Watermelon Backup
Supports Backup to External Storage, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, S3-Compatible Buckets, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
Open Source on GitHub.
External Storage, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, S3-Compatible Buckets, OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive.
Backup, Download, or Complete by month.
Sync the Remote Index, Then Pause or Resume When Needed.
We believe privacy matters as much as ownership.
One-Time Purchase. No Subscription.
| Item | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | US$7.99 About 2 Coffees | |
| Foreground Backup | ✓ | ✓ |
| Node(s) | 1 | Unlimited |
| Automatic Background Backup | ✓ | |
| PiP Progress | ✓ | |
| Focus Mode | ✓ |
Watermelon Backup is open source, and you can compile the app directly in Xcode. The in-app purchase supports ongoing development, maintenance, and updates so the app can keep serving users well.
It does not renew. Pro is a one-time purchase and stays available for life. On a new device, use Restore Purchase to restore your entitlement.
A Node is a storage connection you add in the app. It can be External Storage, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, an S3-Compatible Bucket, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or a Watermelon Link session.
Credentials required by Nodes are stored in iOS Keychain and are not written to diagnostic logs. OneDrive tokens are managed by MSAL. For Dropbox and Google Drive, refresh tokens are stored in Keychain and short-lived access tokens stay in memory.
Backup writes original photos and videos from this device to the current Node; Download imports backed-up items from the Node into Photos where possible; Complete backs up first, then downloads: it sends local items missing on the Node, then tries to bring remote-only items back into Photos.
Watermelon Backup saves Live Photo resources as a still image and a paired video, then uses the Photos import path when restoring them. The result depends on the required resources being present.
Backup is based on original resources rather than preview exports. Capture time and embedded metadata such as EXIF are handled through those resources and the iOS Photos import path.
This can be normal and does not automatically mean photos or videos are missing. Watermelon Backup backs up by month and uses content hashes to detect duplicates. If the same original content appears more than once in a month, the remote backup may keep one actual file and the backup manifest records the related items. Remote file counts and storage usage can therefore be lower than local totals; small manifest/index files and each storage provider's accounting can also make the size display differ.
Yes. Turn on Allow iCloud Photo Access in the app settings so Watermelon Backup can fetch iCloud originals when needed.
Check the External Storage format and the access state in Files. See Apple Support for details.
Please email us. See Contact for contact details. If possible, include exported logs.
| Type | Local / external filesystem via iOS Files |
|---|---|
| Authentication | iOS security-scoped access |
| Works with | External drives and compatible Files providers |
| Capacity | Reads available / total capacity when exposed by the provider |
| Limit | Availability depends on iOS maintaining access to the selected volume or provider |
| Protocol | SMB 2 / SMB 3 |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Username + password |
| Domain | Optional domain / workgroup |
| Not supported | SMB1 |
| Protocol | WebDAV over HTTP / HTTPS |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Basic auth |
| HTTP | Supported (LAN only) |
| HTTPS | Supported |
| Methods used | PROPFIND, PUT, GET, DELETE, MKCOL, MOVE, COPY |
| Metadata | Best-effort modification-time update via PROPPATCH |
| Not supported | OAuth, Digest auth, client certificates |
| Protocol | SFTP over SSH |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Password or OpenSSH private key |
| Private keys | OpenSSH Ed25519 and RSA private keys |
| Passphrase | Supported |
| Host-key trust | SHA256 host-key fingerprint pinning |
| KEX | curve25519-sha256, [email protected], ecdh-sha2-nistp256, ecdh-sha2-nistp384, ecdh-sha2-nistp521 |
| Compatibility KEX retry | diffie-hellman-group14-sha1, diffie-hellman-group14-sha256 |
| Host keys | ssh-ed25519, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384, ecdsa-sha2-nistp521 |
| Compatibility host-key retry | ssh-rsa |
| Ciphers | [email protected], [email protected] |
| Compatibility cipher retry | aes128-ctr |
| Not supported | ECDSA private-key login, CBC-only servers, 3DES-only servers, diffie-hellman-group1-only servers |
| Protocol | S3-compatible API |
|---|---|
| Signing | AWS Signature Version 4 |
| Authentication | Access Key ID + Secret Access Key |
| Endpoint | Custom HTTP / HTTPS endpoint |
| HTTP | Supported (LAN only) |
| HTTPS | Supported |
| Bucket addressing | Path-style and virtual-hosted-style |
| Region | Manual input, with inference for common providers |
| Listing | ListObjectsV2 |
| Upload | Single-part upload and multipart upload |
| Copy | Server-side copy and multipart copy |
| Protocol | Microsoft Graph API |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Sign in with Microsoft (MSAL) |
| Account Type | OneDrive Personal |
| Permission Scope | Files.ReadWrite.AppFolder |
| App Folder | Backups are stored in the Watermelon Backup app folder, shown in the app as /Apps/Watermelon Backup; files outside it are not accessible. |
| Listing | Microsoft Graph children listing with pagination |
| Upload | Direct upload under 10 MiB and resumable upload sessions |
| Token Handling | Account identity is stored in Keychain; access and refresh tokens are managed by MSAL. |
| Not supported | OneDrive for Business, SharePoint-backed drives |
| Limit | Availability depends on Microsoft account state, quota, throttling, and network connectivity. |
| Protocol | Dropbox API v2 |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Sign in to Dropbox with OAuth 2.0 PKCE |
| Account Type | Dropbox account with app-folder access |
| Permission Scopes | account_info.read, files.metadata.read, files.content.read, files.content.write |
| App Folder | Backups are stored in the Watermelon Backup app folder, shown in the app as /Apps/Watermelon Backup; files outside it are not accessible. |
| Listing | Dropbox list_folder with cursor pagination |
| Upload | Direct upload up to 64 MiB and sequential upload sessions with 8 MiB chunks |
| Download | Dropbox content download API |
| Metadata | Uses Dropbox content_hash for remote file verification |
| Token Handling | Refresh token is stored in Keychain; saved account ID is used for account verification; short-lived access tokens stay in memory. |
| Limit | Availability depends on Dropbox authorization, quota, rate limits, account state, and network connectivity. |
| Protocol | Google Drive API v3 |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Sign in with Google using OAuth 2.0 PKCE |
| Account Type | Google account with Google Drive enabled |
| OAuth Client | User-created iOS OAuth client ID for com.zizicici.watermelon; reuse it with the same Google account to reconnect to the same repository. |
| Permission Scopes | openid, email / https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file, https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.appdata |
| App Folder | Backups are stored in Watermelon Backup in My Drive; visible access is limited to files created by the user's OAuth app. |
| Lock Data | Hidden lock-control records are stored in Drive App Data. |
| Listing | Google Drive files.list with nextPageToken pagination |
| Upload | Multipart upload up to 5 MiB and resumable upload with 8 MiB chunks |
| Download | Google Drive media download with alt=media |
| Metadata | Uses md5Checksum and modifiedTime metadata |
| Token Handling | Refresh token is stored in Keychain; saved account subject verifies the account; short-lived access tokens stay in memory. |
| Not supported | Whole-Drive access, service accounts, API keys, client secrets, App Check enforcement |
| Limit | Availability depends on the user's Google Cloud OAuth setup, Drive API, OAuth publishing status, quota, rate limits, account state, and network connectivity. |
| Firebase Analytics Without Ad ID Support | App health analytics without IDFA |
|---|---|
| Firebase Crashlytics | Crash reports and reliability diagnostics |
| Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) | Microsoft account sign-in and token cache for OneDrive |
| AMSMB2 (fork) | SMB connection, share browsing, and SMB file operations |
| Citadel (fork) | SFTP over SSH, host-key fingerprint handling, and SFTP file operations |
| WebRTC (fork) | Browser Link peer connection and data-channel transfer |
| GRDB | Local SQLite database for backup indexes, manifests, and cache validation |
| Kingfisher | Image loading and local UI cache for the photo interface |
| SnapKit | Interface layout |
| MarqueeLabel | Scrolling text labels |