CPAP Data Import from Google Drive, iCloud & OneDrive

If you just tried to import your CPAP data and got a confusing "no valid session files found" error, the most likely cause isn't your SD card. It's that your browser is looking at a cloud-storage placeholder instead of the real file. This guide explains why that happens and the 60-second fix for every major cloud service.

The short answer

Cloud-sync apps like Google Drive, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox don't always keep every file downloaded to your computer. To save disk space they store a placeholder (a small file that says "the real file is in the cloud"), and only download the real file when you open it. Your browser sees the placeholder, finds it empty or unreadable, and the CPAP Clarity import reports "no sessions found".

The fix is to tell the cloud app to download the real files, THEN run the import.

If you'd rather skip the cloud entirely, use the demo to see how the app works or plug your SD card directly into a computer that doesn't sync to cloud storage.

Google Drive (Desktop)

Google Drive for Desktop on Mac and Windows runs in Stream mode by default, meaning only file headers are on disk until you open them.

Fix (macOS or Windows):

1. Open Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows)
2. Navigate to your Google Drive folder (Mac: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-<your-email>/My Drive/, Windows: G:\My Drive\)
3. Right-click the SD card folder
4. Choose Available offline (Mac) or Offline access > Available offline (Windows)
5. Wait for the green checkmark on every file inside
6. Run the CPAP Clarity import again

The entire process takes about a minute for a typical SD card (20-50 MB).

iCloud Drive (macOS)

iCloud Drive on macOS stores most files as .icloud placeholders when disk space is tight or when "Optimize Mac Storage" is on. The placeholders have names like .STR.edf.icloud (hidden file starting with a dot).

Fix:

1. Open Finder
2. Navigate to your SD card folder inside iCloud Drive (~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/)
3. Right-click the folder
4. Choose Download Now
5. Wait for the download cloud icon to disappear from every file
6. Run the import again

CPAP Clarity also auto-detects iCloud placeholders and shows a specific error message, so if you forget, the import will bail out early with a hint instead of a cryptic "no sessions found" error.

OneDrive (Windows or macOS)

OneDrive uses Files On-Demand by default on Windows 11 and Mac. This keeps files as placeholders with small cloud icons.

Fix:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac)
2. Navigate to OneDrive (Windows: C:\Users\<you>\OneDrive\, Mac: ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-<org>/)
3. Right-click the SD card folder
4. Choose Always keep on this device
5. Wait for the green checkmarks on every file
6. Run the import again

Dropbox (Smart Sync)

If you're on a paid Dropbox plan, Smart Sync may have set the SD card folder to "online-only".

Fix:

1. Open your Dropbox folder
2. Right-click the SD card folder
3. Choose Make Available Offline (or Local on older versions)
4. Wait for the sync indicator to turn green
5. Run the import again

Importing on iPhone or iPad

iOS 17 and later support the same folder upload flow as desktop browsers. The process is identical in spirit to a Mac: plug a USB-C or Lightning SD card reader into your iPhone or iPad, insert your SD card, open Safari, navigate to cpapclarity.com, and tap the drop zone.

Step-by-step

1. Plug a USB-C SD card reader into your iPhone (for iPhone 15 and later) or a Lightning SD card reader (for iPhone 14 and earlier). Insert your SD card into the reader.
2. Open Safari and navigate to cpapclarity.com.
3. Tap the import drop zone (the large card on the homepage that says "Drop SD card folder here").
4. When Safari opens the Files app picker, tap "Browse" at the bottom, then tap your SD card under "Locations." The SD card often shows as "NO NAME" or "Untitled."
5. At the ROOT of the SD card (where you can see DATALOG, SETTINGS, and files like STR.edf), tap "Open" in the top right. Do NOT drill into DATALOG first.
6. Safari hands the folder contents to CPAP Clarity, which parses your therapy data and machine settings in the browser.

What if the native flow does not work

If tapping the drop zone does nothing, or if CPAP Clarity reports "no supported files found" after you tap Open, a fallback link will be visible below the drop zone: "Prefer to pick files manually? Use the manual file picker." This link opens a device picker that walks you through selecting individual files. It is slower than the native flow but works on any iOS version Safari supports.

Common pitfalls

• Drilling into DATALOG before tapping Open: the folder picker must receive the SD card root, not the DATALOG subfolder. If you tap Open while inside DATALOG, you lose the machine settings files (Identification.json and STR.edf) and the dashboard shows degraded data.
• SD card formatted as exFAT on older iOS: iOS 13 and earlier had spotty exFAT support. iOS 14+ handles it fine. If your SD card is formatted FAT32, it works on all iOS versions.
• Forgot to insert the card: iOS Files app shows the reader but not the SD card contents. Remove and reinsert the card.

Importing on Android

Android Chrome supports folder picking via the Storage Access Framework, so you can usually select the entire SD card folder in one tap, the same as on desktop.

Two recommended paths

1. USB-OTG SD card reader (most reliable): Plug a USB-OTG SD card reader into your phone. Open the Files app, navigate to Device > SD Card, then return to CPAP Clarity and tap "Import." When the folder picker opens, navigate to the SD card and select the root folder (the one that contains Identification.json for ResMed or the .USR files for BMC).

2. Google Drive offline cache: In the Drive app, long-press the SD card backup folder and tap "Make available offline." Wait for the download to finish, then open the Files app, navigate to Device > Drive, and select the offline copy from there. Picking directly from the Drive interface (not the offline copy) often fails because Android passes back URI references instead of real files.

What goes wrong on Android

• SAF returns files with empty paths from Drive. CPAP Clarity detects this and shows a specific error. The fix is to use the offline cache path above, or copy the SD card contents to your phone's local Downloads folder first.
• Generic import error after picking from Drive. Copy the SD card contents to a local folder outside Drive (for example, Downloads/cpap-backup/) and import from there.

Still not working?

If you've downloaded the files locally and the import still fails, it's probably not a cloud issue. Try:

1. Restart the browser and try again. Sometimes a stale file handle sticks around.
2. Open the folder in Finder/Explorer and confirm you can see files named Identification.json (ResMed), STR.edf (ResMed), .USR (BMC), or .idx + waveform files (Luna G3).
3. Select the root SD card folder, not a subfolder. The import needs to see the machine identification files at the top level.
4. Re-copy from the SD card directly. If the files were backed up to the cloud weeks or months ago, the backup may be corrupt or incomplete.
5. Submit feedback. If nothing works, use the feedback form to let us know what you tried. Include your browser, operating system, and cloud service so we can track the pattern and improve the detection.

Why doesn't CPAP Clarity just handle this for me?

Cloud-sync providers don't give browsers a standard way to trigger file downloads on demand. Chrome, Safari, and Firefox all treat cloud-sync placeholders as regular files from the browser's perspective; the download-on-read behavior is an OS-level hook that usually does the right thing when a native app opens the file, but fails silently in many browser contexts. We detect the most common failure modes (iCloud placeholder stubs, zero-byte reads, path markers) and give you a specific error, but we can't force the cloud provider to download files on your behalf.

The good news: once the files are on your local disk, the import is entirely client-side and CPAP Clarity never uploads your data to any server. Check the privacy policy for the details.

FAQs

Does CPAP Clarity see my Google Drive account?

No. CPAP Clarity never connects to Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, or any other cloud provider. The only thing we see is what your browser hands us when you pick a folder, and we process it entirely in your browser (never uploaded to our servers).

Will my SD card data get deleted if I use iCloud Download Now?

No. "Download Now" just pulls the cloud copy to your Mac without deleting anything. The file is still in iCloud and on your SD card (if the SD card is still plugged in).

I'm on a work laptop with OneDrive enforced by IT. Can I still import?

Yes, but you need to either (a) right-click the SD card folder and mark it "Always keep on this device" (which downloads the files to local storage managed by OneDrive), or (b) copy the SD card contents to a folder OUTSIDE OneDrive like your Desktop. Some IT policies block option (a); option (b) always works.

Do phone-based CPAP machines have the same issue?

Phone-based machines (like the Transcend Micro) often sync directly to a cloud service without an SD card. Those aren't supported by CPAP Clarity yet because the file format is different and we haven't validated against real user data. Send us a feedback form if you have one of these machines and we'll look into it.