Download your family data
A family download is one file holding everything Little Binder keeps for your family: the creations, the pictures, the voice notes, and the details that go with them. It is yours to keep on your own device, and you do not need a Little Binder account to open it.
Why you might want one
Some families want a copy simply because it is theirs: a folder on a home computer, alongside the other pictures. Some want one before changing phones. And some want one before closing the account, which is the moment it matters most, because deletion is permanent and the archive cannot be rebuilt afterward.
You can make a download whenever you like, as often as you like. Nothing about it changes or removes anything in the app.
Step by step
1. Sign in as a grown-up
Open Little Binder and sign in with the grown-up account. A child profile cannot start a download, and a viewer account sees only the creations shared with it, so there is no family archive to download from one.
2. Open Family data controls
Go to Settings, then Family data controls. This is the same screen that holds account deletion, so everything about your family's data lives in one place.
3. Choose Download family data
Tap Download family data. Little Binder gathers the archive on the server and sends it to your device.
4. Give it a little time
A family with many pictures and voice notes makes a large archive, so leave the app open while it works. A big archive can take a few minutes.
5. Save it somewhere you trust
When it is ready, choose where to keep or share it. The file is named little-binder-family-<date>.zip. A computer, an external drive, or your usual cloud storage all work.
What is inside
The archive opens with whatever unzip tool your device already has. Inside there are three things:
- family.json lists the account, the family and child profiles, every creation, an index of the media, notification choices, and purchase history.
- media/ holds the pictures and the audio, one file each.
- name-pronunciations/ holds the recording of each child's name, where one was added.
The pictures and voice notes are ordinary image and audio files. They open in the apps your device already uses, which means the archive stays readable long after any one app is gone.
Before you delete an account
If the download is a step on the way to closing the account, do it in this order:
- Make the download and save it somewhere you trust.
- Open the archive and check that the creations and voice notes you care about are really in there.
- Only then start the deletion, in the app under Settings, Family data controls, or on the delete account page if you no longer have the app.
After a deletion is confirmed, the account is held for 14 days before anything is removed, and signing in during that time calls the deletion off. Once the hold ends, the archive is gone and a download can no longer be made.
Check it before you rely on it. Open the archive once and look inside. A copy you have never opened is not yet a backup.
Leave the app open. A large archive takes a few minutes to prepare, and closing the app partway means starting again.
A stopped download changes nothing. Nothing is removed or altered by a download that did not finish. Try again whenever suits.
Make one before deleting. The hold gives you 14 days, but the download has to be made while the account is still there.
If the download will not finish
A few things are worth checking: that the device has room for the whole archive, that the connection is steady, and that the app stayed open while it worked. Waiting a little and trying again is safe.
If it still will not finish, write to support@littlebinder.com before starting a deletion, and leave the account in place until you have the copy in hand.