Durability

Backup and recovery.

Use this guide to protect projects, restore data, repair missing images, and understand what is excluded from backup.

Backup

Use cloud backup or manual backup ZIP.

  • iOS uses the app iCloud Drive container when available.
  • Android can use Google Drive appDataFolder when configured.
  • Manual backup ZIP works across platforms and is readable by design.
  • Back up after meaningful changes: page import, edit, translation, source resolution, tags, summaries, or export-relevant edits.

Data

What backup includes and excludes

IncludedProjects, page images, OCR text, translations, source links, templates, summaries, tags, usage history, selected settings.
ExcludedAPI keys, provider tokens, Global Library session tokens, model files, Sefaria downloads, OCR data, optimized temp images, exports.

Health & Recovery

Use diagnostics when something feels wrong.

  • Database integrity checks detect corruption or migration problems.
  • Page image health checks missing, empty, undecodable, or mismatched images.
  • Sefaria health can rebuild FTS before resetting the local source database.
  • Emergency backup helps preserve user data before a risky repair.

Reset

Reset app is a last resort.

Reset clears local app state. Create a manual backup first unless you intentionally want to discard local projects and settings.