Documentation
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Your data is yours, and the formats prove it. The full export is plain JSON that any text editor opens; recipes travel as a QR code, a PDF, or plain text; and the app reads the files you already have, from spreadsheets to a chronograph's own session file.
The JSON export
Import & Export › Export All Data (JSON) writes one file, named loadout-export-<date and time>.json, and hands it to the share sheet, where you pick where it goes: Files, a drive, AirDrop, an email. LoadOut writes only to its own temporary folder; the app you share it to does the saving, so no storage permission is ever requested.
Your phone's own backup deliberately excludes your reloading data. A JSON export in a folder you control is the free way to survive a lost or replaced phone.
Sharing a recipe
Import & Export › Export a Recipe (QR / PDF / Text), or the share control on any recipe, offers three forms:
| Form | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Share via QR | The recipe encoded as a QR code on screen. Another LoadOut user scans it with Import a Recipe › Scan a Recipe QR and reviews it before anything is saved. | Handing a load to the shooter next to you |
| Share as PDF | A one-page printout, formatted for print, with every field on the recipe. | The bench binder, or emailing someone without the app |
| Share as Text | A plain, copy-pastable record. | A message, a forum post, or a note |
A shared recipe arrives as a proposal: the receiving app shows it on the review screen and saves nothing until the reader taps Import. On the free tier a received firearm or profile counts toward the limit like any other new record; the import reports what could and could not be added rather than failing.
Profile share codes
A ballistic profile travels as a share code: the whole profile written as one line of text. Paste it under Import a Ballistic Profile and the review screen shows every field before you accept. A row with no ballistic coefficient is left out, because LoadOut will not make one up to fill the gap.
What the app reads
| File | Extensions | How it is read |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | .csv, .xlsx, .xls | Choose a File opens a mapping step where you match columns to fields once; Quick CSV Import (No Mapping) takes a file whose headers already match. Free. |
| LoadOut JSON | .json | A full export or a single shared record, re-imported through the review screen. |
| Plain text | .txt, .text, .md, .markdown, .rtf | Parsed for recipe fields, then reviewed. |
| Text is read from the document, then reviewed. | ||
| Photo | Camera or gallery | On-device text recognition reads a notebook page; every field shows the scrap of the page it came from. A charge is filled only when it can be trusted: one whose unit is not grains is refused, an implausible one is flagged, and one the app could not read is left blank with the text it saw beside it. |
| Clipboard | — | Paste From Clipboard reads whatever you copied from another app. |
| Apple Notes | Share sheet | Share a note to LoadOut from Notes on iPhone or iPad. |
| Garmin .fit | .fit | A session exported from Garmin Connect: every shot's velocity plus the average, extreme spread, and standard deviation. Pro. |
| Garmin ShotView | ShotView export | The same session data from the ShotView app. Pro. |
| Word and OneNote | — | Not read directly. Choose either and LoadOut shows how to export the page to PDF or text first, then reads that. |
Every route lands on the same review screen, and nothing is saved until you tap Import. The importer never invents a value: a field it could not read stays blank and is marked for you.
Reports the app writes
| Report | Format | Where |
|---|---|---|
| DOPE table | PDF, image, or text | The Ballistics tab and the Target Card, with the conditions it was solved for and a footer that says the numbers are predicted |
| Target Card | PDF, image, or text | Shooter View on the Target Card |
| Custom DOPE card | Print-ready page | The custom DOPE card builder, with your rows, your columns, and a write-in column the app never fills |
| Load development report | PDF and a CSV of every shot | A finished test's report screen |
| Chronograph report | CSV | The velocity log |
| Shot strings | CSV | The reconciliation screen for timer strings |
| Recipe or batch sheet | Any recipe or batch | |
| Note tables | CSV to the clipboard | A table block inside a note |
Cloud copies
Cloud Backup and Cloud Sync write an encrypted copy of the same records to your own iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or OneDrive. That copy is ciphertext locked with your passphrase and is not meant to be opened by hand; it is restored by LoadOut, on any of your devices, with the passphrase. The JSON export is the copy you open yourself.