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Making and Restoring a Backup

The backup file

A backup is one file ending in .ppbkp, named by the day and the minute it was made:

Private Passwords Backup 2026-10-17 1433.ppbkp

It holds everything listed under What a backup holds. The file is compressed and encrypted, and only its recovery key opens it: 30 letters and digits in six groups of five, which the app makes for you and shows you once, while you make the backup. You don't choose a password of your own. The recovery key is the password.

  • The app doesn't keep the key. Nobody, including Private Passwords, can recover it.
  • Every backup has its own key. The key of an earlier backup won't open a later one.
  • The key uses only letters and digits that can't be mistaken for one another, and its last character is a check, so a mistyped key is caught at once.
  • Without the key the file gives nothing away: not your items, not even which device made it.

For the technically minded

The file is sealed with AES-256-GCM. Its key is worked out from the recovery key with Argon2id (64 MiB of memory, the backup's own random id as the salt), then HKDF-SHA256. That stretching is what makes guessing the key so slow. Before sealing, the contents are compressed and padded to steps of 256 bytes, so the file's size gives only a rough idea of how much is inside.

Where the file is saved

Back Up hands the finished file to Files. Choose a folder, on this iPhone, in iCloud Drive or in any other place Files can reach, and tap Move. Save Another Copy saves the same backup to a second place.

The iPhone has no fixed backup folder: you choose each time.

Backups go to the Backup folder in Settings, under Backups: your home folder until you choose another with Change Folder…. The first backup asks you to confirm the folder, so that your Mac lets the app write there. After that, backups are saved without asking. If a file of the same name is there already, the new one is numbered, for example Private Passwords Backup 2026-10-17 1433-1.ppbkp.

The last step of Back Up shows the folder too, with Change Folder… beside it, Save Elsewhere… for a copy somewhere else, and Show in Finder once the file is saved.

Wherever the file goes, keep the recovery key somewhere else: in a password manager on another device, or on paper in a drawer. Not next to the file, and not only in Private Passwords itself, because you need the key at the very moment Private Passwords is what you have lost.

Making a backup

  1. Tap the logo to open the menu and choose Back Up, or tap Back Up on the Info page.
  2. The first step lists what the backup will hold: your items in use, your own templates and tags, your pictures and site icons, and your settings. Leave Include archived items and Include items in the Bin on, or turn either off. Tap Continue, and confirm with Face ID or Touch ID.
  3. Save Your Recovery Key. Save it now, before anything else: tap Copy and paste it into a password manager, tap Share Key, or write it down.
  4. Turn on I have saved a secure copy of this recovery key. and I understand that if I lose this key, this backup can't be restored — nobody, including Private Passwords, can recover it. Tap Continue.
  5. Creating Backup reads every item, seals the file and checks that it reads back exactly as written.
  6. Save Your Backup. Tap Save to Files, choose a folder and tap Move.
  7. Tap Done.

While you make a backup, the key is hidden if the screen is being recorded or mirrored, and Share Key waits until that stops. If you take a screenshot of the key, the app reminds you to save the key somewhere else and delete the screenshot.

  1. Click the menu (☰) and choose Back Up…, or click Back Up… on the Info page. The Back Up window opens at Step 1 of 4.
  2. What goes in lists what the backup will hold: your items in use, your own item templates, password templates and tags, your pictures and site icons, and your settings. Leave Include archived items and Include items in the Bin on, or turn either off. Click Continue, and confirm with Touch ID, or your Mac's password where Touch ID can't be used.
  3. Recovery Key. Save it now, before anything else: click Copy and paste it into a password manager, click Share Key, or write it down.
  4. Turn on I have saved a secure copy of this recovery key. and I understand that if I lose this key, this backup can't be restored — nobody, including Private Passwords, can recover it. Click Create Backup.
  5. Creating Backup reads every item, seals the file and checks that it reads back exactly as written.
  6. Save Backup. Click Save to save it to your backup folder, or Save Elsewhere… to choose another place.
  7. Click Done.

[Screenshot: the recovery key step of Back Up]

Good to know

  • Copy puts the key on the clipboard for 2 minutes. Through Universal Clipboard you can paste it on another of your devices nearby, signed in to the same Apple Account.
  • New Key makes a fresh key, if you think someone saw the first. The key shown before then opens nothing.
  • You can leave the app to save the key in another app: Back Up stays open. On the iPhone, if iOS closes Private Passwords while you're away, that backup is discarded. Start again and save the new key instead.
  • Done before saving asks Close Without Saving? Closing discards the backup; you can make a new one later.
  • An item this version can't read is left out, and the save step says how many.

Checking that a backup works

A rehearsal costs nothing. Open Restore, choose the backup you just made and enter its key. When the next step shows what the backup holds, tap or click Cancel. You've proved the file and the key are good, and nothing has changed.

Restoring a backup

You'll restore a backup on a new device, after reinstalling the app, or to go back to how things were. You need the file and its recovery key.

Opening Restore

Any of these opens Restore:

  • The menu (tap the logo), then Restore; or Restore on the Info page.
  • Restore a backup on the welcome screen, the first time you open the app.
  • Opening a .ppbkp file from the Files app, or tapping one in another app.
  • Choosing a backup in Import, which says what it is and offers Open Restore.

Then tap Choose from Files and pick the backup, unless you opened Restore from the file itself.

Any of these opens Restore:

  • The menu (☰), then Restore…; or Restore… on the Info page.
  • Restore a backup on the welcome window, the first time you open the app.
  • Opening a .ppbkp file in the Finder.
  • Choosing a backup in Import, which says what it is and offers Open Restore.

Then click Choose File… and pick the backup, or drop it on the window, unless you opened Restore from the file itself.

Step by step

  1. Restore shows the file's name, and A Private Passwords backup with its size. Nothing is read of it yet. Continue, and confirm it's you (Face ID or Touch ID on the iPhone; Touch ID or your Mac's password on the Mac).
  2. Enter the Recovery Key. Type or paste it. Capital letters, spaces and dashes don't matter. Then Unlock Backup. Checking the key takes a moment: it is stretched to resist guessing, which is what protects the file.
  3. What to Restore says when and on which device the backup was made, and what it holds. Choose one of the three choices, and leave the two switches on or turn them off. A line at the foot says how many items will be written and how many left out.
  4. Choose Restore 412 Items (the number is yours). With Delete all first chosen, the button is Delete All and Restore…, and the app asks once more: Delete everything on this iPhone first? (or this Mac). Choose Delete All and Restore to go ahead.
  5. A bar shows the restore. Then Restored sums up what happened. Done opens Recent, in the order the backup had.

[Screenshot: What to Restore with the three choices]

The three choices

Choice Items already on this device Items in the backup
Delete all first Every one goes for good, the Bin and the archive with them. This can't be undone. All come in, in their place
Ignore duplicates in the backup (chosen to start) Left exactly as they are A duplicate is left out; the rest come in
Overwrite duplicates A duplicate takes the backup's values entirely All come in

Two switches choose what else comes in: Include archived items and Include items in the Bin, both on to start. An item in the backup's Bin whose days are already over is always left out.

How a duplicate is judged

The screen puts it in one sentence: A duplicate is an item this iPhone has by the same id, or by the same name within the same template. (On the Mac, this Mac.)

  • The same id means the very same item: every item keeps its own id for life, through sync and through earlier restores.
  • The same name within the same template catches the rest. Capital letters don't count, so Bank and bank match.
  • An archived item on this device counts. An item in this device's Bin does not.

This is a different rule from an import's, which looks for the same username at the same site. A restore is not an import: every item, template, tag and picture comes back under its own id.

What else a restore changes

  • Templates, tags, types and what is switched off are updated from the backup, whichever choice you make.
  • Settings come back, as far as this device has the same settings.
  • Restored items follow this device's sync choice. With Sync via iCloud Keychain on, everything a restore writes or deletes reaches your other devices too.
  • Undo Last Import is no longer offered after a restore. See Undoing the Last Import.
  • After Delete all first, the restore counts as your last backup, so the backup reminder starts counting again from the backup's date.

Messages you might see

Message What it means
That file is not a Private Passwords backup. Choose a file ending in .ppbkp.
The backup could not be read. It may be incomplete or damaged. The file was cut short or changed. Try another copy.
That backup was made by a newer version of Private Passwords. Update the app, then try again. Update this device's app first.
A recovery key has 30 characters (6 groups of 5). This has 28. A group is missing or doubled.
A recovery key only uses the letters and numbers shown on the key screen. Check what you entered. A character isn't one the key can contain.
That key has a typo: one of its characters is wrong. Check it and try again. One character is wrong. Check the key against your copy.
That key doesn't match this backup. Check it and try again. The key belongs to a different backup. Find the one that goes with this file.

Continue to Importing from Another App.