Videflo Cloud is included with your subscription, and backup is automatic. Every recording you finish is copied to Videflo Cloud in the background, so a Tape survives a lost, broken or replaced phone and follows you to a new phone the moment you sign in.
It's a copy, never a replacement. The original file on your phone is never edited by a backup, and it stays there until you decide to remove it.
What gets backed up
- Every recording: the video itself, at the quality it was filmed, including videos you added from Photos.
- Everything that describes a Tape: its name, orientation, cover photo, and each recording's name, date and time.
- Not Collections or your settings. Those stay on the phone, and take a minute to recreate.
A Tape you create is protected the moment it exists, even before it has a recording, so an invitation to it always has somewhere to land.
When it happens
As soon as you tap Finish. There's nothing to tap and nothing to remember. Videflo uploads one recording at a time, keeps going while you use the app, and picks up where it left off after a relaunch, a reboot, or a dropped connection.
Protection starts when the upload finishes
Until a recording's upload completes, it exists on your phone alone. A long 4K recording on a slow connection takes a while, and the cloud mark on the Tape's card tells you where it's up to.
The cloud mark on a Tape's card
- Backing Up · 64%
- Uploading now. The percentage is real progress across the whole Tape.
- Backed Up
- Every recording in the Tape is safely in Videflo Cloud, and the files are on this phone too.
- In Videflo Cloud
- The Tape's files aren't on this phone. Either you removed them, or the Tape arrived from another phone. It plays by streaming.
- Waiting
- Videflo is holding off, usually for Wi-Fi when cellular is off, or for Low Power Mode to end. It carries on by itself.
- Needs Attention
- Something stopped it and it can't continue on its own, most often a full allowance. The card offers to retry once you've sorted it out.
The two switches
Both live in Settings → Videflo Cloud → Backup Settings, and both are on unless you turn them off.
- Back Up to Videflo Cloud
- The master switch. Off means new recordings stay on your phone only. Nothing is queued, retried or uploaded later. Anything already in Videflo Cloud stays there.
- Use Cellular Data
- Whether backups may run away from Wi-Fi. Off means Videflo waits for Wi-Fi rather than using your data allowance.
Off means off, for Shared Tapes too
With Back Up to Videflo Cloud off, a recording you add to a Shared Tape never reaches the other members. Videflo honours your setting rather than making an exception.
Remove from This iPhone, and Download to This iPhone
Once a Tape is fully backed up, you can free the space it uses on your phone. Press and hold it and choose Remove from This iPhone. Videflo checks that every recording really is in Videflo Cloud (it compares the files themselves, not just a note that says they uploaded) and only then removes them.
The Tape stays in your library and plays by streaming, with a connection. Download to This iPhone puts the files back whenever you want them for offline watching. Neither changes anything in Videflo Cloud.
Playing isn't downloading
Streaming a Tape doesn't quietly put its files back on your phone, and exporting it doesn't either. Only Download to This iPhone does, so a Tape you've removed stays removed until you say otherwise.
Tips
Leave both switches on. Backups on cellular are the difference between a memory being protected the same evening and it waiting a week for Wi-Fi.
Filming somewhere with no signal? Nothing is lost. Recordings queue on the phone and upload when you're back in range.
Keep a phone backup switched on as well. Videflo Cloud protects what has uploaded; an iCloud or computer backup covers the phone itself.
Common mistakes
Deleting the app to reinstall it, an hour after filming something important.
Check the Tape says Backed Up first. A recording that hasn't finished uploading exists only on that phone.
Turning off Back Up to Videflo Cloud to save data, then forgetting.
Turn off Use Cellular Data instead. Backups wait for Wi-Fi rather than never happening.
Troubleshooting
A Tape has said Backing Up for ages.
- Check you're online, and on Wi-Fi if Use Cellular Data is off.
- Switch off Low Power Mode; Videflo waits for it to end.
- Open Videflo and leave it on screen for a minute. Uploads continue in the background, but iOS gives them more room while the app is open.
- If the card says it needs attention, tap it. It will say why, and offer to retry.
Videflo Cloud says it's full.
- Open Settings → Videflo Cloud → Manage Storage. Free Up Space lists your largest Tapes; Storage Options offers a larger capacity.
- Nothing already backed up is at risk. Videflo pauses new uploads until there's room.
Remove from This iPhone isn't offered.
- The Tape isn't fully backed up yet. Wait for Backed Up.
- Check you're signed in. Videflo needs to confirm with Videflo Cloud before it removes anything.
Frequently asked
Does Videflo Cloud change my recordings?
No. It stores an exact copy of each file. Nothing is re-encoded, and the original on your phone is never touched.
Does backup drain the battery?
Uploading video takes power, as it does in any app. Videflo hands the work to iOS to run in the background and pauses in Low Power Mode. Plugging in after a big filming day helps.
Can I back up to iCloud instead?
Videflo Cloud is Videflo's own service and is part of the subscription. Separately, your phone's own iCloud or computer backup includes Videflo's data like any other app's, and that's worth keeping on too.
Related articles
How much space Tapes use, and how to free some up
Where the gigabytes go, on your phone and in Videflo Cloud, what's safe to remove, and what the warnings mean.
Moving to a new phone, reinstalling, and a lost phone
How your Tapes come back, from Videflo Cloud and from your phone's backup, and what to check before you wipe the old phone.
The subscription, storage capacities, and what's included
One monthly subscription with Videflo Cloud included, three storage sizes, and how billing works through the App Store.
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