If you ‘kill’ the app before this save is completed (by swiping it away from the list of background apps), the game will not complete its emergency save. Because of the complexity of Stardew Valley, this save takes a few seconds. To allow this, the game does an ‘emergency save’ when it goes into the background (for example, when you press the home button on an iPhone). If the game has been unloaded, however, the game will be reloaded, and will then need to load a save in order to carry on where it left off.

If the game moves into the background, and then resumed, if the app hasn’t been unloaded by the phone/tablet, it will continue where it left off. If the phone or tablet is running low on resources, it might automatically unload any background apps, losing any unsaved progress. When the app is no longer shown on the screen, it is classed as being a ‘background’ app. Also, players may change to another app, and want to resume where they left off in the game later on. Unlike a PC, a mobile device can sometimes interrupt the game - for example, if a phone call happens mid-game. If this happens, players can swap between the most recent standard save and the previous backup by pressing the ‘Swap to previous save’ button on the Options page.

Occasionally, save files might encounter problems. When a standard save happens, the mobile version (like PC) keeps your previous standard save, using the suffix ‘_old’. These saves are compatible with PC, and can be transferred back and forth. A standard save always starts at 6am in the morning when loaded. The PC version only allows saving when going to sleep, so standard saves retain this system. Standard Saves are the same format found on the PC version of the game.

Stardew valley save editor tilled soil