Keep Your iCloud Data. Forever.
Parachute is a set-and-forget backup companion for iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive.
It automatically backs up your memories—photos, videos, and documents—to your own storage (or another cloud provider), giving you peace of mind and full control.
Your Data, Your Way
• Back up your entire iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive (including shared albums)
• Your photos originals in full resolution, any adjustment data, and the current edited version (also full resolution) are all backed up
• Choose from manual or scheduled runs
• Supports full, mirror, or smart incremental backups
• Select custom folders on your Mac for backup in addition to iCloud Drive locations
• Works with your external drives, NAS, SFTP mounts or other cloud "drives' available in Finder (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
• Smart offloading: avoids filling up your Mac’s disk while keeping files available on demand
Why It Matters
• iCloud is great for sync — but not a true backup
• Accidental deletions, expired storage plans, or sync issues can lead to permanent loss
• Parachute protects your digital life from deletion and disaster
No Subscriptions. No Lock-In.
• One-time purchase — no recurring costs
• Your data stays in your storage, not ours
• No sign-ups, no telemetry, no bloat
FAQs
Q: How does Parachute save space while backing up iCloud?
A: Parachute downloads one file at a time from iCloud, backs it up to your chosen destination, and then re-offloads the file back to iCloud (if "Optimize Mac Storage" is enabled). This prevents your disk from filling up during backup.
Q: What backup modes are available?
A: Parachute offers three backup modes:
Full: Always copies all files, even if unchanged.
Mirror: Keeps the backup in exact sync with the source, including deletions.
Smart Incremental: Only copies new or changed files since the last backup.
Smart Incremental: Only copies new or changed files since the last backup.
Q: Are original and edited photo versions both preserved?
A: Yes. Parachute backs up both original and edited versions of your media when available.
Q: Will Parachute ever delete anything from iCloud?
A: No. Parachute is strictly read-only and will never delete files from iCloud.
Q: How do I restore my files?A: Your backups are just normal files and folders. Use Finder to browse and drag them back — no special app required.
Q: What happens with corrupt iCloud files?
A: If Parachute can't export a file due to corruption, it will notify you at the end of the backup. These files often cannot be recovered from iCloud or Photos manually either.
Q: Does it back up Shared Albums?
A: Yes. Parachute includes support for backing up Shared Albums and the media shared with you.
Q: Can I back up to a NAS, SFTP, or WebDAV mount?
A: Yes. Parachute supports local and remote destinations that are mounted on your Mac.
Q: Can I include non-iCloud folders in the backup?
A: Yes. You can add any folder on your Mac as a backup source using the Custom Folders option.
Q: Can I use Parachute Backup even if I don't use iCloud Photos?
A: Yes. Parachute will backup your photo library even if it's only local on your Mac.
This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Simple, reliable, and well-designed backup tool
ChrisLloydME
Parachute Backup is a wonderfully simple and effective backup tool. I used to find it incredibly troublesome to back up my iCloud Photos — it either required setting up a separate device to download everything locally, or using command-line tools that weren’t exactly user-friendly. This app completely solves that problem with a clear and intuitive GUI, making it perfect for ordinary users who just want to back up their iCloud data safely, in case of account issues or accidental deletions.The pricing is also very reasonable — it’s a one-time purchase and quite affordable. On top of that, the developer is extremely responsive and helpful. When I had a few questions about some features, they replied promptly and thoughtfully.Overall, a great piece of software that does one thing and does it well.
Peace of Mind for My Entire Photo Library
freyman
I rarely write reviews, but Parachute Backup solved a very real problem for me that nothing else could.My goal was simple: create a true backup of my Apple Photos (iPhoto) library; not just a synced copy that may or may not have the full resolution images. With recent changes to how iCloud works, it became unclear whether services like Backblaze could reliably capture full-resolution photos along with all metadata from a local Photos library. That was a risk I was not willing to accept.Parachute Backup fixed that gap perfectly.It creates a clean, incremental backup of my entire Photos library to an external hard drive. From there, Backblaze treats that external drive like any other and backs it up to the cloud without issue. This gives me a complete, layered backup strategy:iCloud for offsite access and syncing (not a true backup)A local external drive copy created by ParachuteA cloud backup of that external drive via BackblazeThis is the first time I feel confident that my photo library, including full-resolution images and metadata, is actually protected.The app is straightforward, reliable, and does exactly what it promises. If you care about your photo library and want a real backup, not just synchronization, Parachute Backup is an essential tool.
Nice, but scheduling is flakey
bfchris
I confirm what another reviewer said: the scheduled backups don’t follow the schedule, but seem to run when you open the application to change something or to verify backups are happening. I just opened to add another application which saves its files in iCloud Drive, and the “scheduled” weekly backup started running although it’s not the right day. The words in that section said the backup would run again on a day and time which just happen to be 7 days from when I opened the application! This makes me wonder whether scheduled backups run at all unless I open the app; or do they run weekly (if set to weekly) but with the clock restarting whenever you open the app? Very confusing and frightening for users, who won’t know whether to trust this “backup” app to do its job.
One of it’s kind
BillieSoniq
The fact that there’s nothing out there like this really blows my mind; Things I love: It’s simple; it does the work of coordinating a complicated RSYNC method that you’d have to build out and schedule yourself and does it in a clean, managed app with a incremental schedule. It does iCloud and photos. I’d want to give it 4.5 stars actually, except there are just a few little things on the Wishlist: - Logging: I wish it would tell you which files it ‘incrementally updated’ as well as a log in general. - Notifications: I’d like to know via email or SMS or push if IS or NOT doing something as it’s scheduled to do - Like, I did a one time back up, and didn’t realize that when I did so, that stopped the interval backups, so for the next ten days, it wasn’t backing up regularly. - Music: I wish it could backup the music library and ‘pull’ the music I contributed to Apple Music - as in the hundreds of cds I ripped to my library that are now merged with Apple Music in some weird way - I’d love to have an offline backup of that. That may be an Apple thing. I also wish it was more obvious that you could choose any additional folders to backup - when you choose additional sources, it says “ Please select a folder to add to iCloud backup’ which feels like I am adding to ‘iCloud’ - which was misleading. Small thing. Also, - Auto Mount Drives: If its pulling from my network, and the drive isn’t mounted, I am not sure that it’s able to authenticate the mount to do the backup. But, honestly: Grab a USB SSD, run this app, and have peace of mind that you’ll have a full backup of your data quick and simply.
YOUR BACKUPS AT A GLANCE
The main window is rebuilt around what's most relevant: whether a backup is running, how long it will take, and what all your backups have added up to.
MIRRORING FOR PHOTOS
A Photos backup can now follow your library: items you delete leave the backup too. A Deleted folder keeps them first, for Photos and Files alike, for as long as you choose.
BACKUP PLANS
Set up multiple plans in addition to the main one, each with its own set of Photos, Folders, Destination and Schedule. Start, stop and follow them from the Backup Plans window.
SHORTCUTS AND SIRI
Start Backup, Stop Backup, Current Backup and Last Backup come to the Mac, with the same names as on iPhone. A shortcut can pick the plan it runs.
ALSO IN THIS UPDATE
• Proper Mac menus: a new Backup menu starts, stops and opens your plans, Backup History and Missed Items, alongside the standard menus you know from other Mac apps.
• The menu bar icon has been redesigned. Its menu shows backup progress, starts and stops a backup and leads to Settings. The icon itself tells you when a backup is waiting or needs your attention.
• Much improved error reporting.
• Many other small improvements and bug fixes.
• Version 2.0.1: Minor fixes and new screenshots.
Version 2.0.2
• New: Option to keep deleted items forever.
• Fixed a crash shortly after starting a backup.
• More reliable mirroring, free space and progress for network share Destinations.
Version 2.0.3
• Drive or network share not connected? Parachute Backup now tells you which destination to connect, and the backup continues on its own once it is back.
• When your cloud storage asks you to sign in again, the backup stops right away instead of waiting for hours. Sign in from the main window and the backup runs again.
• Updating from 1.9: if your backup plan still needs a destination or a schedule, Parachute Backup opens its window at launch and sends a notification to remind you.
• File → New Plan is now always available.
• The Destination row shows drive or share and folder, like "NAS ▸ Backups".
Version 2.0.3
The developer, Leitmotif GmbH, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Contact Info
Usage Data
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
