Quick Answer: To back up Tachiyomi, go to More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Create Backup, select all data types, and save the .tachibk file somewhere off your device. To restore, open the same menu, tap Restore Backup, and select your file. The entire process takes under two minutes each way.

Imagine spending six months building a manga library of 150 titles, custom categories, reading progress synced to chapter 847 of one series and chapter 23 of another, tracking connected to your AniList account. Then your phone dies. Or you can factory reset it. Or a Tachiyomi update goes wrong, and the database is corrupted. You open the app, and the library is completely empty.

That scenario plays out in the Tachiyomi community more often than it should. The backup system exists specifically to prevent it, but the default settings don't enable automatic backups; you have to turn that on manually, and most guides don't mention it until after something has already gone wrong. This guide covers the full backup and restore process for Tachiyomi data: what gets saved, what doesn't, how to automate it, how to move your library to a new phone, and what to do when the restore fails.

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What Tachiyomi’s Backup Actually Contains

Before creating a backup of Tachiyomi, knowing what goes into it prevents unpleasant surprises when you restore.

A Tachiyomi backup is a .tachibk file, a compressed archive that stores your library metadata, reading progress, categories, tracking data, extension list, and app settings in a single portable file. It does not contain downloaded chapter image files. Those live separately in your device's local storage and are not included in the backup.

Breaking that down specifically, a full backup includes:

• Your manga library (titles, sources, cover images as references)
• Reading progress per chapter, per manga
• Custom categories and which manga belong to each
• Tracker links (MyAnimeList, AniList, Kitsu, etc.) and synced progress
• Extension list (which extensions you had installed)
• Reader settings and app preferences
• Download history (records of what you downloaded, not the files themselves)

What a backup does not include:

• Downloaded chapter image files (these stay in Android/data/eu.kanade.tachiyomi/files/downloads/)
• Extension APK files themselves (Tachiyomi reinstalls these from the repository during restore)
• Any content cached from source websites

If offline reading is important to you, your downloaded chapters need a separate backup strategy, file manager, and copy to a computer or cloud storage. The .tachibk file alone won't restore your downloads.

How to Create a Tachiyomi Backup (Step-by-Step)

With a clear picture of what gets saved, here's the exact process. This works identically on any Android device running Tachiyomi v0.13 or later.

Step 1: Open the Backup settings

Tap More in the bottom navigation bar, then go to Settings → Backup and Restore. You'll see two main options: Create Backup and Restore Backup.

Step 2: Tap “Create Backup”

A selection dialog appears listing everything that can be included in the backup. You'll see checkboxes for:

☑ Library (manga entries)
☑ Categories
☑ Chapters (reading progress)
☑ Tracking
☑ Extensions
☑ History
☑ Settings

Select all of them. There's no meaningful file size penalty for including everything; a library of 200 titles with full data typically produces a .tachibk file between 1 and 5 MB. The compression is efficient.

Step 3: Choose where to save the file

Tachiyomi opens Android's file picker. Navigate to where you want to save the backup. The two practical options are:

• Google Drive: Navigate to your Drive folder in the file picker. The file saves directly to cloud storage.
• Internal storage Downloads folder: Saves locally; you'll need to manually move it off the device afterward.

Saving directly to Google Drive is the better choice. A backup that lives only on the phone it's backing up protects you from nothing except accidental data deletion within the app.

Step 4: Confirm the save

Tachiyomi saves the file with an automatic timestamp in the filename, something like tachiyomi_2024-11-15_09-30.tachibk. That timestamp is useful when you have multiple backups and need to identify the most recent one.

Step 5: Verify the file exists

Open Google Drive (or your file manager) and confirm that the backup file exists and has a nonzero size. A backup you can't verify is a backup you can't rely on. A healthy backup for a mid-sized library should be at least several hundred KB; if it shows as 0 KB or a few bytes, something went wrong, and you should repeat the process.

How to Enable Automatic Tachiyomi Backups

Manual backups are good. Automatic backups are better, because they happen whether you remember or not.

Tachiyomi's automatic backup runs on a schedule you define and saves to a location you specify. To set it up, go to

More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Automatic Backups.

The settings you'll configure:

Backup frequency: Options range from every 6 hours to once a week. For most users, daily is the right balance, frequent enough to capture recent progress, infrequent enough not to generate clutter. If you read heavily and update your library often, every 12 hours is reasonable.

Backup location: Same file picker as manual backups. Set this to a Google Drive folder, not internal storage. The whole point of scheduled backups is that they run without your involvement if the location is on the phone itself, you still need to manually move files off.

Maximum number of backups to keep: Tachiyomi can automatically delete old backups to prevent the folder from filling up. Setting this to 5–10 gives you a meaningful history window without accumulating dozens of files.

Once configured, Tachiyomi runs the backup in the background at your specified interval. You don't need the app open. You don't need to do anything. Check the backup folder once after setup to confirm it worked, then forget about it until you actually need it.

How to Restore a Tachiyomi Backup

The restore process is where most guides get thin. Here's what actually happens, and what to watch for.

Step 1: Open Restore Backup

Go to More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Restore Backup. The file picker opens immediately.

Step 2: Locate and select your .tachibk file

Navigate to wherever you saved the backup Google Drive, local storage, wherever. Tap the file. Tachiyomi reads it and displays a summary of its contents before proceeding.

Step 3: Review what will be restored

Tachiyomi displays a breakdown of the backup file: the number of manga entries, categories, tracked titles, and so on. Verify this matches what you expect. If you're restoring after a device switch, the numbers here should roughly match your previous library size.

Step 4: Confirm the restore

Tap Restore. Tachiyomi processes the file for a large library; this can take 30–90 seconds. Don't close the app during this process.

Step 5: Wait for extension reinstallation

After the library data is restored, Tachiyomi needs to reinstall your extensions. It does this automatically by fetching them from the repository. This requires an internet connection and takes a few minutes, depending on how many extensions you have. Some extensions may not install if they've been removed from the repository since your backup was made in that case, you'll see an error for those specific extensions only.

Step 6: Verify the restore

Check your Library tab. Your manga should be there, organized in your categories. Tap a few titles and verify the reading progress looks correct. Check More → Settings → Tracking to confirm your tracker connections are still active. You may need to re-authenticate.

Backup Methods Compared: What Works for Different Situations

Scenario	Best Backup Method	Storage Location	Restore Time
Regular ongoing protection	Automatic backup (daily)	Google Drive	2–5 min
Before a Tachiyomi update	Manual backup	Google Drive	2–5 min
Migrating to a new phone	Manual backup + download file transfer	Google Drive + local copy	5–15 min
After major library changes	Manual backup	Google Drive	2–5 min
Emergency (phone broken)	Auto backup to Drive	Google Drive	2–5 min
Migrating to Mihon	Manual export from Tachiyomi	Local storage or Drive	5–10 min
Recommended for most users	Automatic daily to Google Drive

The migration to Mihon case deserves specific mention. Mihon the community fork that's now the actively developed successor to Tachiyomi reads Tachiyomi's .tachibk format natively. You export from Tachiyomi, import into Mihon, and your entire library transfers.

How to Transfer Your Tachiyomi Library to a New Phone

Moving to a new Android device is one of the most common reasons people look up Tachiyomi backup and restore and it's slightly different from a same-device restore because extensions need to be installed before the backup can fully load.

On your old phone:

Create a fresh manual backup now, even if automatic backups are running. You want the most current snapshot of your library, not something from last night. Save it to Google Drive.

Also, if you have downloaded chapters you want to keep, copy the entire Android/data/eu.kanade.tachiyomi/files/downloads/ folder to your computer or cloud storage. The backup file won't restore these.

On your new phone:

Install Tachiyomi first by downloading the APK from tachiyomi.site. Open the app once the empty library screen is expected. Don't add anything yet.

Go to More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Restore Backup. Navigate to your .tachibk file on Google Drive (you'll need the Drive app installed). Select it and confirm the restore.

Tachiyomi handles the rest: it restores library metadata, reinstalls extensions, and rebuilds your category structure. The process takes longer on a new device because extensions are downloading fresh plan for 5–10 minutes on a decent connection.

After the restore completes, if you want your downloaded chapters back, copy the downloads folder back to the same path on the new device using a file manager that supports the Android/data/ directory.

Real Numbers: What to Expect from Backup and Restore

Based on publicly available community data and GitHub issue reports:

• Backup file size: 500 KB – 8 MB for most users (scales with library size and history depth)
• Backup creation time: 5–30 seconds depending on library size
• Restore time (same device): 30–90 seconds for the backup file; additional 2–5 minutes for extension reinstallation
• Restore time (new device): 5–15 minutes including extension downloads
• Maximum library entries in a single backup: No documented hard limit; community reports of 1,000+ title libraries restoring successfully
• Backup format version: .tachibk format; compatible between Tachiyomi and Mihon

One important data point: the older .json backup format from earlier Tachiyomi versions is still readable by current versions for restore purposes, but new backups always use .tachibk. If you have old .json backups from a version before v0.13, they'll still work for restore but you should create a fresh .tachibk backup afterward.

Who Needs This Feature Most

If you are a heavy reader with 100+ titles in your library... the backup system isn't optional for you it's essential infrastructure. A library that size represents months of curation: specific categories, careful reading progress tracking, tracker links set up for each title. Enable automatic daily backups to Google Drive now if you haven't already. The three minutes it takes to configure is insurance against losing all of that.

If you are a casual reader following 10–20 series... you can get by with manual backups before major changes (updates, extension overhauls). Make it a habit to create a backup before any Tachiyomi update and after adding a batch of new titles. The automatic backup is still worth setting up it's two minutes of configuration you'll never have to think about again.

If you are switching from Tachiyomi to Mihon... the backup file is your migration tool. Export from Tachiyomi, import into Mihon. Everything transfers: library, progress, categories, tracking. The one thing that doesn't carry over automatically is your extension trust settings you'll need to re-trust extensions after the import. That's a minor friction point in an otherwise smooth migration.

What the Backup Costs (Time and Storage)

Everything about Tachiyomi's backup system is free. There's no paid backup tier, no storage limit within the app, and no premium feature that unlocks better backup options.

The real costs are indirect:

Factor	Cost
Google Drive storage	Free up to 15 GB; most .tachibk files are under 10 MB total across many backups
Time to set up automatic backups	~3 minutes, one-time
Time per manual backup	~30 seconds
Time to restore	5–15 minutes depending on device and extensions
Downloaded chapters backup (separate)	Depends on your downloads; can range from

The only scenario where storage cost becomes relevant is if you're also backing up downloaded chapters to Google Drive; those files are image-heavy and can reach several GB for a large download library. Google Drive storage plans show current pricing if you need additional space, though the free 15 GB tier handles the .tachibk files themselves without issue.

Security and Best Practices for Tachiyomi Backups

A backup file is only useful if it's accessible when you need it and trustworthy when you restore from it. Four practices cover the real risk surface.

1. Always back up to a location off your device

A backup saved only to your phone's internal storage doesn't protect you from the scenarios you actually face: phone theft, damage, factory reset, or failed update. Google Drive is the minimum. Some users keep a secondary copy on a computer or NAS for redundancy. That's overkill for most people, but the principle stands: off-device means genuinely off-device.

2. Create a manual backup before every Tachiyomi update

Even if automatic backups are running, create a fresh manual backup immediately before installing a new Tachiyomi APK. The automatic backup may be hours old. An update-related data issue is much easier to recover from when your backup is from five minutes ago, not last night.

3. Verify backup files after creation

Open Google Drive and confirm that the .tachibk file exists and has a reasonable size. A 0 KB file, or a file smaller than 100 KB, in a meaningful library indicates that the backup didn't complete correctly. Create a new backup and verify again.

4. Test a restore on a working device before you need it

This sounds paranoid until you discover your backup file is corrupted at the exact moment you need it most. If you've never done a restore before, do a test restore on your current device; it's non-destructive, since restoring to an existing library merges rather than replaces. You'll know the process works and that your backup file is valid.

Troubleshooting Backup and Restore Failures

Problem: Backup file shows 0 KB after creation.
Cause: The backup process failed silently, usually due to a permissions issue at the save location or insufficient storage space.
Fix: Check that Tachiyomi has storage permissions (Settings → Apps → Tachiyomi → Permissions → Storage). Verify you have at least 50 MB of free space on your device. Try saving to a different location, switch from internal storage to Google Drive, or vice versa.

Problem: "Restore failed" error with no additional details.
Cause: The backup file is corrupted, or it was created by a significantly newer version of Tachiyomi than the one you're restoring into.
Fix: First, confirm the .tachibk file isn't 0 KB. If the file looks healthy, check that your current Tachiyomi version is at least as recent as the version that created the backup. Restoring a newer backup format into an older app version sometimes fails. Update Tachiyomi first, then retry the restore.

Problem: Library restores, but chapters show as unread even though you had progress.
Cause: Reading progress wasn't included in the backup, or the backup was created before you marked those chapters as read.
Fix: Check if "Chapters" was selected when the backup was created. Going forward, always include Chapters in your backup selection. If progress is genuinely lost in this restore, check whether your tracking service (AniList, MAL) has your last synced progress. You can use that as a reference to manually mark chapters as read.

Problem: Extensions don't reinstall after restore.
Cause: The extension repository may be unreachable, or specific extensions may have been removed from the repository since the backup was created.
Fix: Check your internet connection. Extension reinstallation requires network access. Switch to mobile data if Wi-Fi is restricted. For extensions that fail because they've been removed from the repository, you'll need to find alternative extensions for those sources or accept that those specific sources are no longer available.

Problem: Tracker connections are lost after restore.
Cause: Authentication tokens aren't stored in the backup, the backup records which trackers you used and which entries were linked, but login credentials expire.
Fix: Go to More → Settings → Tracking and re-authenticate each service. Your tracker links (which manga connects to which tracking entry) should still be present; you're just re-establishing the login session, not re-linking everything from scratch.

Problem: The restore completed, but some manga are missing from the library.
Cause: If an extension that hosted those titles is no longer available, Tachiyomi can restore the manga entry, but can't display it without a working source.
ZFix: Search for those titles through alternative extensions. Once you find the same manga on a working source, Tachiyomi can often migrate the entry. Long-press the manga, tap Migrate, and point it to the new source. Your reading progress attaches to the migrated entry.

Frequently Asked Questions

In Conclusion: Set It Up Now, Not After Something Goes Wrong

The Tachiyomi backup system is simple and fast, and it covers everything that matters in your library except downloaded chapter files. The biggest mistake users make isn't creating bad backups. It's not creating any backup at all until they've already lost something they can't get back.

Here's the routine that protects everything:

Step 1: Right now, open More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Create Backup. Include all data types. Save to Google Drive. Verify the file is there.

Step 2: Enable automatic backups. Go to More → Settings → Backup and Restore → Automatic Backups. Set the frequency to daily, the location to Google Drive, and the maximum number of files to keep to 7. Done, you never have to think about it again.

Step 3: Next time you update Tachiyomi or make a large change to your library, create a manual backup first. One extra .tachibk file is trivial. Losing a 200-title library is not.

One honest caveat: the backup doesn't protect your downloaded chapters. If you rely on offline reading while traveling or in areas with poor connectivity, your download folders need a separate copy stored somewhere. A file manager copies to a computer before making major changes. It's not elegant, but it works.

For everything connected to this the complete Tachiyomi setup guide and why Tachiyomi isn't on the Play Store, tachiyomi.site has guides for each part of the process.

Your library is worth protecting. The backup takes 30 seconds.

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