Data appears lost after deleting Arc apps while trying to get Arc Timeline 4 to recognize my subscription

Arc App Support
1

Hello,

I’m opening a support request because I seem to have lost access to all my Arc data after trying to move to the new app.

Device / environment

  • iPhone 15 Pro

  • iOS 26.4.1

  • Same Apple ID throughout

Apps that were installed before the issue

  • Arc Timeline

  • Arc Recorder

  • Arc Timeline 4 final version (the one available on the App Store)

What happened
I was blocked in the new app on the last onboarding screen. When I tapped the “Continue” button, nothing happened.

After that, I found a support post suggesting that uninstalling and reinstalling the old app could help the new app detect that I already had a subscription. Because of that, I deleted all Arc apps at the same time. And then re-install Arc Timeline 4 first, and then the others.

Before doing that, I had already enabled iCloud Drive backups in Arc since many months.

Current situation
Now I no longer see any of my previous data in either the old app or the new app. Both appear empty.

What I currently see in iCloud Drive
I have two top-level folders:

  • Arc App

  • Arc Timeline

Inside Arc Timeline I have:

  • Backup

Inside Arc App I have:

  • Backups

  • Export

  • Previous Backup 328ED865

  • Import

Some of these folders appear to have been modified recently, which makes me think the data may still exist somewhere and that this could be a restore/import problem rather than a full deletion.

What I already tried
In the new app, I tried using the import function and selected both main backup folders.
Each time, I got a loading/progress screen, but when the visual loading finished, nothing was restored and no data appeared.

Important point
At this stage, there is no visible historical data anymore in either the old or the new app.

What I need help with

  • Are my data likely still recoverable from the existing iCloud folders?

  • Which exact folder should be used for restoration in Arc Timeline 4?

  • Is there a known issue where the app shows a loading screen during import/restore but restores nothing?

  • What is the safest next step from here, without risking overwriting or losing the remaining backup files?

I can provide screenshots of:

  • the iCloud Drive folder structure

  • the empty state in the apps

  • the folder contents if needed

Thank you.

2

Hi @felixchvl! Let’s work through this one in steps. I’m sure we can get things back to a sane state for you.

Though first up:

Eek! That was definitely not intended.

I’ll hunt out on the forum where that might’ve been said and correct it. Though I do recall there was one user who had deleted the old app already, so my advice was to reinstall it because it’s needed for the subscription carry over. But my wording might’ve been a bit careless there. My bad :disappointed_face:

Anyway, let’s get to fixing the problem!

Yes! Almost certainly.

Though unfortunately you’re going to have to first restore into the old app. The new app doesn’t support the old app’s backups format, only its own. So you can restore old app backups into old app, and new app backups into new app.

What you’ll want to do is:

  1. First find the old app’s most recent complete backup. That’s almost certainly the 328ED865 one.
  2. Copy that folder into the Import folder (iCloud Drive → Arc App → Import).
  3. Open up the old app, go into Settings → Backup, Import & Export → File Importer. Wait for it to load the files lists.
  4. Tap “Import all” for the Samples Files.
  5. That stage will take a while. And by a while I mean probably hours. But once it’s done, do the same for the Notes Files section, to get all your notes back in.
  6. The notes will import lightning fast. After that you can optionally do the same Import All for the Day Summary files. Those literally only contain whether you tapped Favourite on a day, so they’re very optional. But will import lightning fast, so no harm in it.
  7. Note: Ignore the Place Files and Timeline Item Files. Those are auto imported as needed by the Sample files.

Once that’s all done you’ll have all your data restored back into the old app. Then we can move on to migrating it into the new app.

In the new app that’s done during the onboarding, which you might still be up to? Or if the onboarding view has already disappeared, you can still get to it manually. In the new app’s Settings → Backup & Restore → Import from Arc Timeline.

That migration option will handle the whole thing for you - no more taps required. The new app’s backup and restore systems are thankfully much less hands on than the old!

Anyway, definitely let me know how you get on along the way! The restore back into the old app will be the longest and most painful part. If that gives you any troubles, I’m here to help.

The migration into the new app is nearly bulletproof, so that part’s easy. Though it does also take a while (we’re talking many gigabytes of data, for many people’s timelines). Could be anything from 30 minutes to a couple of hours maybe. While the restore into the old app I’d put at more like several hours, and unpleasant ones at that :grimacing:

3

Oh one more note: For the Previous Backups folder, once you’ve put it in the Import folder, go into Files app on the phone, long press on it, and choose “Download now” or even “Keep downloaded”.

iOS is much more happy to download the files quickly if asked by Apple’s own Files app. If Arc is asking for the files to be synced to local it’s mysteriously much slower and more painful. So it’s best to make sure all the files are local, ready for import, before starting the process in the app.