Change, Forget and Clear backend

Three ways to part with a backend, each confirmed first, each applying to every phone, none taking a photo out of your index.

An index has one backend at a time, shared by every phone on that index. Three buttons on the Photo backup screen part with it, each in its own way, and each asks you first. What differs is what happens to the files in the old backend.

01 · The three buttons
Change backend

Opens the form for a new backend. Test it, tap Save and start backup, and the app asks once more: The new backend starts empty and is filled from the files on this phone. The old one is left as it is, with every file in it. Nothing is copied from the old one and nothing in it is removed. Photos this phone holds only as 720p copies keep their place in your index; their full files stay in the old backend, where any tool can still reach them. Your other phones switch to the new backend at their next run.

Forget backend

Your Opensolr account forgets the backend, after a confirmation. It applies to every phone on the index: each one forgets it at its next run. Nothing in your storage is touched, and no file on any phone is deleted: the photos, clips and PDFs on the phones stay exactly where they are. A new phone will not find a backend until you set one again.

Clear backend

Removes every file the app wrote for this index in your storage, the index's whole folder, then forgets the backend, for every phone. You confirm by typing the backend's name, and the button reads Remove everything. When photos exist only in this backend, the dialog says how many: their full files are gone for good, and only their 720p copies remain on the phone. It cannot be undone.

02 · Before you change or clear

When some photos are on this phone only as 720p copies, the screen shows Download all originals. Tap it first if you want those full files on the phone before the backend goes. See Download all originals.

03 · What stays the same
  • Your index. None of the three takes a photo out of it; every photo keeps its words, people, tags and places.
  • The files on every phone, and the 720p copies.
  • The backup settings: mobile data and quality are kept for the next backend.

Backup and restore

Opensolr Photos is open source and MIT licensed. Questions about your Opensolr account, index or plan go to opensolr.com/contact; questions about the app itself belong on GitHub.

Opensolr Photos Documentation