FizzleFoil Guide
FizzleFoil for Mac. Using an iPhone or iPad? Read the iPhone & iPad guide.
1. What FizzleFoil does
iCloud keeps your photos and files in sync across your devices. That's useful, but it isn't a backup: if something is deleted or damaged on one device, the change spreads to all of them. FizzleFoil keeps a separate copy on a drive you own.
The promises FizzleFoil keeps:
- It never changes your iCloud. It only reads from Photos and iCloud Drive. The single exception is Restore to Photos, which only ever adds photos back, and only when you ask.
- Every copy is checked. Each file is fingerprinted on the way in, then read back from the drive and compared. A file only counts as safe once the two match.
- Nothing on the drive is thrown away. If something changes or disappears from iCloud, the old copy is set aside in its own folder rather than deleted.
- Your backup is readable without the app. Everything is saved as ordinary files and folders you can open in Finder.
2. What you need
- A Mac running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.
- An external drive with enough free space for everything you back up. FizzleFoil tells you how much it needs before the first backup.
- For Photos: iCloud Photos turned on in the Photos app on this Mac (Photos → Settings → iCloud). Either storage option is fine, including Optimise Mac Storage: FizzleFoil fetches full-size originals from iCloud as it goes.
3. Getting started
The FizzleFoil window walks through four steps from top to bottom.
Step 1: Photos access
Click Continue. macOS asks whether FizzleFoil may use your Photos library. Choose to allow full access. FizzleFoil only reads it.
Step 2: Backup drive
Plug in your drive, click Choose Drive…, pick the drive (or a folder on it) and click Use This Drive. FizzleFoil creates a folder called FizzleFoil Backup inside whatever you pick, and remembers the drive even if it's renamed or plugged into a different port.
Step 3: What to back up
Tick the things you want. Photos is ticked to begin with. When you tick something that needs permission (Contacts, Calendars), macOS asks straight away.
iCloud Drive needs two quick clicks the first time. Apple's rules mean FizzleFoil can only read folders you've handed to it:
- Tick iCloud Drive. A window opens showing your iCloud Drive. Click Allow.
- A second window opens for the app folders (Pages, Numbers, Keynote and so on). Press ⌘A to select everything, then click Allow.
If an app creates a new iCloud folder later, use Add App Folders… under the folder list to add it. You can untick any folder you don't want backed up.
Step 4: Back up
Click Back Up Now. Before the very first backup to a drive, FizzleFoil works out how much needs copying and how long it might take, and asks before starting. The first backup is the big one; later backups only copy what's new or changed, so they're usually quick.
You can keep using your Mac while it runs, and stop it at any time with Stop. The next backup carries on from where it left off.
4. What gets backed up
| Item | What's saved | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Photos | Every photo and video as originally taken, plus the edited version if you've edited it, the moving part of Live Photos, RAW files, and Photos' record of your edits. Albums are mirrored as folders. | Album folders take up no extra space: each one points at the photo already saved, rather than storing it again. |
| Shared Albums | Shared albums, including ones other people share with you, as folders. | Apple only keeps smaller copies in shared albums (videos up to 720p), so that's what is saved. |
| iCloud Drive | Your files and folders, plus the app folders you allowed (Pages, Numbers and so on). | Files stored only in iCloud are downloaded, copied, then cleared from your Mac again so it doesn't fill up. Some apps (Books, for example) keep their iCloud folder private, so FizzleFoil can't read them. |
| Contacts | All contacts from every account, as one standard contacts file. | The notes field on each contact isn't included: Apple keeps it private. |
| Calendars & Reminders | One standard calendar file per calendar and per reminders list. | Subscribed calendars (holidays, sports fixtures) and Birthdays are skipped, since they rebuild themselves. If you deleted a single date from a repeating event, it may reappear after a restore. |
5. Automatic backups
Under Backup drive there are two options. Use either or both.
- Back up automatically when this drive is plugged in. Plug the drive in and a backup starts a few seconds later.
- Back up every day at … Pick a time. If the Mac was asleep or the drive wasn't connected at that time, the backup runs as soon as it can.
With either option on, FizzleFoil starts when you log in and waits in the menu bar (the shield icon). Closing the window keeps it running. The menu bar icon shows when the last backup ran and lets you start one or open the window. The first time, macOS may ask you to allow FizzleFoil under System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
When an automatic backup finishes you get a notification saying everything is safe, or what went wrong. If a daily backup is waiting for the drive, you get one reminder a day, so a missed backup can't go unnoticed.
Your Mac needs to be switched on and logged in. FizzleFoil doesn't wake a sleeping Mac, but it catches up when you next use it.
6. What's on your drive
Everything sits inside the FizzleFoil Backup folder, organised so it makes sense without the app:
There's also a hidden .fizzlefoil folder: FizzleFoil's own record of what's on the drive. Leave it alone; it's what makes later backups fast.
Previous versions and Removed from iCloud
When you re-edit a photo or change a file, the new version replaces the one in the main folders, and the old one moves to Previous versions with the date in its name. When you delete something from iCloud, its copy moves to Removed from iCloud. Nothing is ever deleted from the drive by FizzleFoil, so these folders grow over time. Tidy them yourself in Finder whenever you're sure you don't need what's in them.
7. Checking your backup
Drives can fail quietly: a file can go bad years after it was copied, and you only find out when you need it. Check Now (in Check my backup) reads every file on the drive and compares it with the fingerprint taken when it was copied.
- All files match: your backup is good.
- Damaged files: usually a sign the drive is starting to fail. Click Repair: the bad copies are set aside (not deleted) and fresh ones are copied from iCloud. Consider replacing the drive.
- Missing files: something was removed from the drive by hand. The next backup puts them back if they're still in iCloud.
A check reads the whole backup, so a big one takes a while. Once every month or two is plenty.
8. Getting things back
Photos: Restore to Photos
Click Restore… under Restore to Photos. FizzleFoil lists photos and videos that are in your backup but missing from your Photos library, grouped by month. It recognises photos already in your library, even from a backup made on another Mac, so nothing gets doubled up.
- Tick the months you want back.
- Choose whether to restore edits (so they can still be changed or undone in Photos) and whether to put photos back in their albums.
- Click Restore and confirm.
Restored photos keep their original date, location and favourite setting, and upload to iCloud like any new photo. Nothing already in Photos is changed or removed.
Contacts
Double-click Contacts/All Contacts.vcf. The Contacts app offers to import it, and spots duplicates.
Calendars and Reminders
Double-click a file in Calendars or Reminders, and the Calendar or Reminders app imports it. The same files also work with Outlook and Google Calendar.
iCloud Drive files
Open the iCloud Drive folder on your backup in Finder and drag what you need back into iCloud Drive.
An older version of something
Look in Previous versions (for things that changed) or Removed from iCloud (for things deleted). The date in each file's name tells you when it was set aside.
9. Drive formats
| Format | Works with FizzleFoil? |
|---|---|
| APFS or Mac OS Extended | Yes, fully. Recommended. |
| exFAT | Yes. Album folders will only open on a Mac. |
| FAT32 (MS-DOS) | Partly. It can't hold any file over 4 GB, so long videos won't fit, and album folders only open on a Mac. |
FizzleFoil tells you if your drive is exFAT or FAT32. To change a drive to APFS, use Disk Utility. Reformatting erases everything on the drive, so do it before your first backup.
10. Privacy
FizzleFoil has no account and no servers, and collects nothing. Your photos, files, contacts and calendars go from your Mac to your drive and nowhere else. The only thing that ever goes back to iCloud is a photo you choose to restore.
11. Questions and problems
Why is the first backup so slow?
It copies everything, and much of it may have to come down from iCloud first. A big library can take hours. Later backups only copy what's new.
“This drive isn't plugged in at the moment”
Plug the drive in. If it's connected but still not recognised, click Change… and choose it again.
Photos access says it's turned off
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Photos, and switch FizzleFoil to full access.
Some iCloud Drive folders aren't in the list
Click Add App Folders…, press ⌘A, then Allow. If a folder still doesn't appear, that app keeps its iCloud folder private (Books is one), and Apple's rules don't let FizzleFoil read it.
“Backup waiting” notification
A daily backup is due, but the drive isn't connected. Plug it in and the backup starts.
Can I use the drive for other things too?
Yes. FizzleFoil only works inside its own FizzleFoil Backup folder.
Can I take the drive to another Mac?
Yes. The backup is ordinary files and folders, and FizzleFoil on another Mac recognises what's already there.
Is my Mac's storage used up during a backup?
Only briefly. Files that live only in iCloud are cleared from your Mac again straight after they're copied.
Where are the reports?
In FizzleFoil Backup/Logs. Click Show Details in the app to open the latest one.
12. Removing FizzleFoil
- Open FizzleFoil and choose FizzleFoil → Remove FizzleFoil… from the menu bar (it's also in FizzleFoil → Settings…).
- Decide about your backup. It's kept unless you tick Also delete my backup from the drive, in which case the “FizzleFoil Backup” folder goes to the drive's Bin.
- Click Remove FizzleFoil. This switches off the background helper and menu bar icon, cancels its notifications and forgets its settings.
- Finder then shows FizzleFoil in Applications. Drag it to the Bin.
If you'd rather just drag the app to the Bin without the first step, that works too; the background helper stops with it. Using Remove FizzleFoil first simply leaves nothing behind.
Removing the iPhone or iPad app is covered in the iPhone & iPad guide.