How to Switch Cube Timers Without Losing Your History
Your solve history is years of practice — here's how to move it to a new timer in minutes, including a step-by-step csTimer import guide.
By Cubeathon Team
The biggest reason cubers stay with a timer they've outgrown isn't features — it's history. Thousands of solves, months of averages, that one PB from a year ago. Losing it feels like starting over.
You don't have to lose any of it. Here's how to move.
Before you switch: export everything
Whatever timer you use today, find its export function and save a backup file before touching anything else. Most timers export JSON; some offer CSV. Keep that file somewhere safe — it's your practice history in portable form, and it's worth having even if you never switch.
What a good import should preserve
When you bring history into a new timer, check that it keeps:
- Every solve time — not just session summaries
- Penalties — +2s and DNFs, so your averages stay honest
- Sessions — your organization, not one giant pile
- Timestamps — so progress charts stay meaningful
- Scrambles — attached to each solve where available
If an import drops penalties or flattens sessions, your statistics quietly become fiction.
Importing into Cubeathon
Cubeathon imports from other timers directly on the timer page — everything runs in your browser, and your data never leaves your device.
From csTimer
- In csTimer, open Export (the disk icon) and choose Export to file. You'll get a
.txt/JSON file. - In the Cubeathon timer, find Import from csTimer in the sidebar.
- Select your export file.
That's it. Cubeathon reads every session, maps each one to the right puzzle (3×3, 4×4, Pyraminx, and so on), and preserves solve times, penalties, scrambles, comments, and timestamps. A thousand-solve history imports in a couple of seconds, and your Ao5, Ao12, Ao100, and PBs are recomputed the official WCA way from your real solves.
From a Cubeathon backup
The same sidebar has Export and Import for Cubeathon's own JSON backups — useful for moving between devices while cloud sync is still on the roadmap, or just for keeping an offline copy of your history.
After the import: a five-minute checklist
- Compare solve counts with your old timer — totals should match.
- Spot-check your PB and a recent average.
- Check one DNF and one +2 made it across with the penalty intact.
- Export a fresh backup from the new timer, so day zero is covered.
Why your history is safer here
Cubeathon is local-first: solves save to your device the moment the timer stops, work offline, and export to JSON anytime — no account required. Your history arrived portable, and it stays portable. That's the whole point.
Ready? Open the timer, import your file, and pick up exactly where you left off.