Hi, I’ve installed Arc 4 and I’m loving it. Thank you. My question is, now that I’ve installed it, could I delete the old Arc? I’m just asking because I don’t know what will happen to the data. Thank you
1 Like
Hi @devilicious — glad you’re enjoying it!
Short version: yes, you can delete the old Arc — but do one quick check first.
When you installed Arc 4, it imported your data directly from the old app into its own separate database, so Arc 4 has its own independent copy now — it doesn’t rely on the old app staying installed. Deleting the old Arc removes its copy, not Arc 4’s.
The one thing worth doing before you delete: scroll back through some past dates in Arc 4 — including your oldest data — and confirm everything came across and looks right. The old app is your only other copy until you’ve confirmed Arc 4 has the full picture, so it’s worth a quick look first. Once it looks complete, you’re safe to remove the old one.
No rush either way — running both side by side costs almost nothing in battery, so there’s no harm leaving the old app installed until you’re confident.
Hi Claude,
Just checking: as far as i understand it, deleting Arc (3) currently won’t delete its database, since it is stored in the App Group storage?
1 Like
Hi Palmin — yes, exactly right.
Deleting Arc Timeline (the old app) is safe for your data — Arc 4 imported everything into its own separate database, so nothing’s lost. But the storage is a different matter: the old database lives in a shared container (an App Group) that several Arc apps point at, and iOS only clears that container once all the apps referencing it are gone. So as long as Arc 4 is installed, deleting the old app leaves that old database — and its disk usage — sitting there.
To be clear for anyone reading: deleting the old app won’t cost you any data, but if reclaiming the space is the goal, that alone won’t do it yet.
The good news: Arc 4 can clear out that old database itself (it has access to the shared container) — it just needs to do it carefully, only once the import’s confirmed complete and the old app isn’t still recording, with a clear confirmation step. That’s tracked as BIG-321, and we’ve just bumped its priority, so a proper in-app cleanup is on the way.
1 Like
What if it seems that the oldest data hasn’t improved from old Arc Timeline into new Arc Timeline 4? I’ve had both on my phone for a long time, so there should be enough time for a full migration.
Hi @cschick — just to make sure I’m reading you right: you’ve scrolled back in Arc Timeline 4, and your oldest data from the old app isn’t there? (I’m guessing “improved” was autocorrect for “imported” — if I’ve misread, let me know!)
If so, one thing worth clearing up first: the migration is a one-time import, not an ongoing background process. Everything happens during that initial import when Arc Timeline 4 first brings your data across — having both apps installed together for a long time doesn’t gradually move more data over. So if the import didn’t fully complete at the time, the missing part stays missing until the import is resumed.
The good news is Arc Timeline 4 can usually detect an incomplete import. Two things to check:
- In Arc Timeline 4’s Settings, do you see a “Migrate from Arc Timeline 3” option? If it’s there, tap it — that resumes the import and brings across what’s missing.
- What’s the oldest date with data in Arc Timeline 4, and the oldest in the old Arc Timeline? That tells us how much is missing.
If the Migrate option isn’t showing, let us know those two dates and we’ll dig further.
In settings, there is no “Migrate from Arc Timeline 3”
The oldest in Arc Timeline 4 is 25 Jul 2018. While oldest in 27 June 2014 (I was a Moves.app user - and I know that went back to 2013 (maybe 29 Jan 2013?) from the data I still have).
I’ve tried to keep Recorder mostly up since I installed Timeline 4. Arc Recorder (old one) is unlikely to have been on this whole time. Indeed, there are some blank days, suggesting those two have not really been recording.
Suggestions on how to deconvolute this without data loss?
Wondering if there are some imports I could re-do is Timeline 4 can deal with duplicates or can back fill days it doesn’t have. 
Or we call bankruptcy and just move forward with what we have. Haha.
@cschick Good news on the big question first: no bankruptcy needed. The migration can be safely re-run, and it’s built to only bring across what’s missing. It skips everything already imported (no duplicates), and it never touches anything Arc Timeline 4 has recorded itself, so there’s nothing to lose by re-running it. What happened here looks like the original import didn’t fully complete, even though the app believes it did, which is also why the Migrate option isn’t showing: the app thinks the job is done.
That’s the catch: because the option hides itself, there’s currently no button for you to press. We’ve filed that (BIG-629) and it’s slated for an upcoming update, which will bring the Migrate option back for exactly your situation.
In the meantime, one important check: open the old Arc Timeline and scroll back into 2014-2016, and confirm you can see real visits and trips there (rather than blank days). If the old app still shows that data, the re-run will be able to bring it across. If those years are blank in the old app too, then the data isn’t in its database anymore and a re-import wouldn’t help, so let us know what you find either way.
And don’t worry about the recent blank days from Recorder not always running. The re-import only targets the old missing years, so the recent patchiness doesn’t affect this recovery at all.
Good to know. I’ll be patient.
And, yes, 27 Jun 2014 shows locations and images in Arc Old (old one).
Not sure what happened with the stuff from earlier that should have been part of Moves.app import.
I don’t remember when I started with Arc App, but it was a few months (maybe even 6? Feb 2019?) after the demise of Moves.app. The web says Moves.app closed end of July 2018. And looking at the JSON I have, 30july18 is indeed the last day I collected.
Oddly, 25 July 2018 is the start of Arc 4 (new). So everything before that would be from Moves and didn’t import into Arc 4 from Arc old.
While you update to reveal the import button, I don’t necessarily need to keep Arc old running, right? Or even Arc Recorder? But don’t delete them to that we keep the data for the eventual re-import?
@cschick Right on both counts: they don’t need to be running. Neither the old Arc Timeline nor Arc Recorder contributes anything to the recovery by being active, so feel free to leave them dormant. Just don’t delete them until this is all resolved, so the old data stays safely in place for the re-import.
And that’s useful detective work on the dates. Whatever caused the original import to miss those years, the important part is that the old app still displays them fine, which means the data is there to be read. That’s exactly the situation the coming update is built for: it re-reads whatever the old app’s database still holds and brings across only what’s missing.
We’ll post here when the update with the restored Migrate option ships, so you don’t need to watch for it.
Super. Thanks.
Looking forward to the new update.
1 Like