Restore from a backup
Bring everything back from a System Backup: transactions, categories, goals, photos and weekly reviews.
Restore works into a fresh, empty account only, much like a brand-new signup, and it never overwrites data in an account you are already using. So start by creating a new account, or reinstalling Carlo and signing up fresh. You can reuse the same email address, and if a restore fails, clearing that account frees the address to sign up with again.
On the Welcome screen tap Restore from a backup, just below Continue. Tap Choose backup file and pick your System Backup ZIP, then tap Restore and leave the app open. A large backup takes a few minutes and shows a progress screen with an estimate.
When it finishes, tap Open Carlo. You will see your recovery code and pick a theme, then land in your fully restored account, with coins, journal photos, goals, bills and weekly reviews as they were.
It has to be a System Backup ZIP, the one from Settings → Data & Records → System Backup. A plain CSV export cannot be restored; those are for reading your data in a spreadsheet.
If the restore is interrupted, by closing the app partway through or otherwise not finishing, the next launch tells you so and offers Start fresh, which deletes the half-finished account so you can create a new one and try again. Your backup file itself is never touched.
Two things to keep in mind. Your backup is a decrypted copy of your data, so keep it somewhere secure, the way you would a financial statement. And the recovery code you save when setting up the new account also protects the restored data, so there is no separate code to save afterward.
If you are moving to a new phone, note that a restore is usually not what you need: signing in normally brings your account and its key across. Restoring from a backup is for the case where you are starting an account over from a file.