Keep Your iCloud Data. Forever.

Parachute Backup for Mac automatically saves your most precious memories and important documents to storage you own: an external drive, a NAS, or your cloud of choice.

Download on the Mac App Store

One-time purchase. No subscription.
Requires macOS 15 or later.

Parachute Backup on a Mac, showing the last backup and its highlights

Originals Only in iCloud

With Optimize Storage, your originals live in iCloud alone.

Deletions Sync

Delete something on one device and it's gone on all of them.

Your Personal Copy

Parachute Backup copies all data to storage you control.

Simple Setup. Full Overview.

Pick what to protect and where to keep it. See exactly what's safe.

Overview after the last run: tiles with item counts, your oldest memory and other statistics, above a summary of the setup
Backup at 41.6% with a progress bar, the file being copied, and tiles for items copied, running time and start time
Menu bar panel with backup progress and a Stop button, next to the main window
Setup step 1 of 3, What to protect: buttons to allow access to Photos or choose folders
Photos settings with toggles for the full timeline, photos, videos and edits, and Mirroring options that keep deleted items in a Deleted folder for 90 days
Source folders: iCloud Drive, app data from Pages and Numbers, and other folders, each with a toggle
Setup step 2 of 3, Where to keep your data: a button to choose the destination
Destinations list with a backup drive, a NAS, Google Drive, OneDrive and Amazon S3
Setup step 3 of 3, Start your first backup: Amazon S3 is set as the destination, with a Start Backup button
Backup schedule set to daily at 9:00 AM, with an option to start at login
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What Parachute Backup Does

One purchase, every feature. No subscription, no lock-in.

All Photos and Videos, Full Quality

Optionally include Edits, Live Photo Movies, RAW Sidecars, and much more. Shared Albums too.

iCloud Drive and More

All of iCloud Drive, including Desktop and Documents, app data like Pages and Numbers, and any other folder on your Mac.

Your Storage, Your Rules

External drives, NAS and network shares, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible storage.

Optional Mirroring

Keep your copy in step with your library. Deleted items move to a Deleted folder and stay there as long as you want.

Multiple Backup Plans

Separate plans with different settings for photos, files, destinations and schedules.

Schedules, Shortcuts & Siri

Fully automated scheduling in the app, or start any plan from Shortcuts or Siri. Trigger Shortcuts on backup events.

Smart Offloading

Items fetched from iCloud for copying are offloaded again afterwards, so your device storage doesn't fill up.

Menu Bar Status

Start a backup and see progress at a glance in the menu bar, without opening the app.

App Store Reviews

Real App Store feedback from customers worldwide.

4.8
★★★★★

Based on 1,441 ratings

An essential utility that simply enables a now essential workflow.

★★★★★

This application does the one thing I want it to do very well. I have centralised all my data on iCloud and set my Mac and iOS devices to Optimise Storage. This works well for me as I travel a lot and, as long as I can get a Network Connection, file access is seamless. Good as it goes but iCloud is not a Backup and iCloud is not immune to future problems… Parachute allows me backup iCloud and Photos to a RAID connected to my Mac. I have set Parachute to “Mirror” my Mac with the “Save Deleted” option and in testing it has worked flawlessly. I will use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up my RAID and so have multiple physical copies. This might sound very 1999 and I have been trying to buy my last Hard Drive for the last 10 years but I lack confidence in multiple cloud backup solutions and we’re now being told by our Governments to expect Cyber Attacks and no Network Access as the New Normal so, here we are , back in 1999….

FlagStratos🇦🇺
v2.0.2 ·

Getting better…

★★★★★

Well, now they’ve added multiple destinations, almost perfect… So, just one more thing: Ability to make a destination an encrypted sparse bundle on a NAS that mounts when needed, rather like CCC. Then it will be perfect!

Peter JJ🇫🇷
v2.0.2 ·

Absolute lifesaver for custom folders and true backups

★★★★★

I bought Parachute Backup to get real, local ownership of my data, and it completely exceeded expectations. Beyond giving me peace of mind with iCloud, its custom folders feature allowed me to securely back up directories that Apple simply won't let you include in standard iCloud backups. Clean interface, no subscriptions, and solves a massive pain point. Highly recommended!

tfawzy17🇦🇪
v2.0.2 ·

Gotten Much Better

★★★★★

Original developer left the app half-baked. The current version is far more robust and stable. Scheduling, which was previously a disaster, is not solid. Good job, devs!

BobHaroche🇺🇸
v2.0.1 ·

Works great and has only gotten better lately

★★★★★

This app is great and has gotten even better lately. It is flawless and as fast as possible in backing u my photos. I have read the new owners like to make subscriptions of everything, so although it works great, I’m concerned my lifetime purchase will be turned into a subscription.

Artiste212🇺🇸
v1.9.7 ·

Great software and gap in support filled

★★★★★

Super product, easy set up & functions invisibly on a daily backup schedule. Now I know all my data is safe here too.

appelkc🇬🇧
v1.9.7 ·

Cloud backup peace of mind

★★★★★

I’m using the app to back up my iCloud Drive and Google Drive files (“cloud sync is not a backup!”). Seems to work flawlessly (backing them up hourly to a local folder). There were come unhelpful interactions with some cloud backup software, but the Parachute developers kindly worked round the issue.

Chailey🇬🇧
v1.9.6 ·

Works great !

★★★★★

Finally a click & forget backup solution without re-authentication issues. I love it. I really hope they add ‘mirroring’ backup for photos too, as I use my NAS for version backups.

Spacekiek🇧🇪
v1.9.6 ·

Great for backing up iCloud

★★★★★

I bought this because Apple Time Machine doesn’t back-up iCloud. It seems easy to use and does what it says on the can.

the_adam_tait🇬🇧
v1.9.5 ·

Straight forward and essential

★★★★★

Very easy to set up and back up your documents and photos, given the instabliity of relationships between countries these days I think it is vital to have copies of all your data that is accessible outside the cloud!

turnleft🇬🇧
v1.9.5 ·

Gutes Tool

★★★★★

Einfach zu bedienen, zuverlässig und schnell.

Ralf465🇩🇪
v1.9.5 ·

Fast and Efficient

★★★★★

Hooked up and backed up my MacBook ICloud Drive and pics

Tmc928🇺🇸
v1.9.4 ·

Showing 12 of 239 reviews from customers worldwide

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Parachute Backup

No. iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive sync your files. When you delete a photo or a damage happens on one device, the change reaches all your devices. Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days, then they are gone for good.

iCloud Backup doesn't cover them either: once iCloud Photos is on, Apple leaves your photos out of iCloud Backup (Apple Support). And with Optimize Storage turned on, your devices only keep small previews, so iCloud holds the only full-quality originals.

Parachute Backup keeps a separate copy of your originals on storage you control. Changes in iCloud never reach that copy unless you ask for it.

Never from iCloud. Parachute Backup only reads from iCloud and never changes or deletes anything there.

By default, your backup only grows: new and changed items are copied, and nothing is removed. If you turn on Remove Deleted Items (Mirroring), items you delete in iCloud are moved to a folder named Deleted at your destination instead. Under Keep Items you choose how long they stay there: forever, 90 days (the default), 30 days, or until the next backup. Until then, you can move them back at any time.

Yes, and you always get the full-resolution originals. Parachute Backup downloads each item from iCloud as it reaches it and copies it to your destination, one item at a time. You only need a little more free space than your largest photo or video, not room for the whole library.

iCloud Drive files that Parachute Backup downloaded are released again right after copying. For photos, the system decides when to free that space, so your Photos library can take up more room than usual for a while.

On the Mac, find the setting in the Photos app. Settings > iCloud > Optimize Mac Storage.

Not if you use Optimize Mac Storage. Time Machine only copies files that are on your Mac's disk. With Optimize Mac Storage on, your Photos originals and offloaded iCloud Drive files live only in iCloud, so Time Machine never sees them.

Parachute Backup fetches those originals from iCloud and keeps a full copy on your own storage. Keep both: Time Machine restores your Mac, Parachute Backup protects your photos and files independently of iCloud. Give Parachute Backup its own drive or folder, not the Time Machine volume.

Anywhere you like: external drives, a NAS or network share, and anything mounted in Finder, such as SFTP or WebDAV volumes or a Dropbox folder.

Google Drive, OneDrive, and Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible storage are built in, with no mount needed.

There is no restore button in the app. Your copy is made of regular files and folders, with no special format, so you can copy anything back yourself at any time. For a Live Photo, take the image and the movie file together, because they belong to one item.

In Finder, drag files back where you want them. To put photos back into Apple Photos, drag the folders into Photos, ideally into a new Photos library.

Parachute Backup works directly with data available on your device. There is no separate sign-in. It works with the Apple Account signed in to your device.

To use iCloud Photos or iCloud Drive, sign in to iCloud in System Settings > Apple Account.

Photos: Parachute Backup works with your System Photo Library. You can have several libraries on a Mac, but only one is the System Photo Library, see Apple Support. To include iCloud Photos, turn on Photos in System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud, see Apple Support.

Files: Parachute Backup can copy any folder your Mac can access. To include iCloud Drive, turn on Drive in System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud, see Apple Support. Also see the note about iCloud Drive folders

No. Parachute Backup is a one-time purchase on the App Store, with every feature included.

See complete list

Ready to Protect Your iCloud Data?

Available now on the Mac App Store.

Download on the Mac App Store