A long-requested feature from third-party photo app developers is finally coming to fruition. Apple is working on a new infrastructure in the final development stages ahead of iOS 26.1 that will enable more reliable backups for photo apps.
PhotoKit Launches the Era of Seamless Background Backups
This new feature, detailed on Apple’s documentation blog, allows developers to enable background photo backups through PhotoKit. This will be a significant game-changer for cloud backup services.
Apple describes the new feature as follows:
“In iOS 26.1 and later, PhotoKit provides a new Background Resource Upload extension type that allows photo apps to provide seamless cloud backup experiences. The system manages and processes uploads in the background on your app’s behalf, even when you switch to other apps or lock your device. When it’s time to process uploads, the system calls your extension and automatically handles network connectivity, power management, and scheduling to ensure reliable processing.”
This means that third-party photo and cloud backup apps can now automatically and reliably back up images in the background, rather than relying on outdated workarounds or waiting for the user to reopen the app.
In its detailed documentation article, Apple also shared the steps developers need to follow to take advantage of this new feature. These steps include:
- Creating and configuring the extension target
- Enabling the extension
- Processing upload jobs
- Retrying failed jobs
- Approving completed jobs
- Creating upload jobs
- Handling extension termination
Some aspects of the new feature will require explicit user consent, while others will work automatically after the extension is enabled. Apple also notes that multiple aspects of the framework are still in beta and are subject to change before the final release to developers.
