Procreate has two kinds of time, and each is checked differently. To see how long you've worked on a piece, tap the Actions (wrench) icon, go to Canvas, choose Canvas information, then tap Statistics. To see the actual time of day while painting, Procreate has no built-in clock, so you check the iPad's status bar through Control Center or a multitasking gesture.

Which "time" do you need?

People searching this phrase usually mean one of three things:

• Time spent on a drawing. Useful for pricing commissions, tracking progress, or satisfying curiosity.
• When a file was created or last edited. Useful for sorting sketches and reconstructing a timeline.
• The current clock time. Useful when you lose hours in a canvas and have somewhere to be.

Procreate answers the first two natively. The third depends on iPadOS.

How to check time spent on a Procreate artwork

Procreate tracks working time per canvas and shows it in the canvas statistics.

1. Open the artwork you want to inspect.
2. Tap the Actions icon (the wrench) in the top toolbar.
3. Choose Canvas.
4. Tap Canvas information.
5. Open the Statistics tab.

Statistics lists the tracked time for that file alongside other details such as the number of marks you've made. On a large, layer-heavy file the panel can take a moment to load, so wait for it to populate before assuming nothing is there. Some artists use the stroke count for fun. A stippling artist, for example, can see exactly how many dots a piece contains.

Using tracked time for pricing

Freelancers often use this number to sanity-check a quote. If a commission took 14 tracked hours, you can compare that against your day rate and see whether the flat fee you charged was sensible. Two caveats keep the figure honest:

• Tracked time reflects work done inside Procreate. Reference gathering, client calls, and revisions discussed over email aren't in it.
• It's a per-file number, so it's best treated as a solid estimate of canvas time rather than a billing record.

Why there's no "total time across all artwork" number

Users have asked for a combined total across every piece in the gallery, and other users point out that it would be hard to offer. Artworks get duplicated, deleted, and exported off the device. When you duplicate a file to explore a different direction, the time spent before the split would be counted twice if you naively summed everything. Someone who has painted for years may also have only a handful of those pieces still on the iPad.

If you want a rough lifetime figure, add up the Statistics values for the files you still have, and accept that it's an approximation. For a broad estimate of how long you've spent in the app overall, one user suggests the time-tracking features built into iOS and iPadOS (Screen Time) may give a rough idea.

How to see when a file was created or last edited

The same panel handles dates. In Actions > Canvas > Canvas information, Procreate shows when the canvas was created and when it was last modified, along with other file details.

This is the answer for anyone who makes lots of quick sketch files in a single day and can't tell them apart in the gallery. It's also worth knowing if your files get shuffled by a cloud sync or backup tool. Because the creation and modification details live in the canvas information panel, you can still reconstruct the order of your work from there. It's also a reason to build a naming habit: if you put a date at the start of a file name (for example, year_month_day), your files will sort chronologically anywhere you export them.

How to check the current time while using Procreate

Procreate runs full screen and hides the iPad status bar to give you more canvas. That's pleasant until you lose track of time or battery. There's no on-canvas clock in the toolbar, and users have asked for one for years. These are the workarounds that come up most.

Open Control Center

Open Control Center using the standard iPadOS gesture for your version. It slides over the canvas, and the clock appears. Dismiss it and you're back in your drawing without leaving the app. One note: Control Center and Notification Center are different things on iPadOS, and people mix them up.

Pull down Notification Center

Notification Center also shows the time. One user reports that on their iPadOS version you have to swipe all the way to the bottom before the clock appears, so a small peek may not be enough.

Use the multitasking gestures

Older tips from the Procreate community involve partially performing a system gesture, such as a five-finger pull-in or a four-finger swipe, and then reversing it so the status bar shows briefly without sending the app to the background. These tips date back several iPadOS generations, and at least one user reports that they didn't work on iPadOS 14. Treat them as something to test on your own device rather than a guaranteed method.

Put the time somewhere else

If you want to be reminded without taking an action, use a different surface:

• An Apple Watch or a phone on a stand
• A physical desk clock
• A timer or interval alarm set for 30 or 45 minutes

A recurring alarm also solves a different problem. It prompts you to save, stretch, and step back from the canvas, which tends to improve the work anyway.

Quick reference

Troubleshooting

Statistics is slow or blank. Large canvases with many layers take time to load the panel. Give it a moment before backing out.

The time looks lower than you expect. The figure reflects time spent working in that file. If you duplicated a canvas or restarted from a copy, the history won't match your real calendar time on the project.

The clock gesture doesn't work. Gesture-based tricks vary by iPadOS version and settings. Control Center is the most dependable option, because it's a standard system feature rather than a shortcut.

You can't find a date. Make sure you're in Canvas information from the Actions menu.

Where this fits in a motion and VFX workflow

Many motion designers, animators, and compositors use Procreate for what it does well: loose concept frames, storyboards, texture paints, and hand-drawn style references. The tracked time and date information has a practical use in that context. It helps you estimate how long a styleframe or an illustrated element takes, and it gives you a record of which version came first when you hand work off to an After Effects or Nuke comp.

Summary

For time spent on a drawing, go to Actions > Canvas > Canvas information > Statistics. For creation and edit dates, use the same Canvas information panel. For the current time, use Control Center or Notification Center, because Procreate itself doesn't display a clock. A simple alarm or a nearby watch will keep you aware of the hours without breaking your focus on the canvas.

Procreate has two kinds of time, and each is checked differently. To see how long you've worked on a piece, tap the Actions (wrench) icon, go to Canvas, choose Canvas information, then tap Statistics. To see the actual time of day while painting, Procreate has no built-in clock, so you check the iPad's status bar through Control Center or a multitasking gesture.

Which "time" do you need?

People searching this phrase usually mean one of three things:

• Time spent on a drawing. Useful for pricing commissions, tracking progress, or satisfying curiosity.
• When a file was created or last edited. Useful for sorting sketches and reconstructing a timeline.
• The current clock time. Useful when you lose hours in a canvas and have somewhere to be.

Procreate answers the first two natively. The third depends on iPadOS.

How to check time spent on a Procreate artwork

Procreate tracks working time per canvas and shows it in the canvas statistics.

1. Open the artwork you want to inspect.
2. Tap the Actions icon (the wrench) in the top toolbar.
3. Choose Canvas.
4. Tap Canvas information.
5. Open the Statistics tab.

Statistics lists the tracked time for that file alongside other details such as the number of marks you've made. On a large, layer-heavy file the panel can take a moment to load, so wait for it to populate before assuming nothing is there. Some artists use the stroke count for fun. A stippling artist, for example, can see exactly how many dots a piece contains.

Using tracked time for pricing

Freelancers often use this number to sanity-check a quote. If a commission took 14 tracked hours, you can compare that against your day rate and see whether the flat fee you charged was sensible. Two caveats keep the figure honest:

• Tracked time reflects work done inside Procreate. Reference gathering, client calls, and revisions discussed over email aren't in it.
• It's a per-file number, so it's best treated as a solid estimate of canvas time rather than a billing record.

Why there's no "total time across all artwork" number

Users have asked for a combined total across every piece in the gallery, and other users point out that it would be hard to offer. Artworks get duplicated, deleted, and exported off the device. When you duplicate a file to explore a different direction, the time spent before the split would be counted twice if you naively summed everything. Someone who has painted for years may also have only a handful of those pieces still on the iPad.

If you want a rough lifetime figure, add up the Statistics values for the files you still have, and accept that it's an approximation. For a broad estimate of how long you've spent in the app overall, one user suggests the time-tracking features built into iOS and iPadOS (Screen Time) may give a rough idea.

How to see when a file was created or last edited

The same panel handles dates. In Actions > Canvas > Canvas information, Procreate shows when the canvas was created and when it was last modified, along with other file details.

This is the answer for anyone who makes lots of quick sketch files in a single day and can't tell them apart in the gallery. It's also worth knowing if your files get shuffled by a cloud sync or backup tool. Because the creation and modification details live in the canvas information panel, you can still reconstruct the order of your work from there. It's also a reason to build a naming habit: if you put a date at the start of a file name (for example, year_month_day), your files will sort chronologically anywhere you export them.

How to check the current time while using Procreate

Procreate runs full screen and hides the iPad status bar to give you more canvas. That's pleasant until you lose track of time or battery. There's no on-canvas clock in the toolbar, and users have asked for one for years. These are the workarounds that come up most.

Open Control Center

Open Control Center using the standard iPadOS gesture for your version. It slides over the canvas, and the clock appears. Dismiss it and you're back in your drawing without leaving the app. One note: Control Center and Notification Center are different things on iPadOS, and people mix them up.

Pull down Notification Center

Notification Center also shows the time. One user reports that on their iPadOS version you have to swipe all the way to the bottom before the clock appears, so a small peek may not be enough.

Use the multitasking gestures

Older tips from the Procreate community involve partially performing a system gesture, such as a five-finger pull-in or a four-finger swipe, and then reversing it so the status bar shows briefly without sending the app to the background. These tips date back several iPadOS generations, and at least one user reports that they didn't work on iPadOS 14. Treat them as something to test on your own device rather than a guaranteed method.

Put the time somewhere else

If you want to be reminded without taking an action, use a different surface:

• An Apple Watch or a phone on a stand
• A physical desk clock
• A timer or interval alarm set for 30 or 45 minutes

A recurring alarm also solves a different problem. It prompts you to save, stretch, and step back from the canvas, which tends to improve the work anyway.

Quick reference

Troubleshooting

Statistics is slow or blank. Large canvases with many layers take time to load the panel. Give it a moment before backing out.

The time looks lower than you expect. The figure reflects time spent working in that file. If you duplicated a canvas or restarted from a copy, the history won't match your real calendar time on the project.

The clock gesture doesn't work. Gesture-based tricks vary by iPadOS version and settings. Control Center is the most dependable option, because it's a standard system feature rather than a shortcut.

You can't find a date. Make sure you're in Canvas information from the Actions menu.

Where this fits in a motion and VFX workflow

Many motion designers, animators, and compositors use Procreate for what it does well: loose concept frames, storyboards, texture paints, and hand-drawn style references. The tracked time and date information has a practical use in that context. It helps you estimate how long a styleframe or an illustrated element takes, and it gives you a record of which version came first when you hand work off to an After Effects or Nuke comp.

Summary

For time spent on a drawing, go to Actions > Canvas > Canvas information > Statistics. For creation and edit dates, use the same Canvas information panel. For the current time, use Control Center or Notification Center, because Procreate itself doesn't display a clock. A simple alarm or a nearby watch will keep you aware of the hours without breaking your focus on the canvas.