4 Easy Ways to Backup Google Drive to iCloud in 2026

Quick Search:

• Overview of Google Drive and iCloud
• Key Differences Between Google Drive and iCloud
• Why Backup Google Drive to iCloud?
• How to Backup Google Drive to iCloud Manually | 2 Ways
• How to Backup Google Drive to iCloud Directly and Automatically
• Transfer Files from Google Drive to iCloud on iPhone
• FAQs about Backing Up Google Drive to iCloud
• Conclusion

Overview of Google Drive and iCloud

Google Drive is one of the amazing cloud storage services in the cloud market, which offers you a platform to save different digital data such as videos, photos, documents, music, etc. With Google Drive, users can achieve all types of collaboration with colleagues and friends remotely. Meanwhile, there’re 15GB of free storage space on Google Drive, which is fairly adequate for most people’s daily use.

iCloud is a professional cloud backup service that is built into products from Apple, such as Mac, iPhone, etc. With a simple interface, users can store their notes and documents to iCloud easily, and that data is available without the limitations of time and place. With 5GB of free storage for every signup, users can take advantage of free 5GB space to try different features of this cloud.

Both Google Drive and iCloud are brilliant and both have a large user base across the world. By storing data in Google Drive and iCloud, local devices’ storage can be saved efficiently.

Key Differences Between Google Drive and iCloud

Both Google Drive and iCloud are powerful services to protect your files. To show the main differences between Google Drive and iCloud, check the chart below for reference.

You should back up Google Drive to iCloud if you are an Apple user who values privacy, wants seamless device syncing, and prefers affordable storage. iCloud's end-to-end encryption and Hide My Email give you security that Google Drive does not offer.

Why Backup Google Drive to iCloud?

Even though Google Drive is a wonderful application for saving data, sometimes files or photos are missing on Google Drive and users just cannot find them back. To protect your data better, it’s recommended to backup data from Google Drive to iCloud. In addition to data protection, there’re other reasons for backing up Google Drive to iCloud:

So, Google Drive vs iCloud, which is better? It’s iCloud that comes out ahead. To prevent your data from lost and utilize data efficiently, you could backup data from Google Drive to iCloud. However, how to achieve it simply? If you are wondering this, read the following content then.

How to Backup Google Drive to iCloud Manually

In this section, 2 basic methods are provided for your reference. After reading, you can choose the one that suits your situation.

• Way 1: Download Google Drive Files and Upload to iCloud
• Way 2: Backup Google Drive to iCloud via Google Takeout

Way 1: Download Google Drive Files and Upload to iCloud

If there’re not that many files, you can directly visit Google Drive web app and download what you want to back up. And then upload what you have downloaded to iCloud. Here’s what you can refer to:

Step 1: Log in to your Google Drive and head to the file/folder you want to back up.

Step 2: Right-click to download the file/folder to your local devices.

Step 3: Go to iCloud and sign in with your account. Then you need to enter the verification code that is sent to your iPhone.
Step 4: Click iCloud Drive on the main page.

Step 5: Then, you can directly drag and drop the file/folder from your local devices to the interface. Or, you could click the upload icon on the upper sidebar. Both operations can make your file/folder uploaded to iCloud Drive.

Way 2: Backup Google Drive to iCloud via Google Takeout

If you want to backup Google Drive to iCloud and there’re a large number of files, then you can use Google Takeout to export large data in one go to your local devices. And then re-upload those exported files to iCloud again. If you have no idea of Google Takeout, it is a useful service that backs up all your data from Google products such as Google Drive, Google Photos, etc. Now, you can follow the steps below to have a try:

Step 1: Go to Google Takeout and scroll down to tick Google Drive. Then, go to the bottom line to click Next step.

Step 2: Select the file type, frequency and destination, and then hit Create export.

Step 3: Then press Download on the next window. After that, the compressed data will be saved on your local devices. All you need to do then is to upload the data to iCloud Drive, which is similar to Way 1. In this way, you can also make backup Google Drive to iCloud.

How to Backup Google Drive to iCloud Directly and Automatically

However, the methods above are manual and traditional, which consumes lots of time when you have many files to backup from Google Drive to iCloud. Imagine you have a great many files, and you need to download and re-upload them during the backup process. It will be troublesome.  To deliver the goal efficiently, you can utilize MultCloud, a FREE and professional cloud to cloud backup service.

Smooth Backup. MultCloud offers users a seamless way to back up data from one cloud to another.

40+ Clouds. It supports more than 40 cloud services such as iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Google Drive, Flickr, Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox, FTP, MEGA, pCloud, Box, Dropbox Business, OneDrive for Business, Box for Business, Google Workspace, etc. 

Exclusive Backup. You can use the professional backup feature to backup one cloud to another directly.

Seamless Backup Process. By using MultCloud to backup files between clouds, you don’t need a troublesome download-and-upload process anymore.

Efficient and Secure. MultCloud offers you an easy way to backup data across clouds directly and uses cutting-edge encryption technology to keep your data safe in the backup process.

Scheduled Backup. You can set up scheduled backup tasks as daily, weekly or monthly, which is very flexible and can save much of your time.

Intelligent Restoring. MultCloud provides users with the Versions feature, which allows users to restore partial/certain files.

Then, let’s figure out how to backup Google Drive to iCloud with MultCloud:

Step 1: Visit the official website of MultCloud and sign up with your email. Alternatively, you can log in directly with your Google or Facebook account.

Step 2: Hit Add Cloud to add Google Drive and iCloud to add your accounts respectively, and give MultCloud permission by following the on-screen notes.

Step 3: Now, go to Cloud Backup, and choose Google Drive as the source directory and iCloud as the target directory. At last, click Backup Now.

Only 3 steps above can you backup data across clouds effortlessly and directly. Different from the traditional methods, using MultCloud is more seamless and efficient. Similarly, you can backup iCloud Photos to Google Drive. Also, MultCloud relies on data traffic to backup data across clouds and there’re 5 GB of free data traffic per month for users. With data traffic, you don’t need to worry about the network connection during the backup process.

MultCloud is not only a backup service, but also a cloud file manager. With MultCloud, you can manage different clouds in only one place. Here, you can upload folder to Google Photos, share Dropbox files, share Google Drive with iCloud, as well as download documents from Google Drive, etc.

Transfer Files from Google Drive to iCloud on iPhone

You can manually transfer via the iPhone Files app. And it's best for transferring a small number of documents (PDFs, Word, Excel) or specific folders. The iPhone "Files" app allows you to view both drives simultaneously, acting like a bridge.

Here is how to back up Google Drive to iCloud using the Files app:

1. Download the Google Drive app from the App Store and sign in.

2. Open the Files app on your iPhone.

3. Tap the three dots (top right) > "Edit".

4. Toggle on the switch for Google Drive and tap "Done".

5. Navigate to Google Drive in the Files app.

6. Tap "Select" (top right), choose the files, tap the folder icon (bottom), and select iCloud Drive.

This relies entirely on your phone's speed. It downloads the file to the phone first, then uploads it to iCloud. But it's very slow for large folders (e.g., 1000 photos).

FAQs about Backing Up Google Drive to iCloud

Can I directly transfer backup from Google Drive to iCloud without downloading files?

A: Yes, but only for photos and videos via Google Takeout. For documents like PDFs or Word files, you cannot transfer directly without downloading or using a third-party tool.

Can I transfer WhatsApp backup from Google Drive to iCloud?

A: No. There is no direct method. You must restore to an Android phone, use WhatsApp's chat transfer to iPhone, then back up to iCloud.

Does iCloud have end-to-end encryption compared to Google Drive?

A: Yes, iCloud offers optional end-to-end encryption (Advanced Data Protection). Google Drive does not provide end-to-end encryption by default.

Can I sync Google Drive and iCloud automatically?

A: Not natively. You need a third-party tool like MultCloud for automatic or scheduled syncing between the two services.

Will my file timestamps and metadata be preserved during transfer?

A: Official Google Takeout preserves timestamps and metadata for photos and videos. Manual download/upload often resets timestamps to the transfer date.

What types of files can be transferred from Google Drive to iCloud?

A: Photos and videos transfer easily via Google Takeout. Documents (PDFs, Word, Excel) require manual download/upload or third-party tools. WhatsApp backups cannot be directly transferred.

Conclusion

After reading this guide, you can now back up Google Drive to iCloud by any method above. In short, you can manually back up Google Drive to iCloud by downloading and re-uploading. Meanwhile, there is an excellent service, MultCloud, that can help backup data from Google Drive to iCloud directly without going through a manual process.

On top of the Cloud Backup feature, MultCloud also offers you other functions such as Cloud Transfer. For instance, if you want to transfer Google Drive to MEGA, this feature can make it in a hassle way. And you can use this functions to transfer files from Google Drive to iCloud on iPhone, Mac, or Windows computer. Similarly, the Cloud Sync feature on MultCloud allows you to sync Google Drive to iCloud, or sync iCloud with Google Drive in different syncing methods, such as Mirror Sync, Real-Time Sync, Cumulative Sync, and so on.