Backup History & Subscriptions

May 1, 2021 ยท View on GitHub

Some updates of NineAnimator or improper operations may cause the anime under the Recents tab to disappear. Thus it is always a good habit to regularly backup the playback histories and progresses.

NineAnimator can export the recently watched anime list and the playback histories to a .naconfig file. You may use this file to restore anime to the Recents tab or sync progresses between devices.

Creating Backups

Navigate to the settings menu and tap on the Export History button. NineAnimator will create a backup file with the following contents:

  • Anime subscriptions;
  • Recently browsed titles;
  • Episode playback progresses.

Restoring Backups

There are three ways to import a .naconfig file. When you open a .naconfig file, NineAnimator will prompt you to choose one.

  • Replace Current: Choosing this option will replace all local playback histories and progresses with the ones contained in the .naconfig file.
  • Merge - Prioritize Local: Choosing this option will merge the histories stored in the .naconfig file with local history. Local histories will be showed on top in the Recents tab. NineAnimator will prefer the local version of any data if it is present in both the importing .naconfig file and the local database.
  • Merge - Prioritize Importing: Choosing this option will merge the histories stored in the .naconfig file with local history. The importing histories will be showed on top in the Recents tab. NineAnimator will prefer the importing version of any data if it is present in both the importing .naconfig file and the local database.

.naconfig File

The .naconfig is essentially a binary, property list encoded dictionary with three entries:

  • history: A list of serialized AnimeLink objects from the recently watched tab.
  • progresses: A dictionary keyed by the episode identifier for the persisted playback progresses.
  • exportedDate: The Date that this file is generated.
  • trackingData: A dictionary keyed by AnimeLink for the serialized TrackingContext.
  • subscriptions: A list of serialized AnimeLink for your subscribed anime.

See StatesSerialization.swift for implementation details.