Version 0.4.15 · macOS 13 or newer · Apple silicon

Sync and backup for the Mac, straight from the menu bar.

clonq mirrors, backs up and syncs folders in both directions: between folders on your Mac, external drives, SSH servers such as a Hetzner Storage Box, network shares and clouds. It works on its own in the background and keeps an exact record of every run.

Install clonq Buy clonq Pro · €29

Signed and notarised by Applersync and rclone built inEnglish and German

The reels of old mainframe tape drives are clonq’s mark. The app draws them in three styles; pick one here as in its settings.

Anything you can copy to or from.

A location is any place clonq copies to or from. clonq knows six kinds, and each one shows whether it is reachable right now, how much space is free and which jobs use it.

Six kinds

Folder on this Mac
Picked in the folder dialog.
Drive
Recognised by its unique identifier. A drive stays the same drive, even when it is mounted under another name.
Server (SSH)
clonq creates a key of its own for every server. A Hetzner Storage Box is one example.
Network share (SMB/NAS)
The password lives in the macOS keychain; the share is mounted as in the Finder.
Cloud
Amazon S3 and compatible storage, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox.
WebDAV
For example a Nextcloud.

A server is trusted once, and only that server.

clonq creates a key of its own for every server. A Hetzner Storage Box is one example.

Setting up a server

While you set it up, clonq shows the server’s fingerprints so you can compare them.
Only after you confirm does it send a password, once, to install its key.
The password is never stored.
From then on clonq accepts that server and no other.

One source, one target, three ways to copy.

A job connects a source with a target. You create it in an assistant with five steps, and only between locations that exist and are connected.

Three modes

Mirror

The target becomes an exact copy of the source.

Backup

New and changed files go to the target; nothing is ever deleted there.

Two-way

Each side takes over new, changed and deleted files from the other.

It runs when it should.

Every job starts by hand, or by itself on one of these triggers. Automatic triggers work while clonq is running, and clonq can start by itself when you log in.

Triggers

Manually
From the job view or the menu bar window.
When plugged in
As soon as the drive is connected.
On changes
After an adjustable quiet time. For Two-way, on both sides.
Every N minutes
At a fixed interval.
Daily
At a set time. A run missed while the Mac slept is caught up when it wakes.
After another job
Jobs in a chain, one after the other.

Built so nothing disappears by accident.

A copy job that deletes the wrong thing is worse than no copy at all. clonq checks before it deletes, refuses what looks like a mistake and keeps what it removes.

Deletion limit

Deletion limit, preset

If a run would delete more than an adjustable share of the files, clonq stops first and asks.

Dry run
Play any job through beforehand. The result shows what would be new, changed and deleted, file by file.
First mirror run
The first run of a Mirror job is always a dry run with the deletion check.
Missing or empty source
A drive that is not plugged in, a missing folder or an empty source is never taken as “everything was deleted”. The run is refused.

Every run, file by file.

clonq logs each run file by file: new, changed, deleted, conflict, error. The job detail turns that into numbers you can read at a glance.

In the job detail

Live progress
The running job with its throughput.
Last 30 days
How much moved, and the folders that change the most.
Reliability
Streak without errors, success rate, average duration.
Saved transfer
How much copying the comparison spared.
Notifications
Problems with automatic runs are reported; every success too, if you like.

Add location

clonq Free · available now

clonq Pro.

Everything above is clonq Free and works today. Pro adds the four things below. A licence includes twelve months of updates. Pro stays unlocked for good in every version released within them.

Buy clonq Pro · €29

Sold by m8werk digital solutions UG. You receive the licence key and the invoice by email.

In Pro

Versioned backups

Every run becomes a dated snapshot, like Time Machine, on a drive, a server or the Storage Box. Unchanged files take no extra space. Old snapshots are thinned out automatically: hourly for a day, daily for a month, weekly after that. Restore any file from any day.

In Pro

Encrypted cloud copies

Files and file names are encrypted on the Mac before upload. The cloud provider only ever sees unreadable data.

In Pro

Integrity check

A scheduled checksum comparison of source and backup reports files that are damaged or differ, although size and date look the same.

In Pro

Watchdog and weekly report

A notice when a job has not succeeded for a set time, such as “Photos → Storage Box: no backup for 9 days”, and a weekly summary of what was backed up, the space used and when a target will be full.

Later, as extras for Pro

Run conditions: only on power, only on home Wi-Fi, not on a personal hotspot, within a time window
Upload bandwidth limit, by time of day
Command line, and the Shortcuts app and Siri: start jobs from Terminal or automations

Open the disk image, drag clonq into Applications.

Download clonq

The newest version, always under the same address.

That is all. clonq is signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens straight away. It looks for new versions by itself and installs them at the push of a button.

macOS 13 or newer

For Macs with Apple silicon.

Nothing else to install

rsync 3.5.1 and rclone 1.75.1 ship inside the app.

Signed updates

Updates are accepted only when they are signed with clonq’s own key.

Under the hood

Tauri 2 with Rust for the core; React 19, TypeScript and Tailwind 4 for the interface. rsync copies on the Mac and to SSH servers, rclone handles clouds, WebDAV and two-way sync with rclone bisync. The history lives in a SQLite database.

What clonq does not do yet.

Version 0.4.15, released 20 October 2026

For now macOS only; versions for Windows and Linux will follow.
Apple silicon only; there is no build for Intel Macs.

Sync and backup for the Mac, straight from the menu bar.

Anything you can copy to or from.

A server is trusted once, and only that server.

A look inside every location.

One source, one target, three ways to copy.

It runs when it should.

Built so nothing disappears by accident.

What a run removes is kept.

Every run, file by file.

Every run at a glance.

Lives in the menu bar, like Raycast.

clonq Pro.

Versioned backups

Encrypted cloud copies

Integrity check

Watchdog and weekly report

Open the disk image, drag clonq into Applications.

macOS 13 or newer

Nothing else to install

Signed updates

What clonq does not do yet.