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Background sync ​

Ente Photos supports seamless background sync so that you don't need to open the app to backup your photos. It will sync in the background and automatically backup the albums that you have selected for syncing.

Day to day sync will work automatically. However, there are some platform specific considerations that apply, more on these below:

iOS ​

On iOS, if you have a very large number of photos and videos, then you might need to keep Ente running in the foreground for the first backup to happen (since we get only a limited amount of background execution time). To help with this, under "Settings > Backup" there is an option to disable the automatic device screen lock. But once your initial backup has completed, subsequent backups will work fine in the background and don't need disabling the screen lock.

On iOS, Ente will not backup videos in the background (since videos are usually much larger and need more time to upload than what we get). However, they will get backed up the next time the Ente app is opened.

Note that the Ente app will not be able to backup in the background if you force kill the app.

If you're curious, the way this works is, our servers "tickle" your device every once in a while by sending a silent push notification, which wakes up our app and gives it 30 seconds to execute a background sync. However, if you have killed the app from recents, iOS will not deliver the push to the app, breaking the background sync.

Android ​

On some Android versions, newly downloaded apps activate a mode called "Optimize battery usage" which prevents them from running in the background. So you will need to disable this "Optimize battery usage" mode in the system settings for Ente if you wish for Ente to automatically back up your photos in the background.

Desktop ​

In addition to our mobile apps, the background sync also works on our desktop app, though the way that works is a bit different.

Troubleshooting ​

  • On iOS, make sure that you're not killing the Ente app.
  • On Android, make sure that "Optimize battery usage" is not turned on in system settings for the Ente app.