Manus Leaves Meta: August 23 Data Backup Deadline, Restoration Steps, and What Users Need to Know

Introduction

Manus is returning to independent operations.

The general-purpose AI agent company announced that it is separating from Meta and will once again operate as an independent company serving users around the world. The announcement closes another chapter in an unusually eventful eighteen months for a startup that went from a viral March 2025 launch to a multibillion-dollar Meta acquisition, a regulatory unwind, and now a return to standalone operations.

For users, however, the immediate issue is much more practical than the corporate story.

As part of the separation and to comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions, some users must back up their Manus data before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026. Data covered by the service change will then be deleted during the August 23–24 transition period, and restoration opens at 8:00 a.m. SGT on August 25.

Manus says affected users will be notified through the app and, when the company has an email address on file, by email. Unaffected users can continue using the service normally and do not need to take action.

The company also makes one point explicit: the deletion is not the result of a data breach or security incident. It is part of the transition away from Meta and the compliance work required to resume independent operations.

After the separation, Manus says its user data will be stored in the United States and Singapore.

Manus Returns: A Letter to Users

Manus announced the change in an official note to users on August 11, 2026.

The company says it will soon resume operating as an independent business while continuing to serve millions of users worldwide. That transition affects only certain accounts, but users who do fall within the affected group face a firm backup deadline.

The Key Dates

The official Help Center provides a more precise timeline than the short announcement.

The most important deadline is simple:

If Manus tells you that your account is affected, complete your backup before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026.

The backup window corresponds to 7:59 p.m. EDT on August 22 and 1:59 a.m. CEST on August 23.

Who Is Affected?

Manus does not define affected users with a single public geographic list in the main announcement.

Instead, it tells users to rely on account-specific notifications.

Affected users should receive:

• An in-app notification
• An email, when Manus has an email address for the account
• Additional reminders before the deadline

Users who registered only through Apple ID or Facebook should pay particular attention to in-app notifications because Manus may not have their email address.

The official Help Center divides affected accounts into several account types depending on when the account, subscription, email address, or other account information was created or changed. The exact impact can differ between personal and team accounts.

For most users, the practical rule is easier:

1. Open Manus.
2. Read the service-change notification attached to your account.
3. If it says your account is affected, follow the backup instructions before the deadline.
4. If Manus explicitly tells you the account is unaffected, no backup action is required for this service change.

If you maintain multiple personal accounts, or both a personal account and a team account, Manus recommends checking each account separately.

What Data Can Be Deleted?

The main announcement says that certain data generated on or after Meta's December 29, 2025 acquisition date must be removed as part of the separation.

The Help Center gives more detail. Depending on the affected account type, deleted information can include:

• Account information
• Subscription records
• Task data
• Manus-generated artifacts
• Websites and slide presentations generated through Manus
• Third-party connector authorizations
• Team-account data

For some account types, the account itself remains while newer task data is removed. For other affected accounts, the entire account and associated data can be deleted and must be restored from backup.

This is why users should follow the notification for their specific account rather than assuming that every affected user faces exactly the same deletion scope.

Affected Users Will Not Be Charged During the Backup Period

Manus says it will not charge affected users during the August 11–23 backup period.

Depending on the account and subscription type, the company may also:

• Cancel subscriptions created after the acquisition date
• Issue pro-rata refunds
• Extend service access until the deletion period begins
• Refund certain remaining balances or assets
• Provide add-on credits
• Provide a welcome-back bonus after restoration

The exact subscription treatment depends on account type, so users should check the email and in-app notice attached to their own account.

The Backup Tool Supports More Than One Backup

A particularly useful detail is that the backup tool is not limited to one export.

If you create a backup today and continue generating tasks before the August 23 deadline, the later work is not automatically synchronized into the earlier backup.

Manus recommends creating another backup before the window closes so the latest version of your task data is preserved.

This matters for heavy users who intend to keep using Manus normally during the transition period.

How to Back Up Manus Data Before August 23

The official Help Center recommends using the web or desktop version of Manus for backup.

Step 1: Confirm That Your Account Is Affected

Check the in-app notification and any email from Manus.

If you have multiple accounts, repeat this check for each one.

Team members should also confirm whether the team owner has received an affected-account notice because team data can only be backed up by the team owner.

Step 2: Fix Your Login Method if You Use Facebook Only

Users who currently sign in using only Facebook must add another login method or an email address in account settings before creating the backup.

Manus says Facebook login will not be available after the service change.

Step 3: Open the Official Data Backup Tool

Go to the Manus homepage and open the official Data Backup Tool:

https://manus.im/backup

The tool will show which backup packages are available for your account.

Step 4: Back Up Account Data First if Manus Requires It

Some affected accounts—identified by Manus as Type C—need an Account Data Backup in addition to the task-data archive.

This account package is small and is used later to restore or verify the account identity.

For these accounts, the order matters:

1. Generate the Account Data Backup first.
2. Save it safely.
3. Then generate the Task Data Backup.

Without the account backup, a fully deleted account cannot be restored later.

Users whose account itself will be retained may only need the task-data archive.

Step 5: Generate the Task Data Backup

All affected users can create a Task Data Backup.

This archive can include:

• Tasks
• Generated files
• Websites
• Slides
• Other Manus-generated artifacts
• Configuration data associated with supported tasks

Task archives can be much larger than account backups. Manus says they may range from tens of megabytes to tens of gigabytes depending on usage.

A single package is capped at 4 GB, so larger backups may be split into several files.

Step 6: Choose a Safe Export Destination

Manus strongly recommends exporting large backups directly to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive through OAuth authorization.

That can be more reliable than downloading a very large archive through a browser session.

If you save the files locally instead, make sure the download finishes completely.

Step 7: Verify That the Backup Actually Exists

Do not stop after the interface says the export is complete.

Open the destination folder and verify that the backup files are present.

If you used a cloud drive, confirm that you are looking at the correct Google or Microsoft account and that the file has fully uploaded.

Step 8: Back Up Again if You Create New Work

The backup is a snapshot, not a live sync.

If you create or update tasks after the backup is generated, create another backup before 7:59 a.m. SGT on August 23.

Manus specifically recommends checking again before the window closes.

Do Not Rename or Modify the Backup Files

The official troubleshooting guide warns users not to modify, rename, or move backup files in ways that could make them unusable for restoration.

Keep the original archives intact until the restoration has been completed successfully.

What Happens During the Deletion Window?

Once the backup period closes at 7:59 a.m. SGT on August 23, affected users lose access to Manus during the transition.

The official Help Center defines the deletion period as:

August 23, 8:00 a.m. through August 25, 7:59 a.m. SGT.

During that period, the specified data is permanently deleted where required.

Affected regions and users will not be able to use Manus during the transition, while unaffected users can continue using the service normally.

If a user fails to create the necessary task backup before the deadline, deleted tasks and Manus-generated artifacts cannot later be recovered through the restoration process.

That is why the company is sending multiple reminders before the cutoff.

How to Restore Manus Data From August 25

The restoration portal opens at 8:00 a.m. SGT on August 25, 2026.

The process depends on whether the account itself was deleted.

For Accounts That Remain Active

Users whose account is retained can:

1. Log in to Manus.
2. Open the Task Data Restoration Tool when prompted.
3. Upload or import the latest Task Data Backup.
4. Confirm that the backup belongs to the logged-in account.
5. Complete the restoration.

If the account information in the archive does not match the currently logged-in account, Manus will stop the restoration and show an account-information mismatch error.

For Accounts That Were Fully Deleted

Users whose account was deleted must restore in this order:

1. Upload the Account Data Backup to restore the account.
2. Log in to the restored account.
3. Open the Task Data Restoration Tool.
4. Upload the Task Data Backup.
5. Restore tasks and files.

Restoration Can Only Be Completed Once

This is one of the most important details in the official restoration guide.

Manus says data restoration can only be performed once.

Multiple backup packages can be uploaded during that one restoration process. The system will deduplicate and consolidate the files.

Before confirming the restoration, users should therefore make sure they have included the newest and most complete set of backup packages.

Unlike the backup period, Manus currently says there is no restoration deadline after the portal opens. The backup archives remain the user's only way to restore deleted task data, so they should be stored safely even after August 25.

Team Accounts Need Extra Attention

Team accounts require a different workflow because only the team owner can create a restorable backup of team data.

If you are an affected team member:

1. Contact the team owner as soon as possible.
2. Ask the owner to check the team's affected status.
3. Confirm that the owner has generated the required team backup before August 23.

Team members can export readable copies of some task data, but Manus says that kind of plaintext export is not the same as an official backup and cannot be used to restore team tasks.

A person who has both a personal account and owns a team may need to perform two separate backup workflows.

This Is Not a Security Incident

Because the announcement involves deletion and migration of user data, it is easy to assume that a breach or cyberattack triggered the change.

Manus explicitly rejects that interpretation.

Its official FAQ says the service change is part of the separation from Meta and is required for regulatory compliance in certain parts of the world.

It is not the result of a data breach or security incident.

That distinction should be kept clear when sharing the news.

User Data Will Be Stored in the United States and Singapore

Manus also answers another question directly in its FAQ: where data will live once the company is independent again.

The company says its data is stored in:

• The United States
• Singapore

For additional details about its data-handling practices, Manus points users to its Trust Center.

The emphasis on Singapore Time in the migration schedule is therefore not just an editorial detail. Manus has continued to operate from Singapore through the Meta period, and Singapore remains central to the company's operating footprint as it returns to independent status.

Manus Says New Agent Features Are Already in Development

Despite the disruption, Manus ends its user letter on a forward-looking note.

The company says it has continued iterating since launch and is preparing a new set of features intended to expand what general AI agents can do.

That message matters because the Meta separation could easily have been framed only as a regulatory and corporate cleanup.

Instead, Manus is signaling that it intends to return to product competition as an independent AI-agent company.

The market it returns to is very different from the one it entered in March 2025.

General-purpose agents, coding agents, browser agents, research agents, and computer-use systems are now central product categories for nearly every major AI company.

Manus no longer owns the narrative simply by being early.

Its next phase will depend on whether the company can turn its early brand recognition and user base into a differentiated product after the separation is complete.

The Manus Journey

The independent-operations announcement makes more sense in the context of how quickly Manus' position changed.

March 2025: Manus Launches and Goes Viral

Manus appeared publicly in March 2025 as a general-purpose AI agent designed to take a high-level request and execute a sequence of actions rather than simply return a chat response.

The company marketed the product as a bridge between user intent and real-world execution.

At launch, Manus published benchmark results claiming strong performance on GAIA, a benchmark designed to evaluate general AI assistants across reasoning, web browsing, multimodal understanding, and tool use.

Contemporary coverage said Manus claimed to outperform OpenAI Deep Research on the benchmark.

Those results should be described as company-reported benchmark claims, rather than an independently reproduced universal ranking. Early hands-on reviews also found reliability problems, including incorrect assumptions and failed real-world tasks.

The launch still generated enormous attention.

Manus later posted that its waitlist had reached 2 million people in seven days.

March 2025: Manus Partners With Alibaba's Qwen Team

Soon after launch, Manus announced a strategic partnership with Alibaba's Qwen team.

Reuters reported on March 11, 2025 that the companies would work together as Manus pursued a Chinese-market version using Qwen models and domestic computing platforms.

The partnership showed that Manus was positioning itself as an agent layer capable of working across underlying model ecosystems rather than relying on only one foundation-model provider.

December 2025: Manus Crosses $100 Million ARR

Eight months after launch, Manus announced that it had passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

It also reported a total revenue run rate above $125 million, including usage-based and other revenue.

The company called itself the fastest startup to go from zero to $100 million ARR.

That is a company claim, not an audited industry-wide ranking, but the revenue milestone itself was publicly announced by Manus.

Later reporting from The Information, cited by Reuters in June 2026, said Manus' annualized revenue run rate had climbed to approximately $400 million to $500 million.

Reuters did not independently verify that later figure, so it should also be treated as a reported estimate rather than a public financial filing.

December 29, 2025: Meta Acquires Manus

At the end of 2025, Manus announced that it was joining Meta.

The official Manus announcement said the subscription service would continue operating through the Manus app and website and that the company would continue operating from Singapore.

Meta did not publicly disclose the full transaction price in the companies' official announcements. Reuters, AP, the Financial Times, and other outlets reported a value above $2 billion.

That made the deal one of the largest acquisitions in Meta's history by reported value.

2026: Chinese Regulators Force the Deal to Unwind

The acquisition quickly became entangled in geopolitical and regulatory scrutiny.

Reuters reported that Chinese authorities reviewed the transaction and, in April 2026, ordered Meta to unwind the acquisition as Beijing increased scrutiny of U.S. investment in Chinese-founded companies developing frontier technologies.

By June, reporting said Meta and Manus had begun an operational separation and stopped sharing data.

That separation is the reason the August user-data migration exists.

The December 29, 2025 acquisition date became the dividing line used in the current deletion and restoration process.

June and July 2026: Investors Explore a Buyback and New Ownership Structure

Reuters reported in June that early Manus backers—including HSG, ZhenFund, and Tencent—were considering buying the company back from Meta at the roughly $2 billion price Meta had paid.

The report also said Manus was considering changes to its corporate structure.

In July, Reuters reported that Tencent was in talks to become Manus' largest shareholder as investors explored alternatives after the Meta unwind order.

These ownership discussions were reported by the media and were not fully disclosed by Manus in the August user letter.

August 2026: Manus Returns to Independent Operations

The latest announcement brings the sequence back to where it started: Manus says it will again operate as an independent company.

But this is not a simple reversal of the December deal.

The company now has to complete a regulated data separation, support users through backup and restoration, clarify its ownership structure, and restart product momentum in a much more competitive AI-agent market.

For users, the corporate complexity can be reduced to one urgent action:

If Manus marks your account as affected, back up the required data before August 23 at 7:59 a.m. SGT.

常见问题

Is Manus independent from Meta again?

Manus says it will soon resume operating as an independent company as part of its separation from Meta. Reuters reported that the move follows the unwind of Meta's $2 billion-plus acquisition after regulatory intervention in China.

Do all Manus users need to back up their data?

No. Manus says only certain users are affected and will receive account-specific notifications. If your in-app notice says you are unaffected, you can continue using Manus normally without taking action for this service change.

What is the Manus backup deadline?

Affected users must complete backups before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026. Manus recommends backing up early and creating another backup before the deadline if you generate new task data afterward.

What happens if I do not back up my Manus data?

Data covered by the deletion scope can be permanently removed during the transition. Deleted task data and Manus-generated artifacts cannot be restored later unless you created the required backup packages before the deadline.

When can affected users restore their data?

The restoration portal opens at 8:00 a.m. SGT on August 25, 2026. Some users can restore task data directly, while accounts that were fully deleted must first restore the account and then restore task data.

Is the Manus data deletion caused by a hack or data breach?

No. Manus explicitly says the deletion is not related to a security incident. It is part of the company's separation from Meta and the regulatory requirements associated with returning to independent operations.

Where will Manus store user data after the separation?

Manus says its data is stored in the United States and Singapore. The company directs users to its Trust Center for more information about security and data-handling practices.

Can team members back up a Manus team workspace themselves?

No. Manus says restorable team data can only be backed up by the team owner. Affected team members should contact the owner and confirm that the team backup is completed before the August 23 deadline.

相关工具

• Manus: The official Manus AI agent service for executing research, automation, development, and other multi-step tasks.
• Manus Data Backup Tool: The official tool affected users should use to generate account and task backup packages before the August 23 deadline.
• Manus Help Center: Official backup, restoration, refund, account-status, and service-change guidance.
• Manus Trust Center: Manus' official security, privacy, compliance, and data-handling information center.
• Google Drive: One of the cloud-storage destinations Manus recommends for large backup archives.
• Microsoft OneDrive: Another cloud-storage destination recommended by Manus for reliable transfer of larger backups.

Related Links

• Manus: A Note to Our Users: The official August 2026 notice announcing the return to independent operations and the data-deletion timeline.
• Manus Backup Guide: Official step-by-step instructions for account and task backups.
• Manus Restoration Guide: Official instructions for restoring accounts, tasks, and multiple backup packages from August 25.
• Manus Service Change Overview: The detailed official timeline and account-impact explanation.
• Manus Joins Meta: Manus' December 29, 2025 announcement of the Meta deal and its plan to continue operating from Singapore.
• Reuters: Manus to Resume Independent Operations: Independent reporting on the separation and the regulatory background.
• Reuters: Manus Investors Explore a Buyback: Reporting on the proposed $2 billion buyback, operational split, and reported revenue run rate.

Summary

Manus is returning to independent operations after its Meta acquisition was unwound. For most users, nothing changes immediately, but accounts identified by Manus as affected must complete a backup before 7:59 a.m. SGT on August 23, 2026.

The official process is straightforward but time-sensitive: confirm your account status, generate the required account and task backups, verify the files are safely stored, and create another backup if you continue producing new work before the deadline. The deletion period runs through August 24, and restoration opens at 8:00 a.m. SGT on August 25.

The service change is regulatory, not a security incident. Manus says data will be stored in the United States and Singapore after it returns to independent operations.

If your Manus account is affected, the safest move is to back up now rather than wait until the August 23 cutoff.