Backups and moving between devices
Make a .silo archive, restore it, and move your whole library between your phone and your computer.
On this page
A backup is a single .silo file. The same file restores on either platform, so a backup from your phone opens on your desktop and the other way round.
Making a backup
- 1Open Settings ▸ Data & Backup on the desktop, or Settings ▸ Data Management on the phone.
- 2Press Backup now (desktop) or Create Backup (phone).
- 3Choose the type: Full includes your media files, Notes only is much smaller and carries just the text.
- 4The archive is written into the app's own backup folder and appears in the Stored backups list.
The desktop can also back up on a schedule, keeping the most recent copies. Switch on Backup automatically on the same screen.
Protecting backups with a password
Under Settings, Data & Backup, Backup protection you can set a backup password. It is off by default, and that is fine for many people: an unprotected .silo file can be opened by anyone who has it, and there is no key to lose. With protection on, every new backup is encrypted, and so are the copies sync writes into your shared folder.
- The password is only needed to open a backup on a device that did not make it. It never locks the app itself, and this device opens its own backups without asking.
- When you turn it on you are shown a recovery key once. Write it down or put it in a password manager: it is the only way into your backups if you forget the password.
- Nobody can recover the password for you, not even SILO Apps. Lose both the password and the recovery key and every backup made with them is permanently unreadable.
- Sync between devices needs the password set on both devices first; see Sync between devices.
- Turning protection off is allowed, with a warning: from then on new backups, and the synced copies, are written unencrypted.
Restoring
- 1Pick a backup from Stored backups and press its restore button, or use Restore from file… to choose one from disk.
- 2Read the preview. It tells you the date, the number of notes, whether it is full or notes-only, and which app version wrote it.
- 3Choose Merge into current to add and update, or Replace everything to make your library exactly match the archive.
- 4Confirm. A safety snapshot of your current library is taken first, and if that snapshot cannot be written the restore stops rather than going ahead.
Moving from your phone to your computer
- 1On the phone: Settings ▸ Data Management ▸ Create Backup, choose Full if you want your images and recordings to come across.
- 2Share the resulting
.silofile to your computer however you prefer. - 3On the desktop: Settings ▸ Data & Backup ▸ Restore from file…, pick the file.
- 4Choose Replace everything on a fresh install, or Merge into current if the desktop already has notes you want to keep.
What is inside a .silo file
It is an ordinary zip. You can open one with any unzip tool and read your notes as JSON, which is the point: your writing is never locked in.
| Entry | Contents |
|---|---|
manifest.json | Version, date, platform, mode, counts, and a SHA-256 checksum for each data file. |
data/notes.json | Every note, with its blocks. |
data/silos.json | Your SILOs. |
data/highlights.json | Reader highlights. |
data/book_chapters.json | Imported library chapters. |
data/preferences.json | Settings and templates, with API keys stripped out. |
assets/… | Your media files. Full backups only. |
Exporting single notes
For one note rather than the lot, use Export… in the note header. Markdown, plain text, RTF and PDF are all available.
Coming from another app
The phone has Import from other apps on the Data screen. It reads Markdown exports from Obsidian, Notion and Bear, either as a zip or a single file, and Google Keep via Google Takeout.