This is probably a dumb question, but would I be able to download a Pokemon HOME account as a file?

[Mogybus]

I was just thinking because when you go into the app on your phone it says "downloading master data", so would the app's files have the pk8 files in there somewhere? If not, is there any way to back up pokemon home save data?

[SkyLink98]

1 hour ago, Mogybus said:

I was just thinking because when you go into the app on your phone it says "downloading master data", so would the app's files have the pk8 files in there somewhere?

I didn't do any research about the mobile app, but I can speak fairly confident about the Switch app.

The console version of Pokémon Home does not store the pokemons data in the save file. It connects to the Home servers and keeps the Pokémons data in the RAM until the Pokémon Home application get closed. I might assume the mobile app works the same way. It might be possible to back up the Pokémons file from the mobile app, assuming you have a rooted/jailbroken device and you can access the RAM data with external tools while the app is open and connected to your account.

1 hour ago, Mogybus said:

If not, is there any way to back up pokemon home save data?

Returning to your question, yes you can backup the HOME save data. That would be pretty much useless though, since we're assuming it does not contain any relevant pk8 datas. If you want to backup your mons from your Home account and you have an hacked switch though, there's a PKHeX Plugin properly for this purpose.

 

Anyways, I highly suggest to not mess trying to alter or restore previous backup of save/ram data. Since HOME is a server-side application, any modifications will very likely be noticed and penalities may occur.