Backup / restore & new-phone data loss

Zenith keeps everything on your device — no accounts, no servers. Zenith itself uploads nothing, but Android's own phone backup may copy the launcher's data — everything except the Shuttle, your AI keys and your Google sign-ins — to your Google account, and carry it over in a phone-to-phone transfer. Don't count on that alone: to move to a new phone, or to guard against loss, make a backup file yourself. It's written only when you ask, to a place you choose.

#Back up everything

A full backup is a .zbak file — your whole launcher in one file.

1. Open Settings and go to the star chart page (save, back up, and open all live there).
2. Tap "back up all".
3. Choose where to save the .zbak file.

What travels: "star charts, settings, talismans & custom icons travel. only widgets can't cross devices — their stars import but must be re-bound." That's about a .zbak file. When Android's own phone transfer moves Zenith instead, your widgets come back by themselves. One more thing that can't move: a background image you picked from your phone, since it points at a file only that device can reach. A .zbak also carries the names and icons you gave apps in deep sky, and my sky's settings.

#Save a single sky to share

"save this sky ✦" writes a .zsd — one sky (a whole separate setup: its stars, its look, and its icons). Imported on another device, it comes in as a new sky and never overwrites your current one.

#Move to a new phone

1. On the old phone, tap "back up all" and save the .zbak.
2. Copy the file across — by cable, a cloud drive, or sharing it to yourself.
3. On the new phone, open the star chart page, tap "open…", and pick the .zbak. A card asks "restore this backup?" — tap "restore". (Tapping the file, or sharing it to Zenith, brings up the same card.)
4. Re-add any widgets — their stars come across in the .zbak but must be re-bound. (After Android's own phone transfer, widgets come back by themselves.)

Zenith Gold — the one-time paid upgrade — isn't in the backup file. It comes back by itself on a reinstall or a new phone signed in to the same Play account.

A .zbak replaces the stars of the sky you're on, your settings and your talismans; a .zsd lands as a new sky. Changed your mind? "put back the setup from before the restore" on the star chart page brings back what you had, and says "your setup from before the restore is back".

A .zbak doesn't carry your AI keys, the ask the sky panel's own choices (provider, model, read aloud, the 👁), chat memory, your AI consent, or the Shuttle. On the new phone, enter your AI key again and link your accounts again in Settings › suite connections. Android's own phone backup leaves your AI keys and Google sign-ins behind too.

#After data loss

• If you have a .zbak, restore it with "open…". It carries your stars, settings, talismans, and icons.
• If you don't, there's nothing to recover from a server — Zenith stores data only on your device. Make a backup now, so next time there is one.
• If a restore can't start, you see "couldn't save your setup first, so nothing was restored" — nothing changed.
• If a file was damaged, Zenith tells you once. When an earlier good copy exists, it reads like "your sky “<name>” couldn't be read, so the last saved version was opened." When none does, it reads like "your talismans couldn't be read. they're kept aside, not lost." For your gestures it reads "your gesture targets couldn't be read. they're kept aside until you set a gesture again."
• If a file is from a newer Zenith Launcher, it won't open: "this file was saved by a newer Zenith Launcher. update the app to open it."
• After Android's phone backup moves Zenith to a new phone, stars that open a file need their file picked again. Zenith says so once: "moved to a new phone: 1 file star needs its file picked again — tap the star to pick it." With more, it reads like "moved to a new phone: 3 file stars need their files picked again — tap the star to pick it." A background picture that didn't move says "your background picture didn't move with the phone — pick it again in settings."

See also. Backup, restore & reset · I lost / can't find X · Per-OEM matrix