iCloud Backup does not allow for selective restoration of specific files, requiring a full-device restore which is not always possible.

#iPad #backup update: It seems there are multiple design decisions at work here, some of which seem reasonable in isolation. But in combination (in real-life use!), they do not meet user expectations. Rant: Some iOS apps support iCloud Drive. This is synced file storage hosted by Apple. Yay! Procreate “supports” iCloud Drive, but ONLY for custom brushes. Setting Procreate storage from “on this iPad” to “iCloud Drive” gives the *impression* that *all* of your artwork and preferences will be synced, but it’s only brushes (?!?!) iCloud Backup will make a mostly full-device backup of your iPad, whether or not any app individually supports iCloud Drive. Yay! *But* an iCloud Backup can ONLY be restored as a full-device restore, and only in certain conditions. (Hope you didn’t want to keep any data/files you’ve created or accumulated since that last backup! Oh also I hope you haven’t updated your OS!)

#iPad #backup Well, my friends — I *did* have iCloud Drive enabled for Procreate, but it turns out that means basically nothing. Artwork is not stored there. That’s the first misleading thing. I *did* have iCloud Backup enabled for the iPad. So in theory the files exist somewhere in a data center, but obtaining them is maybe not possible. iOS does not let me “restore” the backup (even at the expense of losing all data since then) because I’ve updated the OS version. I am currently resorting to third-party sketchy looking apps that charge a ransom (essentially) to extract individual files from the blob backup. My local backup was not itself backed up. I use TimeMachine, but not often. I rely on a real-time live backup to my NAS — but that didn’t include the folder ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/MobileSync/ which is where iOS backups live. Sigh.