Desktop App FAQ
Licensing, safety, data handling and troubleshooting — the questions we hear most about the XWX Backup desktop app.
Activating Pro in the desktop app
- Purchase a plan on the desktop pricing page — checkout runs via Polar and you receive a license key by email
- In the app, open Settings → General → Account and sign in — Google one-click sign-in or an email verification code, whichever you prefer
- Paste your license key into Link key and confirm — the app switches to Pro immediately
Your subscription entitles you to up to 3 personal devices. Subscription status is cached for up to 24 hours and refreshed silently; if you cancel, Pro features expire within one cache period.
Account safety, honestly stated
Batch export reads data through your real signed-in browser session, and platforms don’t officially bless automation. We design for minimum risk — conservative pacing, randomized intervals, cooldowns, per-platform risk levels, no parallel operation of same-company platforms — but we won’t promise immunity that nobody can offer.
If that trade-off doesn’t suit you, keep schedules sparse, use the safest pacing tier, and prefer smaller, more frequent runs.
Languages & appearance
The app UI ships in English, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese — change it in Settings → General → Language.
Three themes are included — Studio Pro (dark, focused), Glass (dark translucency) and Lumen (light) — switched with one click.
Updates
The app checks for updates automatically and shows an in-app banner when a new version is ready. Updates are downloaded in the background, signature-verified, and applied on restart. If an update fails signature verification, the app refuses to install it and points you to the official download page.
Troubleshooting quick hits
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Extension shows Not connected | Re-open your browser; click Check connection. First-time pairing may need the pairing page reopened |
| Platform list empty | Log in to that platform in your browser, then click Refresh list |
| Items fail mid-run | Usually a logged-out session; re-login and re-run — finished items are skipped |
| Search returns stale results | Settings → Vault → Re-scan |
| Update fails signature check | Download the latest installer manually from the official site |
| Can't find a Native messaging option or proxy file | Normal - the app no longer registers browser-native bridges; the extension connects automatically over a local secure connection |
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I download XWX Backup?+
From the official site’s desktop page. Only download installers from the official domain — updates are signature-checked for exactly this reason.
What’s the difference between XWX Backup and the XWX Exporter extension?+
The extension exports the conversation you’re looking at, in 7 formats (PDF, Markdown, Word, TXT, JSON, Notion, clipboard). The desktop app backs up your entire archive: batch export across 11 platforms, scheduled auto-backup, a local vault with full-text search, and Obsidian sync. They complement each other, and one Pro subscription covers both.
What happens when I delete a conversation on the platform?+
Nothing happens to your local copy. Once a conversation is in your vault, it stays there regardless of what happens on the platform side — that is the whole point of a local archive.
How many devices can I use?+
Up to 3 personal devices per account. Unbind a device from Account settings to free a slot.
Is my conversation data ever stored by XWX?+
No. Vault data stays on your machine; the app has no server-side storage of your conversations. Optional AI features call the provider you configure, directly.
Can bulk exporting get my account banned?+
Any automated access carries some risk, and we won’t pretend otherwise. XWX Backup mitigates it seriously: conservative pacing (~6 seconds per item), randomized intervals, cooldown breaks every 100 items, automatic back-off on rate limits, and same-company platforms are never accessed in parallel. Keep pacing slow for large first imports and prefer smaller, more frequent runs.
Do I need to hand over my platform passwords?+
Never. The app drives the free browser extension, and the extension reads conversations through your normal logged-in session in your own browser. The app never sees your credentials.
How is this different from the official ChatGPT/Gemini data export?+
The official export is a one-off raw JSON/HTML archive you have to request and wait for — fine for migration, awkward as a working archive. XWX Backup keeps a continuous archive instead: every conversation arrives as an individual, readable Markdown file, deduplicated, full-text indexed and Obsidian-ready, across 11 platforms in one vault.