Resilient, encrypted backups for your iCloud Drive environment

Back up your iCloud Drive files with Plakar to protect against data loss, corruption, and ransomware. Create immutable, encrypted, and verifiable backups for your iCloud Drive data.

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iCloud Drive is convenient, but not a backup solution

iCloud Drive is Apple's cloud storage service that keeps documents, folders, and app data synced across all your Apple devices. iCloud Drive excels at synchronization and seamless access but it's not designed to provide independent backups, long-term retention, or comprehensive recovery. Accidental deletion, malicious changes, or account compromise can permanently affect your data. Plakar creates encrypted, deduplicated, and versioned snapshots of your iCloud Drive data, stored wherever you choose, easily restorable and fully under your control.

Why protecting iCloud Drive matters

iCloud Drive is central to the Apple ecosystem, seamlessly syncing files across devices, however synchronization doesn’t count as a backup solution. Actions taken in iCloud Drive are synced to all connected devices almost instantly. This leaves it vulnerable to:

  • Accidental Deletion: Files removed by a user are quickly removed across all devices.
  • Overwrites and Corruption: Bad edits or corrupted files replace healthy versions across the entire environment.
  • Ransomware: Malware-encrypted files are synchronized back to iCloud Drive, overwriting clean data.

Native retention and recovery options are limited in scope and duration. While Apple provides some version history, it’s restricted to recent changes and specific file types. For business-critical or compliance-sensitive data, an independent and immutable backup history is essential.

Security and compromise

Access to iCloud Drive is tied to Apple ID credentials, two-factor authentication, and connected devices. If any of these are compromised:

  • Mass data loss can occur within minutes
  • Malicious changes are synchronized automatically across all devices
  • Recovery windows may be limited or unavailable

Plakar mitigates these risks by creating immutable snapshots of your data that cannot be altered. Backups are end-to-end encrypted, with keys that you own, ensuring privacy and control even if your Apple ID itself is compromised.

How Plakar secures your iCloud Drive workflows

Plakar integrates with iCloud Drive as a flexible bridge for your data:

  • Source Connector: Take snapshots of your iCloud Drive files and store them in a secure Kloset Store.
  • Storage Connector: Use iCloud Drive as a vault to store encrypted and deduplicated Plakar backups from other sources.
  • Destination Connector: Restore verified snapshots directly back into iCloud Drive when needed.

Plakar uses deduplication to minimize storage space and bandwidth usage while preserving full snapshot history. It also allows for direct inspection of backups, letting you browse, search, and verify file content via the CLI or UI without needing to restore to iCloud Drive first.

Current Limitations

The iCloud Drive integration is in beta and has some known limitations:

  • iCloud Photos: The iCloud Drive API does not provide access to photos stored in iCloud Photos. You cannot back up your iCloud Photos library with this integration.
  • App-Specific Data: Some app containers and system-managed data may not be accessible through the standard iCloud Drive API.

Ready to protect your iCloud Drive data?

iCloud Drive docs

Security by design

Reduce your attack surface by keeping encryption keys out of storage. With true end-to-end encryption, your data is protected before it leaves the source and remains unreadable even to your storage provider.

  • End-to-end encryption with modern crypto (no compromise on "at-rest/in-transit")
  • Immutable snapshots with verifiable integrity
  • Tamper-proof metadata and audit logs
  • Zero-trust-friendly architecture
"You don’t have to trust your storage provider."
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Regroup all your data protection workflows in one platform

From edge devices to SaaS platforms and hybrid clouds, Plakar keeps your data safe, synced, and instantly restorable: all from one unified tool.

For SaaS, endpoints & edge

Whether you're backing up remote laptops, on-premise servers or third-party SaaS data, Plakar gives you full control. Immutable backups, minimal storage, full flexibility. Even in disconnected environments.

In your data center

Legacy systems or critical data. All backed up with the same simplicity. Plakar integrates directly into your infrastructure with powerful CLI, orchestration support, and instant recovery.

Across clouds

Cloud-native or multi-cloud? No problem. Plakar works seamlessly with object storage, S3-compatible services, and hybrid environments, without locking you in or slowing you down.

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Plakar is not another complex “backup project”. Gain peace of mind with little investment while protecting what matters.

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