Backups
Keep copies of your games and saves in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or on your own server, and restore them on any device.
Empo can copy your games and saves to a backup location. If you lose your device, or a save goes wrong, you can restore the game from a backup, on this device or on another one.
Open Settings → Backups to set up backups. To see the backups of one game, touch and hold the game, tap Settings, then tap Backup. On a Mac, right-click the game where this page says touch and hold.
Add a location
Open Settings → Backups and tap Add a location.
| Location | What you need |
|---|---|
| iCloud Drive | iCloud Drive turned on for Empo. Free. See the note below. |
| Dropbox | A Dropbox account and Empo Plus. |
| Google Drive | A Google account and Empo Plus. |
| S3 storage | The address, the bucket, and an access key, and Empo Plus. For example Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, or MinIO. |
| WebDAV server | The address, a user name, and a password, and Empo Plus. For example Nextcloud, ownCloud, Synology, or Koofr. |
If your WebDAV server uses two-step sign-in, make an app password for Empo.
iCloud Drive needs the iCloud permission that Empo is signed with. A sideloading tool can remove this permission when it signs Empo. Then Add a location shows iCloud Drive with Not available in this version of Empo. Use one of the other locations, or an export.
What Empo backs up
Each game has one of two modes:
- The whole game backs up the game files, the saves, and the game’s settings and control layout. You can put the game back as it is now, on any device.
- Saves and settings only backs up the saves, and the game’s settings and control layout.
Empo also backs up your app settings and your layout profiles, apart from the games. You restore them separately. See Restore your app settings.
Empo backs up the whole game when the game is smaller than 750 MB. Automatic backups skip a larger game until you choose a mode for it. To choose, do one of these:
- Open Settings → Backups and tap Back up now. Empo asks about each larger game. If you tap Skip, Empo asks again the next time you tap Back up now.
- Touch and hold the game, tap Settings, tap Backup, then tap What gets backed up.
When backups run
Empo backs up the games that changed:
- When you stop playing a game.
- When Empo goes to the background.
- 30 seconds after you open Empo.
- At night, when the device charges, if iOS gives Empo the time.
To start a backup yourself, tap Back up now.
Empo does not back up while a game runs, while a restore runs, or while the device is too warm. Low Power Mode also stops backups, but Back up now still works.
By default, Empo backs up only on Wi-Fi. To also use cellular data, turn on Use cellular data. Low Data Mode always stops backups.
If a game has no backup for 7 days, its library card shows a warning. After 3 weeks, the library shows a banner with the cause and a button to fix it. To get a notification when a backup stops, tap Turn on notifications.
Old backups
Keep old backups sets how many backups Empo keeps for each game:
| Setting | Keeps |
|---|---|
| Less | The last 5 backups, one a day for 3 days, and one a week for 2 weeks. |
| Standard | The last 10 backups, one a day for 7 days, and one a week for 4 weeks. |
| More | The last 20 backups, one a day for 14 days, and one a week for 8 weeks. |
Empo deletes the older backups during the next backup. Each location can also have a Storage limit. At the limit, Empo stops adding backups to that location.
To stop backups to one location for a time, open the location and turn on Pause backups.
Restore a game
- Close the game.
- Touch and hold the game, tap Settings, then tap Backup.
- Tap Restore from backup, and pick a backup.
- Pick Saves and settings or The whole game, and confirm.
A restore does not delete your current saves. The save from the backup takes the file name, and
Empo renames your current file with a .empo-displaced.bak suffix. The Backup sheet lists these
files under Left over from a restore, where you can delete them.
Restoring stays free. If your Empo Plus membership ends, backups to Dropbox, Google Drive, S3 storage, and WebDAV servers stop, but you can still restore from them.
Restore on a new device
- Install Empo. Do not import games yet.
- Open Settings → Backups, tap Add a location, and add the location that holds your backups.
- Empo shows Restore your backups, with each game that it found. Tap Restore.
Empo shows Restore your backups only when you add your first location and the library has no games. A game backed up with Saves and settings only shows saves only. The backup does not hold the game files, so import the game first, then restore its saves.
To put a backup from another device into a game that you already imported, open Settings → Backups, tap the location, and tap Devices. Pick the device, the game, and the backup. If Empo finds the same game in your library, tap Restore. If it does not, tap Restore into a different game… and pick the game.
Restore your app settings
Open Settings → Backups, tap the location, tap Devices, pick the device, and tap Settings. Then pick a backup. Empo keeps one undo for 7 days: tap Undo the last settings restore.
Export and import
An export is a ZIP file that you keep in the Files app. It does not need a backup location.
- To export one game, open its Backup sheet and tap Export backup.
- To export all games, open Settings → Backups and tap Export all saves.
- To import, tap Import a backup and pick the ZIP file. You can also open the ZIP file in Files and tap Open in Empo.
Sync settings
Sync settings with another device keeps your app settings, your controller buttons, and your on-screen control layouts the same on your devices. It does not copy your saves. Both devices need one backup location that they can both open. Settings sync when Empo opens.