Encrypted backup to your own cloud

An encrypted vault on one phone has one weakness: the phone. Lose it, break it or have it stolen, and the vault is gone with it. Backup is the answer, and the design is built so that you don’t have to trust a company with your photos to use it.

What it does

Silo keeps a copy of your vault in your own cloud storage, and not on any Silo server, because Silo has none. Every photo, video and file is already encrypted on your phone before it goes up. Only your recovery phrase opens the copy.

The first version is designed for Google Drive on Android. iCloud on iPhone is planned for later.

How it works, step by step

1. Open Backup in Settings and choose Turn on backup.
2. Sign in to your cloud account through the phone’s own sign-in. Silo asks for access to its own backup folder.
3. Enter your recovery phrase. This shows you hold it, and you’ll need it to restore on a new phone. If your phrase is only 2 words, Silo asks you to make a longer one first.
4. Backup starts on its own. Silo uploads the encrypted items and shows its progress, such as “Backing up, 120 of 480 items”, then “Backed up” with the time.
5. It keeps going. New items are added as you import them. By default it waits for Wi-Fi, and Use mobile data is off. You can choose Back up now or Turn off backup at any time.

If something stops, Silo says why in plain words: offline, waiting for Wi-Fi, signed out, access removed, or cloud storage full.

Why it matters

Verified import and the health check tell you the vault on the phone is sound. They can’t help if the phone is gone. Backup is the safety net for that.

Because the upload is ciphertext only, even someone who breaks into your cloud account finds scrambled files, not photos. Nothing derived from your PIN, passphrase or fingerprint is uploaded either. The layout is documented in a published format so the backup, like the vault, doesn’t depend on Silo.

What it costs

Turning on backup needs Pro. If your plan ends later, a backup you already set up keeps running, and restoring never needs a plan. The backup itself uses space in your own cloud storage, so it counts against whatever you have there.