The direct answer: there are two kinds, local and cloud

“How much version history is kept, and for how long” depends on which kind of protection you’re using — the two follow different rules:

  • Local manual snapshots (free): Stored on your own device and fully under your control. You decide how many versions to keep and for how long — TopoBlocks won’t clean them up automatically or quietly delete old versions. The trade-off is that they take up local storage and exist only on this device, so they’re gone if you switch devices or lose the device.
  • Cloud version history (World Pro subscription): Part of World Pro (¥22/month, 20GB), which provides automatic cloud backups and version history. How many versions are kept and for how long follow your plan rules and are affected by the 20GB of space. The exact limits are shown in-app — we won’t hard-code a number here, to avoid giving you wrong expectations.

If you want to first understand that a snapshot and a backup aren’t the same thing, see what’s the difference between a snapshot and a backup.

No matter how much is kept, restoring never overwrites

This is a red line at TopoBlocks: no matter how many versions you’ve kept, restoring any old version always “creates a new copy” and never overwrites your current world. Every kept version carries hash, size, and source information, so it’s traceable and comparable. That means you can comfortably keep extra versions and go back to any one at any time, without worrying that one mistaken action will wipe out your current progress. For how to pick a version and how to restore, see how to restore a world’s version history.

How to choose: is local enough, or do you need the cloud

  • You only want to keep a few checkpoints occasionally and don’t care about cross-device: Local manual snapshots are enough — free, instant, and fully under your control. Just remember they travel with the device.
  • You need long-term retention, cross-device access, and protection against losing a device: Local isn’t enough here, so we recommend subscribing to World Pro to turn on cloud version history and backups. Within the 20GB of space, how many versions are kept and for how long follow the plan rules, and both pricing and limits are shown in-app.

If you’re unsure whether to pay for the cloud, you can first make an offline archive of the world to keep your own copy, then decide whether you need automated cloud history. Whether local or cloud, the source file is always preserved and traceable, and a restore is always a new copy.