Frequently asked questions

urVault is a personal cloud backup you host yourself. It has two parts: a mobile app on your phone and server software on a PC, laptop, or home server you own. The app backs up your phone's photos, videos, and files directly to your server over your network — so your data never sits on someone else's cloud.

urVault (Simple) is zero-configuration backup for photos and videos — install, pair, and it runs automatically.

urVaultPro adds full control: back up any file type, choose specific folders, set retention/version-history rules, schedule backups, and use advanced storage settings.

Two things:

1. An Android phone for the app (iOS is in development).
2. A Windows or Linux machine (a Raspberry Pi works too) left on to act as your server.

Install the server first, then install the app and pair them. Grab both from the download page.

1. On your phone, open the download page and tap the Android download for your edition.
2. When the APK finishes downloading, tap it to install.
3. If Android asks, enable Install from unknown sources for your browser — this is standard for apps installed directly from a website.
4. Open the app and follow the on-screen setup to pair with your server.

Yes. That warning appears for any app installed outside the Google Play Store — it's standard for apps downloaded directly from a website, like the one on our download page. Allow the install to continue. A Google Play listing is also on the way if you'd rather install the standard way.

An iOS app is in development and will arrive after the Android launch. macOS server software is also planned. Check the download page for current availability.

1. Download the Windows server installer (.exe) for your edition from the download page.
2. Run it as administrator and follow the short setup wizard (it asks for a storage folder and port).
3. When it finishes, open http://localhost:5173 in your browser to complete first-time setup.
4. The server installs as a background service, so it keeps running and starts automatically with Windows.

1. Download the Linux tar.gz from the download page and extract it.
2. Run the installer for your edition:
   node install/auto-installer.js --edition simple  (or --edition pro).
3. Open http://localhost:5173 to complete setup.

The same package runs on a Raspberry Pi.

That's Microsoft SmartScreen being cautious about a newly released app. Our installer is code-signed (Jeffrey Wilson) and safe to run — click More info → Run anyway. The prompt disappears on its own as the installer builds reputation with Microsoft.

Any reasonably modern Windows 10/11 PC or Linux machine you can leave powered on will work — a spare desktop, an always-on laptop, or a Raspberry Pi. The main requirement is enough free disk space to hold your backups, so point the server at a drive with room to grow.

Open http://localhost:5173 in a browser on the server machine. If the admin page loads, the server is up. On Windows it runs as a background service that restarts with the computer; you don't need to keep a window open.

With your phone and server on the same Wi‑Fi, tap "Yes — Connect to My Server" in the app and scan the QR code your server shows. Prefer to type it in? Choose Enter Address Manually and enter the server address plus the access code.

Pairing codes are short-lived for security. Generate a fresh QR code on the server and scan it right away. Also make sure the phone and server are on the same network (or that the server's remote tunnel is running for off-network pairing).

Yes. The server automatically opens a secure tunnel on startup so your phone can reach it from anywhere — no port-forwarding or router setup needed. If the server ever becomes unreachable, restarting it re-establishes the tunnel.

No. As long as it's the same server, the app recognizes it and follows the new address automatically. You only need to re-pair if you move to a genuinely different server.

urVault (Simple) backs up your photos and videos automatically.

urVaultPro can back up any file type and lets you choose specific folders to include.

Backups run automatically in the background once paired. urVaultPro additionally lets you set a schedule so backups run at the times you choose. You can also trigger a backup manually any time from the app.

No. Backups are incremental — only new or changed files are sent, so after the first full backup, subsequent runs are fast and use little data.

Open Backup History & Restore in the app to browse your backups. From there you can download individual files or restore an entire backup session back to your device.

Only to your own server. urVault never receives or stores your backups — they travel from your phone straight to the machine you control. There's no urVault cloud in the middle.

You can turn on optional end-to-end encryption with a passphrase that only you hold, so your backups are encrypted before they ever leave your phone.

There is no recovery path by design — that's what makes the encryption private. Keep your passphrase in a password manager or another safe place. If you haven't enabled end-to-end encryption, this doesn't apply to you.

Yes. Every new server includes a 14-day / 1 GB trial — enough to test backup, restore, and scheduling end to end before you buy. After the trial, activate with a one-time license to keep backing up.

urVault is a one-time purchase — no subscriptions. Founding pricing for the first 1,000 buyers of each edition: urVault $14.99 (then $19.99) and urVaultPro $29.99 (then $44.99). The server software is free; your license activates the app. See the pricing page for live founding-license availability.

Uninstall it like any Android app — press and hold the urVault icon and choose Uninstall, or remove it from Settings → Apps. Your backups stay safely on your server; uninstalling the app doesn't delete them.

Windows: use Settings → Apps → urVault → Uninstall (or the entry in Control Panel). The uninstaller stops and removes the urVault background services for you. Your stored backup files are left in place on disk — delete that folder separately if you also want to remove the data.

Linux: stop the urVault service and remove the folder you extracted it to.

Just re-pair from the app — your existing backups stay in place. If you switched between a sideloaded APK and the Google Play build, uninstall the old one first (they have different signatures and can't be mixed), then install and pair fresh.

No. The trial clock lives with your server configuration, so uninstalling and reinstalling does not reset the 14-day / 1 GB trial.

1. Make sure the server machine is powered on and awake.
2. Confirm the server is running by opening http://localhost:5173 on it.
3. Restart the server — this re-establishes the secure tunnel used for off-network access.
4. If you're on the same Wi‑Fi, check that the network doesn't block device-to-device connections (some guest networks do).

Recent versions post a persistent "Backup Alerts" notification the moment a backup can't continue, so you no longer have to reopen the app to find out. If the alert says a reconnect is needed, re-pair with your server and the alert clears automatically once a backup starts successfully. Make sure you're on the latest app version.

Times are shown in your device's local time zone. If a timestamp looks off, check that the clock and time zone on both your phone and the server are set correctly (ideally to update automatically). A mismatched server clock is the usual cause.

This came from an earlier installer build. The fix ships in the current server installer (v1.2.95 or later). To recover:

1. Reboot the server machine (this clears any service marked for removal).
2. Download the latest server installer from the download page and run it as administrator.

If it still fails after a reboot, contact support and we'll help you clear it.

Head to the support page to email or call us, or use the Report a Problem form there to send a detailed bug report — we'll reply directly with help.