonymous data sharing on the same screen. For that, see How to Manage Data and Privacy Settings. If you want a copy you can read or share, such as a report for your doctor, use How to Export Your Data instead.
# Step 10. If your Premium ends
New backups stop: the Back up automatically switch shows as off with a PREMIUM badge, and Back Up Now opens the upgrade sheet. The card reads “New backups are paused without Premium. Your backups are kept, and you can still restore them.”
Your existing backups stay in your iCloud, and Restore keeps working without Premium.
# Step 11. Manage or delete your backups
AlcoLog has no button to delete backups inside the app. To see how much space they use, or to delete them, open the iPhone Settings app, tap your name, then iCloud > Manage Account Storage (or Storage on some iOS versions) and choose AlcoLog.
Deleting them there removes every AlcoLog backup in your iCloud. It does not touch the data in the app on your iPhone, and if automatic backup is still on, a new backup is made the next time one is due. To stop that, switch off Back up automatically first.