# Auto-backup to iCloud

Set it once. Flow drops a fresh backup into your iCloud Drive on a schedule — no taps required.

ℹ️ iOS / macOS only

Auto-backup uses Apple's iCloud Drive APIs, so it's available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. On Android, use a manual export to your cloud storage of choice — see [Backup & restore](/content/guide/backup/index.html).

## What gets uploaded

The same full-backup ZIP described in [Backup & restore](/content/guide/backup/index.html) — every transaction, account, category, tag, and attachment, in one file. Each backup is stamped with the date and version of Flow that created it.

## 1\. Make sure iCloud Drive is on

1. Open the iOS **Settings** app.
2. Tap your name at the top → **iCloud**.
3. Confirm **iCloud Drive** is on.
4. Scroll to apps that use iCloud and confirm **Flow** is enabled.

## 2\. Enable iCloud sync in Flow

Open **Profile** → **Preferences** → **Sync**. Three controls:

1. **Backup interval** — chips: _Disable, 12 hours, a day, 2 days, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 30 days_. Backups are created automatically when you open the app, as long as the interval has elapsed since the last backup.
2. **Sync to iCloud** — the toggle that actually pushes backups up to iCloud Drive.
3. **Number of backups to keep** — chips: _3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 100, Infinite backups_. Older backups beyond that count are deleted at startup.

## 3\. Verify it ran

Open the iOS **Files** app → **iCloud Drive** → **Flow**. You should see timestamped ZIP files. The Sync page also shows the last successful sync time.

## Restoring from an iCloud backup

1. Install Flow on the new device, signed in to the same Apple ID.
2. Open **Profile** → **Import**.
3. Pick a ZIP from your iCloud Drive's Flow folder using the file picker.

⚠️ iCloud quota

Each backup is a few MB to tens of MB depending on attachments. If you keep, say, 90 daily backups with lots of receipt photos, your Flow folder can grow into the hundreds of MB. Tune the keep-count if you're tight on iCloud space.

## Who can read the file

Flow doesn't add any protection to the backup ZIP — it's a plain archive of your data. Anyone with access to your iCloud Drive can open it. If that matters to you, store backups somewhere with stricter access instead, and handle that protection yourself.