Back up your shooting log and restore it on a new phone: what the file holds

1. Open Profile, then Data & transfer, then “Backup & restore”.
2. Choose whether to include the app settings. The switch is on by default.
3. On an iPhone with iCloud Drive, you can switch on “Save to iCloud Drive”. On Android you can switch on “Save to Google Drive”, which asks you to sign in with Google the first time.
4. Tap “Create backup”.

A backup goes to one place. It goes to the cloud if that switch is on and connected, and otherwise to the phone only. It is not written to both. The list then shows each backup with its date, the number of series and shots, and where its copies are.

Backups are never made on a schedule. On the Home screen a card, “Back up your sessions”, reminds you once you have at least 3 finished sessions and your last backup is missing or older than 28 days. If you dismiss it, it stays away for 28 days.

• Sessions, series and shots, including the shots you typed by hand.
• The badge targets and goals you have set up yourself.
• Your guns as you entered them, with the licence numbers, weapon IDs and renewal dates, and your ranges.
• Your check-in code and your own club-session ticks. If the phone runs a club’s register: the passes, check-ins, weapons per check-in and checked scores, with the names of the people in it.
• The targets and ammunition your sessions refer to.
• The app’s settings, if “Include app settings” was on. This is your preferences file, and it can include things you entered in Profile, such as your birth year.

Treat the file as private: it holds the licence numbers you typed in. It is plain text that anyone can read, with no password or encryption. A copy in your own cloud is protected by your cloud account, and a copy you pass on gives the other person everything in it.

• Your own first and last name. The check-in code is in the file, the name that goes with it is not. After a restore the app asks for your name again before it shows the code. Other people’s names in a club register are in the file.
• The photos of your targets.
• Pro, AI credits and the count of free scans.

Pro and AI credits do not need the file. On a new phone of the same kind, signed in to the same Apple or Google account with that cloud storage left on, the app is meant to find them again; see using the app without an account.

1. On the Backup page, tap the backup and then “Restore”. On a new phone you can also tap “restore your backup” on the “Where do you shoot?” screen when you set up the app.
2. Read the warning. A restore erases all your current sessions, shots, badge targets and guns and replaces them with the contents of the file. The same goes for the other things the file holds, such as ranges and club data. It cannot be undone.
3. Choose “Data only”, or “Data + settings” if the file has settings. Both erase and replace the data in the same way.
4. Tap “Restart now” when the app asks. The app restarts itself.

The restore is applied in one step that is rolled back if it fails, so a failed restore should leave your data as it was. If the current data matters, make a fresh backup first. Nothing is merged and you cannot restore a single session. A file from a newer version of the app is refused, so update Shooter first.

A cloud backup goes straight from your phone to your own account. It never passes through or reaches Shooter’s servers. On an iPhone it is stored in the app’s folder in your iCloud Drive, on your iCloud storage. On Android the app asks Google for access to one hidden folder of your Drive for its own use, and it does not use your Google profile.

To move a file yourself, open a backup and tap “Save a copy…”. That opens the share sheet, so you can send the file to yourself or put it on a computer. On the other phone, tap “Restore from a file…” at the bottom of the list.

The cloud copies stay on their own side: an iPhone cannot see a Google Drive backup and Android cannot see an iCloud one. Moving to the other kind of phone with a saved file has not been tested, so keep your old phone until you have checked that the restore worked.

Your phone can also back up the whole device by itself, with iCloud Backup or Google One. That is done by the operating system, not by the app. It stays in your Apple or Google account, never reaches Shooter, and is deleted by turning the app’s backup off in your phone’s settings. Unlike the file from Create backup, it includes your own name.

Deleting your data in the app, with “Delete my data”, does not touch your backups, on the phone or in the cloud. You delete them yourself from the Backup page.

Backup and restore do not use up any of the first 10 free scans. A backup on the phone needs no account, no internet and no permission. A cloud backup needs iCloud Drive to be on, on an iPhone, or a Google sign-in, Google Play services and a connection, on Android. The Google sign-in is only for that folder and does not create a Shooter account. A backup that stays on the phone is kept in the app’s own storage. By itself it does not protect you if the phone is lost or wiped, so save it to the cloud or send yourself a copy with “Save a copy…”.

Does Shooter get a copy of my backup?

No. The file stays on your phone or goes to your own iCloud Drive or Google Drive. It does not pass through Shooter’s servers.

Is my name in the backup?

Your own name is not. Your check-in code is, and the app asks for your name again after a restore. Names of others in a club register are in the file, and so are the licence numbers you entered for your guns.

Are my target photos backed up?

No. The backup holds the sessions and shots, not the photos.

Can I restore on a phone of the other kind?

This has not been tested. The iCloud and Google Drive copies stay on their own side, and you can save a copy of the file with “Save a copy…”, but we do not know whether the other kind of phone accepts it.