AmberTime product facts

What is AmberTime?

Quick facts

What AmberTime does

• Backs up Photo Library originals, including photos, videos, Live Photos, RAW, ProRAW, and ProRes resources where iOS exposes them.
• Backs up user-selected folders from the iOS Files app, such as camera imports, downloads, DJI footage, and project folders.
• Creates Photo Library backup tasks for all time, everything before a chosen date, everything after a chosen date, or a specific date range.
• Writes backup files directly to an external physical destination such as a USB drive or SSD selected through Files.
• Runs incremental backup tasks so later runs transfer only new items for that source.
• Preserves capture timestamps, GPS, EXIF metadata, and Live Photo resource pairs where the OS exposes them.
• Writes files through temporary .part files before finalizing completed transfers.
• Runs as a native iPad app since version 1.2.0, with a sidebar and detail layout, keyboard shortcuts, all four orientations, and Split View and Slide Over support.

Incremental backup, recovery, and background limits

Photo Library: additions, edits, and re-added items

New PhotoKit identifiers are eligible for backup. An identifier already recorded for this task is skipped even if the photo was edited. Deleting and re-adding with the same identifier stays skipped; a new identifier is treated as new, although an existing destination file may be reused. Source deletions do not remove archived files.

Files folders: how changes are detected

Folder scans compare relative path, file size, and modification time truncated to whole seconds. A changed key is eligible for processing, but an existing destination file of the same size is reused without comparing content. Same-size edits can therefore be missed. With a changed key and a different destination size, the new copy replaces the old file after transfer. This is not version history. Removing a source file leaves its archive copy; re-adding an unchanged key stays skipped.

Where backup records live

Task settings, completed-item records, progress, and run history live in the App on the current device. The drive can also contain an album index (.albums.db), a backup manifest (.amber-manifest.json), and folder metadata (.amber.json). These support the archive but do not restore the full incremental task database after a fresh install or on another device. Path-and-size reuse is not a content-hash check. Removing or changing a drive file after completion is not automatically detected by the incremental scan.

File-level recovery after interruption

Reconnect the drive and run the task again. Items recorded as completed are skipped; an unfinished file restarts from the beginning, not from its last byte. Writes use temporary .part files before finalization. Cleanup is best effort, so a disconnect or forced quit may leave a .part file; it is discarded before retrying that file.

Limited background execution

AmberTime requests limited background time when you switch apps or lock the screen. iOS decides how much time is available; uninterrupted background backup is not guaranteed. If iOS pauses the task, return to AmberTime and start it manually. Completed items are skipped and the interrupted file restarts from the beginning. Keep large backups in the foreground.

What AmberTime does not do

• AmberTime does not upload user files to AmberTime servers.
• AmberTime does not require an AmberTime account.
• AmberTime does not provide AmberTime cloud storage.
• AmberTime is not a cloud backup app; it is a local physical archive tool.
• AmberTime does not delete photos, videos, or source folders from the device after backup.
• AmberTime does not use iCloud Drive or local device storage as the advertised backup destination.

iCloud-only originals

AmberTime's backup is local-first, but not every original is always stored locally. If "Optimize iPhone Storage" or "Optimize iPad Storage" leaves an original photo or video in iCloud, AmberTime can fetch the full-resolution original from Apple when the user chooses to include iCloud-only items.

That Apple/iCloud download requires network access. After the original is available on the device, AmberTime writes it to the selected external drive.

Formats and destinations