To make sure your data is safe, BG Stats has a Backup Check you can use to see how well your data is back-upped. You can find the Backup Check in Settings –> Backup Check.
In BG Stats there are two ways of backing up your data: Cloud sync and a Manual export. If Cloud sync is active or when you’ve recently done a manual export, the Backup Check will show a green check ✅
Other ways of backing up your data can be through Board Game Geek or a Device backup. Because the data that can be posted to Board Game Geek is limited and a Device backup can not be detected from the app, these will not result in a positive Backup Check.
Play images and custom game images you have added in BG Stats are not part of the standard backup methods, but have their own export/import options. We are working on offering an integrated backup solution. Backup check does not yet take image backup into account.
Cloud sync
Cloud sync is by far the most convenient way to have a backup. Once enabled it will continuously keep a copy of your data in the cloud up-to-date. It also allows for connecting multiple devices, which will keep the data on those devices perfectly in sync. Cloud sync is a paid service, it costs €0,99 a year. You can try Cloud sync for free for two weeks, before having to commit to anything.
You can read all details about Cloud sync on this page.
Manual export
You can create a manual export of your data at any time from Settings –> Export, import and backup. It wil create a .json file which you can save anywhere you like – preferably somewhere not on the same device. This backup file can be imported in an empty copy of the BG Stats app from the same Setting page, when needed. If you use manual export we recommend making one regularly (make a reminder in your calendar). The Backup check will show a warning icon when your last manual export was more than 7 days ago.
Board Game Geek (not recommend as only backup)
Not all data that can be logged in the app can be posted in a play on BGG, so we would not recommend this as a primary way of backing up your BG Stats data.
Please note: if you have anonymized your Players and Locations in the BoardGameGeek Play posting settings, all player and all location names that start with the same letter, will be imported as one entry, making the Board Game Geek data useless as backup.
Syncing with BGG is divided into three areas: Collection Sync, Play posting and Tag syncing. All three start with logging in to BGG with your account at Settings –> BoardGameGeek.
When you set-up Collection sync, the collection status (owned, wishlist, etc.) of your games is synced with your BGG collection, including the specific version you have, extra details (like comments) and any private details (like purchase price and private comments). Data is synced two ways, so things you change in BG Stats sync to BGG, and things you change on BGG sync to BG Stats. Notable things not synced to BGG include game Notes, scoring settings (highest wins, etc.) and custom images or names.
Plays in BG Stats can be posted to BGG. There is no automatic sync that works both ways. You can enable Auto-post in the Play posting settings to make sure every play you create or edit is posted or updated to BGG. This only works for new changes from the moment you enable this. Old plays need to be manually posted to BGG. You can post plays manually to BGG by selecting them using multiple-select and choosing Share –> Post or update to BGG. In Play posting settings you can also enable a marking in play lists to show you which plays are outdated or not yet posted to BGG.
Not all details of BG Stat’s plays can be saved to BGG. Notable things missing are: board/variants, played expansions, player roles, start players, rank, teams, score calculations, score sheets and play images. There is an option to anonymize player and location names when posting plays to BGG. When you have this enabled, it’s impossible for BG Stats to reconstruct the names when importing these plays later. Make sure you use an alternative way of backing up when using this.
When you enable Tag-syncing, the Game tags in BG Stats are synced to tags on BGG. This is a two-way sync. Only game-tags are synced this way, the Player and Location tags you have in BG Stats do not have a BGG equivalent and therefore cannot be synced.
Device backup
Most devices offer a way to create a backup of the complete device, for restoration purposes. Make sure this backups apps and all data in the apps. Some backup and data transfer services only back up images, videos, and files in your documents folder. A device backup (only on iOS) is currently the only way you can transfer play images and custom game images in BG Stats to your new device (see Images backup below).
If at all possible, when moving to a new device, check on the new device if BG Stats data was transferred correctly before erasing the old one. In any case, make a manual backup before (and/or use Cloud sync) just to be sure.
Images backup
In several locations in the app you can add images. These are not part of the backup methods mentioned above, unless you’re using a complete Device backup and store your images in the app. You can export the images in the app to a directory on your device, with the button “Backup Images…” in Settings –> Export, import and backup. This directory of images can be imported in your app by choosing “Import Image Backup…” on that same screen.
If you get an error “Could not save a folder at the selected location” on Android, try selecting a different location, eg. the Download folder on your internal storage, instead of the SD-card.
Play images
Only when your store play images in-app and use a complete device backup, play images can be restored to a new device automatically. In all other cases, use the Images backup described above.
There are two ways to add play images: by saving them inside the app, or by linking to the original image in your photo library or gallery. You can choose the default settings for this in Settings –> Play Image handling settings. You can also see here how many images are stored in the app and how many are linked, and move them all from one place to the other. You can also press-and-hold on an image in a play to get a pop-up with location information and options to move it.
Play images that are saved in-app are part of your full Device backup, and will re-appear correctly with the plays when imported from that backup.
Play images that are only linked to your photo library will not re-appear with the correct plays when restoring from a device backup. Although device backups restores images the unique identification of those images is changed at that point, and BG Stats will no longer be able to find them and display them with the correct play.
More about Image management: Image management