What's new in AmberTime

Latest release at a glance

Version history summary

About these release notes

AmberTime is a local-first app for backing up iPhone photos, Live Photos, videos, and user-selected Files folders directly to a USB drive or external SSD — no Mac, no AmberTime account, and no uploads to AmberTime servers. If you choose to include iCloud-only photos, iOS may first download their full-resolution originals from Apple/iCloud before AmberTime writes them to your drive.

The app is free to download and lets you back up your first 200 files free. The optional lifetime Pro unlock is a one-time $4.99 purchase. This page is the official version history for selected public AmberTime releases. To install or update, get AmberTime on the App Store.

Version 1.2.2

• Fixed backups stopping with a “Database is suspended” error after backgrounding. Database access resumes whenever you return to the app; a system-paused backup still requires a manual restart.
• Added recovery for a damaged local database: the unreadable file is archived and rebuilt so the app can open. Rebuilding does not restore the old completed-item history from the drive.
• Fixed task-form sheets and Settings on compatible Macs running the iPad app, and made the Mac backup folder name compatible with more drives.
• Improved the iPad task page, date picker, and translations when using the in-app language setting.

Version 1.2.1

• Fixed pending items remaining visible after a completed backup, especially in the iPad sidebar.
• Improved scan refresh reliability and consistency with the in-app language setting.

Version 1.2.0

AmberTime 1.2.0 makes the app a native iPad citizen and fixes a backup failure that could interrupt large video transfers.

• iPad support. AmberTime now runs natively on iPad with a sidebar and detail layout built for the larger screen: your backup tasks stay in the sidebar while task details, progress, and settings fill the space beside them. The same local-first engine and the same drive support carry over from iPhone.
• Fixed a false “drive disconnected” failure. Large videos could fail near the end of a backup with an incorrect “drive disconnected” message even though the drive was still attached and healthy. Those transfers now finish normally.
• More reliable restoring of the lifetime Pro unlock, including when the device is offline.

Version 1.1.3

AmberTime 1.1.3 improves stability during the limited background time granted by iOS. It does not provide unlimited background execution.

• Improved stability when a backup continues in the background.
• Improved stability when album information is updated.

Version 1.1.2

AmberTime 1.1.2 adds backup for selected custom albums, a folder layout without month subfolders, optional on-device reminders, and reliability improvements.

• Selected-album backup. Turn on Album Selection in Settings to back up only chosen custom albums from your Photo Library instead of the whole library — handy for a trip or project album.
• Backup reminder. An optional local notification nudges you when no backup has run within a period you choose (for example, weekly). Reminder scheduling stays on the device and does not require an AmberTime account or server.
• New folder layout option. For a new backup task, choose Together to skip YYYY-MM month subfolders and keep each media type in a single folder.
• More compact New Task and Settings screens for a faster backup flow.
• Reliability improvements for pause/resume and album backups.

Version 1.1.1

AmberTime 1.1.1 adds Polish language support and includes minor refinements.

• Added Polish language support.
• Minor optimizations and refinements.

Version 1.1.0

Date-range backup arrives, so you can archive your Photo Library in batches instead of all at once.

• Date-range Photo Library backup. Pick start and end dates to back up only the moments you care about — everything before a date, everything after a date, a single year, or a specific range. Each date-range task still stays incremental. See backing up by date range and archiving old photos to an external drive.
• Polished date picker, task cards, and task detail layout for a cleaner backup flow.
• Other UI refinements and stability improvements.

Version 1.0 — Initial release

The first public release of AmberTime: a private, local-first way to keep a second physical copy of your originals on a drive you control.

• Direct iPhone-to-USB backup. Back up photos and videos straight to a USB drive or external SSD — no Mac, no AmberTime account, and no cloud upload. See backing up to USB without a Mac.
• Photo Library and Files folders. Back up the whole Photo Library or any folder exposed through the iOS Files app, with separate incremental tasks for camera imports, downloads, and project folders.
• Incremental engine. After the first run, later backups compare the source against the drive and copy only what is new.
• Originals preserved. Live Photos are written as paired HEIC + MOV resources, and EXIF, GPS, and capture timestamps are kept where iOS exposes them. See backing up Live Photos.
• iCloud-only originals. When "Optimize iPhone Storage" leaves originals in iCloud, AmberTime fetches the full-resolution file from your own Apple iCloud first, then writes it locally. See backing up iCloud-only photos.
• APFS, exFAT, and FAT32 drives. Files stream in small chunks and are finalized with atomic .part writes, helping prevent an interrupted transfer from becoming an incomplete final file. See choosing a filesystem.
• Versions 1.0.1–1.0.3 followed with stability and reliability fixes.