Procreate has no iCloud sync, so you back it up in two ways. First, include Procreate in a full iPad backup to iCloud, which can only be restored as a whole. Second, export your canvases as .procreate files from the Gallery (Select → Share → Procreate → Save to Files) into a folder in iCloud Drive, which gives you individual files you can restore one at a time. Use both, because each covers a failure the other doesn't.

Why Procreate Needs a Deliberate Backup

Procreate keeps your artwork, including layers, brushes, and palettes, inside the app on the iPad's internal storage. Nothing is mirrored to iCloud Drive automatically. If you delete the app, wipe the device, or lose the iPad, anything not backed up elsewhere can be gone for good.

This matters for motion and VFX people because Procreate files often sit upstream of production: storyboards, character turnarounds, matte paintings, texture passes, hand-drawn animation frames, and style frames. They are layered sources you may need to reopen months later, and a flattened PNG doesn't replace them.

One setting causes confusion. Some iPad configurations offer an option to automatically upload and store documents in iCloud Drive. Users on Procreate's support forum report that this doesn't back up your gallery, and some have lost work by trusting it. Your gallery lives inside the app, and iCloud only sees it through a full device backup or files you export yourself.

Method 1: Include Procreate in Your iCloud Device Backup

An iCloud device backup is the safety net for a dead or replaced iPad. When Procreate is included, restoring the iPad should bring back the app and the gallery as of the last completed backup.

Steps

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Go to iCloud, then find the list of apps saving to iCloud (usually under Saved to iCloud → See All, though the wording shifts between iPadOS versions).
3. Make sure the toggle for Procreate is on.
4. Go to iCloud Backup and turn on Back Up This iPad.
5. Tap Back Up Now if you want one immediately rather than waiting for the next automatic backup.

Limits to know about

• It's all-or-nothing. The backup is a snapshot of the entire device. You can't open it and pull out one canvas, one brush set, or one color palette. To get anything back you restore the whole backup.
• Storage fills up. The free iCloud tier is 5 GB, and Procreate galleries get large quickly. If your gallery is several gigabytes, you'll likely need a paid iCloud plan or the backup will fail or skip data. Check the available space before assuming you're covered.
• Restores can be slow. Artists on Procreate's forum report that restoring to a new iPad can look stuck, with the Procreate install sitting at a partial percentage, and that in some cases it takes up to three days. Don't cancel and restart because the progress looks frozen.
• Restores can fail. Forum users have also reported a "cannot be restored from backup" message for Procreate after a device failure. That's the strongest argument for manual exports in addition to the device backup.

Apple also sometimes suggests setting up a problem device as new rather than restoring from a backup. If you end up doing that, only your manual exports will save you.

Method 2: Export Procreate Files to iCloud Drive

Manual exports give you ordinary files in a cloud folder. You can restore a single piece without touching anything else, and you can open the files from a different iPad later.

One-time setup

1. Open the Files app.
2. Tap iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
3. Create a new folder, for example "Procreate Backup." If you work by project, make subfolders per client or job.

If your sidebar doesn't show the location you want, tap the ellipsis and choose Edit Sidebar (or Edit Locations in some versions) and switch it on.

Export from the Gallery

1. Open the Procreate Gallery and tap Select at the top.
2. Tap the canvases and Stacks you want to back up. Selected items show a checkmark.
3. Tap Share.
4. Choose the Procreate format. This preserves layers, settings, and the Time-Lapse Replay.
5. Wait for the export progress to finish.
6. On the share sheet, choose Save to Files and pick your iCloud Drive folder.

To export a single canvas or Stack, swipe left on it in the Gallery and tap Share.

Be careful with Stacks. Depending on the format, sharing a Stack exports its canvases as separate images, or as a single group if you choose PDF. If you want the layered originals, export the canvases in the Procreate format.

Drag and drop alternative

You can also drag files straight into Files:

1. Open Settings → Apps → Procreate and set Preferred File Format to Procreate. (Preferred Image Format only affects drags into Photos.)
2. In the Gallery, tap Select and choose your artworks.
3. Press and hold one selected item to pick up the group.
4. With another finger, swipe up from the bottom to open Files, or use Split View with Files on one side.
5. Drop onto your iCloud Drive folder.

Avoid the "On My iPad" trap

Procreate creates a folder under On My iPad in Files, used for fonts and ICC profiles. Don't treat it as a backup location. It's stored on the device and is deleted if the app is deleted. Copying files within the same iPad doesn't count as a backup either. The copy has to live somewhere else, such as iCloud Drive, another cloud service, or an external drive.

What Else to Back Up: Brushes, Palettes, and Fonts

Your gallery isn't the only thing you'd miss after a wipe. Custom brush sets and color palettes take hours to build.

• Brushes: Export your custom brushes and brush sets from the Brush Library and save the result to your iCloud folder.
• Palettes: Export your color palettes from the Swatches panel and save them to your iCloud folder too.
• Fonts and ICC profiles: Copy these out of the Procreate folder under On My iPad into your cloud folder. Keep the originals of any commercial fonts somewhere safe too.

An exported brush set is also much easier to move to a second iPad than a restore from backup.

A Backup Routine That Holds Up

Treat iCloud as one layer, not the whole plan.

1. Name your canvases. Untitled files are painful to sort through during a restore. Spend two minutes renaming before you export.
2. Export before updates. Procreate's own guidance is to back up before updating the app or iPadOS.
3. Export after finishing a piece or a session. Weekly is a reasonable baseline for active work. Daily is better during a deadline.
4. Keep the device backup on. It's your fast path to a full restore on a new iPad.
5. Keep a second copy elsewhere. The Procreate Help Center recommends saving .procreate files to multiple secure locations. A second destination such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or an external drive protects you if one service has a problem.
6. Spot-check your exports. Some users report corrupt files after exporting a large multi-select batch, and others report files that never finish saving to a cloud service. Open a couple of backed-up files occasionally, or re-export smaller batches if a large one misbehaves.
7. Don't delete from the iPad until the copy is verified. Confirm the file in iCloud Drive shows as fully uploaded, not just waiting.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Backup says there isn't enough storage. Free up iCloud space, upgrade your plan, or exclude apps you don't need from the backup. Then keep Procreate on. Meanwhile, export your most important files manually to other storage.

Procreate won't restore from backup. Give it time first, since long restores are normal. If it still fails, contact Procreate support with details, and restore from your manual exports if you have them.

Files exported to iCloud Drive won't open. Make sure the file is fully downloaded to the device and ends in .procreate. Then try opening it with Procreate's Import option or by tapping it in Files.

You need one old file, not the whole iPad. This is where a device backup doesn't help. You can only restore it if you've exported it individually, so it's worth building the habit.

Where Procreate Backups Fit in a Motion Pipeline

If Procreate feeds your motion work, the layered .procreate files are your editable masters, and image sequences or PNGs are the deliverables. Back up the masters to iCloud Drive and keep the handoff files with your project assets, so they travel with the After Effects, Nuke, or Blender project that uses them.

Quick Summary

• Procreate stores everything locally and doesn't sync to iCloud.
• Turn on Procreate in your iCloud device backup for full-device recovery. It can't restore single files and restores may take a long time.
• Export .procreate files to a folder in iCloud Drive for individual, portable backups.
• Export brushes, palettes, and fonts separately.
• Keep a second copy elsewhere and check that your exports open.

Procreate has no iCloud sync, so you back it up in two ways. First, include Procreate in a full iPad backup to iCloud, which can only be restored as a whole. Second, export your canvases as .procreate files from the Gallery (Select → Share → Procreate → Save to Files) into a folder in iCloud Drive, which gives you individual files you can restore one at a time. Use both, because each covers a failure the other doesn't.

Why Procreate Needs a Deliberate Backup

Procreate keeps your artwork, including layers, brushes, and palettes, inside the app on the iPad's internal storage. Nothing is mirrored to iCloud Drive automatically. If you delete the app, wipe the device, or lose the iPad, anything not backed up elsewhere can be gone for good.

This matters for motion and VFX people because Procreate files often sit upstream of production: storyboards, character turnarounds, matte paintings, texture passes, hand-drawn animation frames, and style frames. They are layered sources you may need to reopen months later, and a flattened PNG doesn't replace them.

One setting causes confusion. Some iPad configurations offer an option to automatically upload and store documents in iCloud Drive. Users on Procreate's support forum report that this doesn't back up your gallery, and some have lost work by trusting it. Your gallery lives inside the app, and iCloud only sees it through a full device backup or files you export yourself.

Method 1: Include Procreate in Your iCloud Device Backup

An iCloud device backup is the safety net for a dead or replaced iPad. When Procreate is included, restoring the iPad should bring back the app and the gallery as of the last completed backup.

Steps

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Go to iCloud, then find the list of apps saving to iCloud (usually under Saved to iCloud → See All, though the wording shifts between iPadOS versions).
3. Make sure the toggle for Procreate is on.
4. Go to iCloud Backup and turn on Back Up This iPad.
5. Tap Back Up Now if you want one immediately rather than waiting for the next automatic backup.

Limits to know about

• It's all-or-nothing. The backup is a snapshot of the entire device. You can't open it and pull out one canvas, one brush set, or one color palette. To get anything back you restore the whole backup.
• Storage fills up. The free iCloud tier is 5 GB, and Procreate galleries get large quickly. If your gallery is several gigabytes, you'll likely need a paid iCloud plan or the backup will fail or skip data. Check the available space before assuming you're covered.
• Restores can be slow. Artists on Procreate's forum report that restoring to a new iPad can look stuck, with the Procreate install sitting at a partial percentage, and that in some cases it takes up to three days. Don't cancel and restart because the progress looks frozen.
• Restores can fail. Forum users have also reported a "cannot be restored from backup" message for Procreate after a device failure. That's the strongest argument for manual exports in addition to the device backup.

Apple also sometimes suggests setting up a problem device as new rather than restoring from a backup. If you end up doing that, only your manual exports will save you.

Method 2: Export Procreate Files to iCloud Drive

Manual exports give you ordinary files in a cloud folder. You can restore a single piece without touching anything else, and you can open the files from a different iPad later.

One-time setup

1. Open the Files app.
2. Tap iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
3. Create a new folder, for example "Procreate Backup." If you work by project, make subfolders per client or job.

If your sidebar doesn't show the location you want, tap the ellipsis and choose Edit Sidebar (or Edit Locations in some versions) and switch it on.

Export from the Gallery

1. Open the Procreate Gallery and tap Select at the top.
2. Tap the canvases and Stacks you want to back up. Selected items show a checkmark.
3. Tap Share.
4. Choose the Procreate format. This preserves layers, settings, and the Time-Lapse Replay.
5. Wait for the export progress to finish.
6. On the share sheet, choose Save to Files and pick your iCloud Drive folder.

To export a single canvas or Stack, swipe left on it in the Gallery and tap Share.

Be careful with Stacks. Depending on the format, sharing a Stack exports its canvases as separate images, or as a single group if you choose PDF. If you want the layered originals, export the canvases in the Procreate format.

Drag and drop alternative

You can also drag files straight into Files:

1. Open Settings → Apps → Procreate and set Preferred File Format to Procreate. (Preferred Image Format only affects drags into Photos.)
2. In the Gallery, tap Select and choose your artworks.
3. Press and hold one selected item to pick up the group.
4. With another finger, swipe up from the bottom to open Files, or use Split View with Files on one side.
5. Drop onto your iCloud Drive folder.

Avoid the "On My iPad" trap

Procreate creates a folder under On My iPad in Files, used for fonts and ICC profiles. Don't treat it as a backup location. It's stored on the device and is deleted if the app is deleted. Copying files within the same iPad doesn't count as a backup either. The copy has to live somewhere else, such as iCloud Drive, another cloud service, or an external drive.

What Else to Back Up: Brushes, Palettes, and Fonts

Your gallery isn't the only thing you'd miss after a wipe. Custom brush sets and color palettes take hours to build.

• Brushes: Export your custom brushes and brush sets from the Brush Library and save the result to your iCloud folder.
• Palettes: Export your color palettes from the Swatches panel and save them to your iCloud folder too.
• Fonts and ICC profiles: Copy these out of the Procreate folder under On My iPad into your cloud folder. Keep the originals of any commercial fonts somewhere safe too.

An exported brush set is also much easier to move to a second iPad than a restore from backup.

A Backup Routine That Holds Up

Treat iCloud as one layer, not the whole plan.

1. Name your canvases. Untitled files are painful to sort through during a restore. Spend two minutes renaming before you export.
2. Export before updates. Procreate's own guidance is to back up before updating the app or iPadOS.
3. Export after finishing a piece or a session. Weekly is a reasonable baseline for active work. Daily is better during a deadline.
4. Keep the device backup on. It's your fast path to a full restore on a new iPad.
5. Keep a second copy elsewhere. The Procreate Help Center recommends saving .procreate files to multiple secure locations. A second destination such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or an external drive protects you if one service has a problem.
6. Spot-check your exports. Some users report corrupt files after exporting a large multi-select batch, and others report files that never finish saving to a cloud service. Open a couple of backed-up files occasionally, or re-export smaller batches if a large one misbehaves.
7. Don't delete from the iPad until the copy is verified. Confirm the file in iCloud Drive shows as fully uploaded, not just waiting.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Backup says there isn't enough storage. Free up iCloud space, upgrade your plan, or exclude apps you don't need from the backup. Then keep Procreate on. Meanwhile, export your most important files manually to other storage.

Procreate won't restore from backup. Give it time first, since long restores are normal. If it still fails, contact Procreate support with details, and restore from your manual exports if you have them.

Files exported to iCloud Drive won't open. Make sure the file is fully downloaded to the device and ends in .procreate. Then try opening it with Procreate's Import option or by tapping it in Files.

You need one old file, not the whole iPad. This is where a device backup doesn't help. You can only restore it if you've exported it individually, so it's worth building the habit.

Where Procreate Backups Fit in a Motion Pipeline

If Procreate feeds your motion work, the layered .procreate files are your editable masters, and image sequences or PNGs are the deliverables. Back up the masters to iCloud Drive and keep the handoff files with your project assets, so they travel with the After Effects, Nuke, or Blender project that uses them.

Quick Summary

• Procreate stores everything locally and doesn't sync to iCloud.
• Turn on Procreate in your iCloud device backup for full-device recovery. It can't restore single files and restores may take a long time.
• Export .procreate files to a folder in iCloud Drive for individual, portable backups.
• Export brushes, palettes, and fonts separately.
• Keep a second copy elsewhere and check that your exports open.