How Backup Works
The backup system is designed to be invisible — you save posts the same way as always, and the system handles everything in the background.
New Posts (Saved After Enabling)
When you save a post with backup enabled:
- The extension captures all media URLs and author details from the platform
- The post appears immediately in your dashboard with the platform's temporary media links
- In the background, the media URLs are sent to our secure cloud service for permanent storage
- Within seconds, the temporary links are replaced with permanent signed URLs
- Your dashboard updates automatically — no refresh needed
Existing Posts (Backfill)
When you first enable backup, the system automatically scans your existing posts from Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and Facebook. Any post that still has valid (non-expired) CDN links is queued for backup. The backfill runs in the background and processes posts in batches.
Expired links cannot be recovered
Author Profile Pictures
Instagram and Threads author profile pictures use the same expiring CDN as post media. The extension captures these as embedded images at save time, so they display immediately regardless of backup status. When backup is enabled, these are also converted to permanent cloud URLs.
Security & Privacy
Your backed-up media is stored securely with multiple layers of protection:
- Per-user isolation — Each user's media is stored in a separate, user-scoped folder. You cannot access another user's media, even with a direct URL.
- Private storage — The storage bucket is private. Direct URLs return 401 Unauthorized.
- Signed URLs — Media is accessed through time-limited signed URLs (valid for 4 hours) that are generated on-the-fly after verifying your identity.
- Encryption at rest — All files are encrypted on the storage server using server-side encryption (SSE).
- No cookies or credentials stored — The backup system never stores your social media login cookies or session tokens. Only the public media URLs are processed.