Where Your Project Data Lives Before and After Sign-In
Where a record lands is decided by this device’s sync permission, not by the moment you sign in: with that permission off (and it ships off), new projects stay in the local copy on this device; with it on, new projects go into your own private iCloud store. Projects, scenes, takes, and continuity assets are the same kind of content on both sides; the difference is which store holds them, not two different ways of recording.
This page answers only where records belong; it does not guarantee any security, privacy, or cross-device outcome.
Which store holds a record depends on this device’s sync permission
Projects, scenes, takes, and continuity assets created in guest state stay in the local copy on this device; without signing in, they do not enter your private cloud store.
With that permission on, new records go into your own private iCloud store and follow the Apple identity in use; with it off, new records stay in the local copy even when you are signed in. That is a statement about where records land and who owns them, not a claim that every network behavior has been verified on a device.
Switching accounts does not reassign everything
Switching accounts does not mean “whoever is signed in now owns everything on this device.” Records that already belong to one account do not become the new account’s data merely because that account is now signed in; what you can see under the new account is the part that belongs to it.
If a record you expected is missing after a switch, first check which state it was recorded in rather than assuming that switching accounts carries every record across.
Signing in does not move records
Signing in answers one question only: this Apple identity now exists on this device. It does not switch stores and it does not change where any record lives — whether you tap Sign in yourself or the app restores a saved credential. Records made while working as a guest stay in the local copy on this device; signing in does not move them.
There is no half-finished transfer to worry about here: nothing is moved, so nothing can be partly moved. The thing to check is simple — after signing in, are the earlier records still there? They are, exactly where they were.
Signing in neither moves records nor deletes them. That describes the local sign-in event; it does not prove any additional cloud or device-level guarantee.
A visible record does not mean the media file has arrived
A media record visible on another device does not necessarily mean the corresponding local file is there too. Photo and video availability across devices should not be given one blanket expectation; when the material itself is needed, check the actual file rather than only the record.
A record is not the same thing as a file.
The boundary of this explanation
This page can answer which store holds a record, what that sync permission changes, and what a sign-in does and does not touch. It does not establish any particular encryption model, an all-encompassing privacy guarantee, or a completed device-level security audit.
Questions such as whether another device will show the same media at the same moment, whether deleting the app enables later recovery, or whether a legal requirement is satisfied need evidence beyond this page, so this page does not extend the claim that far.
For what sign-out, account deletion, or project deletion actually removes, see What Sign-Out, Account Deletion, and Project Deletion Actually Remove.
FAQ
Do guest and signed-in records live in the same place?
They can sit in different stores, but the line is this device’s sync permission rather than the sign-in itself: with it off (which is how it ships), new records stay in the local copy; with it on, new records go into your own private iCloud store and follow that Apple identity.
Do guest records also enter the private cloud store?
Not while that permission is off — records made in that state stay in the local copy on this device. With it on, new records go into your private iCloud store. Switching the permission back off later leaves what is already in the cloud where it is; it is not pulled back onto the device.
Why should photos and videos have different cross-device expectations?
A visible media record does not mean the corresponding file has reached another device. The presence of a record alone cannot establish that the material file is available.
Do local records move into the account when I sign in?
They do not. Both an explicit sign-in and a restored one only establish that Apple identity on this device; neither moves a record. Which store holds a record is decided by this device’s sync permission and nothing else.
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