Add a backup destination

What this does

Creates the first place a backup can land. Until one exists, Back up now is greyed out, and nothing else in this area can happen.

Before you start

A profile is open, and you know where the Backup panel is (→ H1).
Where a destination points can’t be changed afterwards. The folder, the WebDAV server or the signed-in account is fixed once you tap Add. Changing it means removing the destination and adding a new one. Most other settings can be edited — see Changing or removing a destination later, below.
Decide whether this destination should be encrypted (→ H3), and whether it should be on a schedule (→ H5). Both live in the lower half of the same dialog.

Steps

On the Backup panel, tap Add destination — the button underneath the Destinations list — or Add your first destination on the empty card. The dialog Add backup destination opens.
Open Destination type and pick one of the four. Your device may offer fewer: Local folder isn’t offered on Android, and Google Drive isn’t offered on Linux or Windows. That’s expected, not a fault.

Type	What it is	Available on
Local folder	A folder on this device’s own storage. Point it at a folder your computer already syncs — iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive — and the sync service carries it offsite for you	Everything except Android
Files app (one-shot save)	Your device’s own save dialog, once per backup. The path is not stored — you re-pick on every backup.	Everything
Google Drive	A private folder called Aviator Archive backups, created for you. drive.file scope only — the app cannot see or modify files it did not create.	Android, iOS, macOS
WebDAV (Nextcloud / Box / kDrive)	Your own server, by URL and password	Everything

Fill in the block for the type you chose. For Local folder, tap Choose folder… and pick one. For WebDAV, fill Server URL, Username and Password / app token — Credentials are stored in your device keychain. Use an app-specific token where supported (Nextcloud / ownCloud). For Google Drive, tap Sign in with Google. Files app asks for nothing here.
Type a Display name. Add stays disabled without it. It’s what every other screen calls this destination, so name it after where the files actually go: iCloud Drive (Files), External drive, Nextcloud.
Check This destination is offsite — Counts toward the “1 offsite” 3-2-1 indicator. It comes ticked for every type except Local folder. Change it if the app’s guess is wrong (see The offsite tick, below, for when it won’t let you, and when it won’t untick itself).
WebDAV only: tap Test connection before you tap Add. Connection OK — server accepts WebDAV. means you’re done. If it reads Connected via . We will use this URL. — naming a path such as remote.php/dav/files/you/ — the app has found the real DAV path and rewritten the Server URL field for you. Leave it as it now stands.
Google Drive only: the button reads Signed in as once sign-in has worked. Add stays disabled until it does.
Tap Add. The dialog closes and the new destination’s tile appears under Destinations.

How to tell it worked

The tile has a grey dot and the subtitle · never run — or · offsite · never run if you ticked offsite. Grey and never run are correct for now, and stay that way until the first backup. Back up now at the top of the panel isn’t greyed out any more. Take a backup to prove the destination works before you rely on it (→ H4).

If something goes wrong

What you see	Why	What to do
Add is greyed out and nothing says why	Something required is empty: the display name, the folder, a WebDAV field, Google sign-in, or a passphrase for a ticked encrypt box	Work down the dialog. The problem is the field that’s still blank
Refusing plain http:// to a public server — the backup and your password would both cross the internet in the clear. Use `https://`, or a server on your own network.	The WebDAV URL is `http://` to a public address	Use `https://`. This is refused outright, and refused again at upload time — even for a destination saved before this check existed
No TLS on this connection. Fine for a server on your own network — anything that can see the traffic between this device and it can read the backup and your password.	`http://` to an address on your own network	Allowed. Read it and decide — or encrypt the bundle (→ H3)
Authentication rejected (HTTP 401). Check username + password / app token.	The WebDAV username or password is wrong	Type them again. On Nextcloud and ownCloud, use an app-specific token, not your login password
Found a DAV endpoint at but auth was rejected. Check username + password / app token.	Your URL wasn’t the DAV path. The app found the real one, but the server refused the password there	Same fix as above. The URL isn’t the problem — the password is
Path not found. Is the trailing folder correct?	The folder in the URL doesn’t exist on the server	Create it on the server, or correct the path
Server returned 405 — this URL probably is not a WebDAV endpoint.	The URL is the server’s web page, not its DAV path	Use the DAV URL your server shows in its settings, in the shape of the field’s own hint
Could not reach server: …	This device can’t reach the server	Check the address, and that this device can see the server at all
This folder is on a USB drive or memory card. Backups here will fail until this install is allowed to reach removable media.	A Linux Snap install has no permission for removable media	Pick a folder on the internal disk, or grant the Snap that permission

Changing or removing a destination later

Every destination’s ⋮ menu has four items: Back up now, Edit…, Manage backups… and Remove destination. A Files app destination has no Manage backups…, because it can’t list what it has saved (see below).

Edit… opens Edit "". It reaches the display name, the offsite tick, and everything below the schedule divider (H5 covers those fields). Saving keeps the same destination, so its backup history — and, for WebDAV, its saved server password — stay attached. It can’t change the folder, server address or signed-in account; for that, remove the destination and add a new one.

Manage backups… opens Manage backups — , listing every bundle at that destination, each with its own delete button. Deleting one is permanent: "" will be permanently removed from . This cannot be undone. There’s no second copy unless you kept one somewhere else.

The same dialog has Automatically delete older backups, off to begin with — Off — bundles accumulate here until deleted above. Turn it on and choose how many to keep with Keep the newest (ten, until you change it). From your next successful backup onward, anything older than that at this destination is deleted for you. Turning the switch on doesn’t delete anything by itself.

The offsite tick

It has a mind of its own in two ways. First, nothing ever unticks it for you. Pick any of the other three types and it’s ticked; switch back to Local folder afterwards and the tick stays. On Android it’s ticked from the moment the dialog opens, because Files app is already selected before you’ve touched anything. Look at it before you tap Add. Second, for Google Drive the box is locked on and greyed out, with the subtitle Always on for Google Drive — it is a different machine in a different building. Counts toward the “1 offsite” 3-2-1 indicator. The Drive tile, the 3-2-1 card’s third row and the unencrypted-offsite check all agree with it (→ H1, H4).

The one type that can’t be browsed later

Files app (one-shot save) never remembers where you put the file: every backup opens your device’s save dialog and you choose again. When you come to restore, the wizard’s destination browser lists nothing under it, so a bundle saved this way can only be found with From file… (→ H6). It’s a good way to get a copy into iCloud Drive or Dropbox from a phone, and a poor choice for a schedule (→ H5).

A local folder inside a synced folder isn’t automatically “offsite”

The dialog’s own advice is to point a local folder at something iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive already syncs, and it’s good advice: the sync service then carries your bundles off the device for you. But the 3-2-1 card’s third row counts the tick, not the path. If you take that advice, tick This destination is offsite yourself.