How to Backup and Restore Workout Data (JSON/CSV Guide)

Not having an account with a fitness app doesn't mean not having a backup option. It means the backup works differently — a file you export and store yourself, rather than an automatic sync running in the background tied to a login.

Why file-based backup is worth understanding, even if you never use it

Most people never think about backup until the moment they need it — a lost phone, a factory reset, a new device. At that point, whether a backup exists (and whether you know where it is) determines whether months of training history survive the transition or don't. It's worth setting up once, deliberately, rather than discovering the gap after the fact.

Backing up Stay Fit's data

Settings → Storage & Data → Export Backup (JSON) creates a full backup file covering your routines, logged workouts, measurements, and photos references. Export Data (CSV) creates a readable, spreadsheet-friendly version of your logged history, useful for reference even if it's not the format used for a full restore. Either export uses the system share sheet, so you choose the destination — Drive, Files, email to yourself, any cloud storage already on your device.

How often to actually do this

Monthly is a reasonable default for casual, consistent training — enough that a lost phone costs you weeks, not months, of history. If you're deep into a specific program and would be genuinely upset losing the last few sessions specifically (a PR you just hit, a deload you're mid-way through), weekly is worth the extra thirty seconds.

Restoring onto a new device

Install the app on the new device, then Settings → Storage & Data → Import Backup and select your saved JSON file. The CSV export isn't designed for a full restore — it's for reading, not reimporting — so keep the JSON file specifically if a future restore is the goal.

What a file-based backup gives you that an account-based one doesn't

An account-tied cloud backup disappears if the company shuts down, changes its policy, or if you simply forget the login. A file sitting in your own Drive or Files app answers to nobody but you — it opens the same way five years from now whether or not the original app still exists. That's a meaningful trade against the convenience of automatic sync, and worth being intentional about rather than assuming a backup exists just because an account does.