# Backups: what runs on its own, and what does not

Local vault backups run automatically every few hours whatever your settings say. Copying them off the machine is a separate thing that is off by default.

*https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/vault-backups — last checked 2026-09-07*

## Steps

1. You do not have to switch local backups on. They run automatically every few hours regardless of any backup setting, and that is true on every edition including Free.
2. Copying those backups off the machine is the separate part, and it uses restic, a program NeuralVault does not install for you.
3. The Off-box backup card is deliberately not on the Settings page unless off-box backup is already enabled. On a normal install you will not find it, and that is the intended state rather than a missing screen.

## How to tell it worked

Nothing to check for local backups: they are not something you enable, so there is no switch that could be in the wrong position.

## If it does not work

**You want off-box backup and cannot find the card.**

It only renders when off-box backup is already enabled, so there is no way to turn it on from Settings in this build. It was taken off the default surface deliberately, because it can do nothing until restic is installed separately.

**You already had it on and want to change or stop it.**

The card is still there in that case, on purpose: anything already running keeps its off switch. Settings, then System, and it sits under Background jobs and Safety.

## Still stuck

Bug reports belong in the app, in Settings, About. Those carry no contact details, so they
get fixed rather than answered. To get a reply, email us instead: that route targets two
business days. https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/contact