Backup and restore

What it is

Dive Kit stores everything on your device and nothing on a server. That keeps the app fast and private, and it means there is no account to log in to on a new phone. Backup is how you move your data anyway.

A backup is a single file. Saving one writes your settings, profile, certifications, gear, saved deco plans and checklists into that file and hands it to the normal iOS or Android share sheet, so you can put it in Files, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or send it to yourself. Restoring reads that file back and replaces what is on the device.

This is a snapshot, not sync. The two devices never talk to each other, and a backup only holds what you had at the moment it was saved. Save a fresh one when something changes that you would hate to lose.

You can also let Dive Kit keep that snapshot current for you, in a cloud you already have: iCloud Drive on an iPhone or iPad, Google Drive on either. It still is not sync, and the other device still only gets the data when you restore. See Automatic cloud backup below.

You find it in Manage → Settings → Backup. The top of the screen says when your data was last backed up: Cloud backup shows when the cloud copy was last written (the time today, otherwise the date), or Off, with a short note under it that turns amber when something is stopping the backup. Backup file shows the date you last saved a file yourself, or None. Below that are the automatic cloud backup, the backup file actions, and the lists of what is and is not included.

Save a backup

The date of your last saved backup shows under the button, so you can see at a glance how stale it is.

Your profile photo travels inside the file. Above about 8 MB the app tells you the size and asks whether to continue. Above 25 MB it refuses, because a file that large is unreliable to pass through the share sheet.

Restore a backup

Restoring is how you set up a new phone, or recover after a reinstall.

If something goes wrong partway through, Dive Kit puts the device back the way it was and tells you nothing was changed. It saves a copy of your current data before it starts, precisely so that it can. In the rare case where putting it back also fails, the app offers to restore that saved copy for you, so you never have to go looking for a file.

The same offer appears if a restore is cut short for a reason the app cannot report at the time, such as the phone shutting Dive Kit down mid-restore to free memory. Open Settings then Backup, and a warning at the top of the screen says a restore did not finish, with a “Put my data back” button that restores the copy saved before it started.

Restoring never changes whether automatic cloud backup is on for the device you are restoring onto, or which cloud it uses. It does not switch it on because the backup came from a device that had it on, and it does not switch it off either. That stays a per-device choice, because two devices backing up to the same place overwrite each other.

Automatic cloud backup

Dive Kit can keep a backup up to date for you, in cloud storage you already have. Open Manage → Settings → Backup and switch on Back up automatically. The first backup is written straight away, so you can watch the “Last backed up” line change and know it worked.

On an iPhone or iPad you choose between iCloud and Google Drive with the two chips under the switch. On Android it is Google Drive. Dive Kit uses one of them at a time, on this device: there is one backup slot, and pointing two devices at it means whichever saved last is the one you would restore.

After that it looks after itself. When you change something, Dive Kit waits a minute in case you are still working, then writes a fresh backup. It writes at most once every 15 minutes, and it writes when you leave the app. If that write cannot finish, because your phone cut the app off or you were out of signal, Dive Kit remembers that the change is still waiting and picks it up the next time you open the app, so closing the app does not lose your last edit. If what it would write is identical to what is already there, it leaves it alone rather than spending your data on an upload that changes nothing.

The line under the switch

That line tells you where the backup stands, so you are never guessing:

It says	What is going on
Backing up	A backup is being written right now
Waiting to back up (n min)	You changed something and the next backup is due in about that long
Last backup, with the date and time	Nothing to do. That is when the cloud copy was written
Off, last backup with the date and time	Automatic backup is switched off. The time is when the cloud copy was last written, not a backup that is still running
Last backup attempt failed	Something went wrong, often no signal, and Retry is under it. Dive Kit also tries again when you come back to the app
Signed out of Google	Nothing is being backed up. Sign in with Google is under it
Backup too large	Your backup is over the 25 MB limit and will not upload until it is smaller
Paused, a backup from another device	The backup in the cloud was not written by this phone or tablet. Resolve asks what you want to do. See Two devices

Back up now

Back up now, under the line, writes a backup immediately, instead of waiting for the minute and the 15-minute gap. Use it before you hand the phone in for a repair, before a trip, or any time you would rather see it done than trust that it will be. It does the same thing an automatic backup does, and it tells you if it could not.

If a backup fails several times in a row, Dive Kit stops trying until you come back to the app or press Retry, so a day without signal does not stop your backups for good. A backup grown too large to upload stays stopped, and the line says so.

Two devices

There is one backup per cloud account. If you use Dive Kit on a phone and a tablet with the same iCloud or Google account, they share that one backup, and there is no merging: whichever saved last is the one you would restore.

Dive Kit keeps track of the backup it last wrote from this device. When it finds the backup in the cloud is newer than that, another device wrote it, and this device stops backing up rather than saving over it. Next time you open the app it asks:

• Restore puts that backup on this device, so you carry on where the other device left off. It replaces what is on this device, with the same confirmation as any other restore.
• Keep mine says this device’s data is the one you want. It replaces the other device’s backup straight away.
• Not now decides nothing. Automatic backups from this device stay paused, and the line under the switch says so, with a Resolve button you can use at any time. Dive Kit asks again a day later, the next time you open the app, so a pause does not go unnoticed.

It does not ask every time you open the app, and never in the middle of a restore. The question uses the times the two backups were written and compares the file’s contents with what this device last uploaded; Dive Kit does not track your devices.

The tidy habit, if you use two devices, is to work on one at a time: finish on the phone, let it back up, then open the tablet and take the Restore it offers.

Each backup replaces the one before it, whichever cloud you use, so there is one current backup rather than a history. If you want a copy kept aside, save a backup file by hand and put it somewhere else.

Back up to iCloud

On an iPhone or iPad, pick the iCloud chip. Dive Kit keeps one file, divekit-backup.json, in your own iCloud Drive, and you can see it in the Files app under iCloud Drive → Dive Kit.

Dive Kit also offers iCloud backup during first-run setup, on the Back up to iCloud screen just before the safety disclaimer. If you already have a Dive Kit backup in iCloud, that screen finds it and offers to restore it, naming the day it was saved. Setting up a new iPhone or iPad is the easiest time to take that offer, because there is nothing on the device yet to replace.

To bring that backup onto another iPhone or iPad, sign in to the same iCloud account, open the Backup screen and tap Restore from iCloud. It asks the same question and does the same thing as restoring from a file.

If Dive Kit says iCloud Drive is unavailable, almost always iCloud Drive itself is switched off or this device is signed out of iCloud. Dive Kit cannot tell the two apart, so it names both. Open the Settings app, tap your name at the top, then iCloud, then iCloud Drive, and make sure Dive Kit is allowed in the list of apps. The Open Settings button in Dive Kit takes you to Dive Kit’s own page in Settings, which is as deep as iOS lets an app send you, so go back to the top level from there. Come back to the Backup screen afterwards and Dive Kit re-checks on its own. You do not need to leave the screen and open it again.

Back up to Google Drive

Google Drive works on Android and on iPhone and iPad. Pick the Google Drive chip, turn on Back up automatically, and choose the account you want the backup to live in. The Backup screen then shows which account is signed in, so you can check it at a glance. Signing out stops automatic backup and leaves the backup in your Drive. If you then sign in to a different account that already holds a backup, Dive Kit asks before it saves over that one.

Dive Kit asks for one permission: to create and manage the files it makes in your Drive. It cannot see anything else you keep there.

The backup is one file, divekit-backup.json, inside a Dive Kit folder that the app creates the first time it saves. It is an ordinary Drive file, so you can open the Drive app and see it, download it, or copy it somewhere else.

To bring that backup onto another phone, sign in to the same Google account on that phone, open the Backup screen and tap Restore from Google Drive. It asks the same question and does the same thing as restoring from a file.

Sign out of Google disconnects the account from Dive Kit. If Google Drive was your automatic backup, it is switched off at the same time, because a backup that says it is on while saving nowhere is worse than one you know is off. The file already in Drive is left where it is.

If Dive Kit says Google Drive is unavailable, sign in again: the usual cause is a signed-out account or an expired sign-in. On Android, Google Play services also has to be installed and up to date. The message names what Google itself said, so there is something to act on rather than a blank refusal. Come back to the Backup screen afterwards and Dive Kit re-checks on its own.

If a backup fails for any other reason, nothing is lost: the change stays queued and Dive Kit tries again after your next edit.

What is in the file

Included	Notes
Settings and units	Every preference, including your deco planner defaults
Profile	Details and your profile photo
Certifications	Every card, its details and its front and back photos
Gear	Gear items and their servicing history
Saved deco plans	Including your saved gas presets
Checklists	Your checklists and how far through them you are

Not included	Why
Your subscription	It belongs to your App Store or Google Play account, not to the app. On the new device, use Restore purchases on the Subscription screen.

Why a file and not cloud sync

Real sync means an account, a server, and rules for what happens when you edit the same plan on two devices. Dive Kit has none of those by design, and adding them would change what the app is. A file you control does the job that actually hurts today: a lost phone, a broken phone, a reinstall, or moving to a new one.

The tradeoff is that a backup is only as current as the last time you saved one, and that keeping two devices in step means saving on one and restoring on the other, which wipes what was on it. Backup is for moving and recovering, not for working on an iPhone and an iPad at the same time.

Automatic cloud backup removes the “remember to save one” part of that. It does not remove the rest: it is still one backup, and the other device still only sees it when you restore.

When a file is refused

Dive Kit would rather refuse a file than half-restore your device, so it checks before it writes.

What it says	What happened
That is not a Dive Kit backup file	You picked something else, or a file that was never a backup
The file is damaged, or it is not a backup file	The text could not be read as a backup
Made by a newer version of Dive Kit	The backup came from a newer app than the one you are holding, so it may hold data this one does not understand. Update this device, then try again.
Incomplete or changed after it was saved	The file was truncated in transfer, or edited. Save a fresh backup on the original device and use that one.

A backup from an older version of Dive Kit is fine. The app updates it as it restores, the same way it updates your data when you install an app update.

Good habits

• Save a backup after adding certifications or changing your profile, and before switching phones.
• Keep the file somewhere that itself gets backed up, such as iCloud Drive or Dropbox, rather than only in the device’s local Files.
• Keep the last two, not just the newest. A backup you have never tested is a guess, and the second-newest is what saves you if the newest turns out to be missing something.
• Delete old backups you no longer need. They hold your personal details in plain text.