diff --git a/apps/ios/Shared/AppDelegate.swift b/apps/ios/Shared/AppDelegate.swift
index 0a401f9bf3..8cc6d816b5 100644
--- a/apps/ios/Shared/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/Shared/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate {
 
     private func prepareForLaunch() {
         try? FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: getWallpaperDirectory(), withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+        excludeAppDataFromBackup()
     }
 
     static func keepScreenOn(_ on: Bool) {
diff --git a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift
index a4d4e4ae0c..0c1852b09c 100644
--- a/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift
+++ b/apps/ios/SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift
@@ -66,6 +66,18 @@ func getAppDirectory() -> URL {
     : getDocumentsDirectory()
 }
 
+public func excludeAppDataFromBackup() {
+    var values = URLResourceValues()
+    values.isExcludedFromBackup = true
+    for var dir in [getGroupContainerDirectory(), getDocumentsDirectory()] {
+        do {
+            try dir.setResourceValues(values)
+        } catch {
+            logger.error("FileUtils.excludeAppDataFromBackup error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 // Spec: spec/database.md#DB_FILE_PREFIX
 let DB_FILE_PREFIX = "simplex_v1"
 
diff --git a/apps/ios/spec/database.md b/apps/ios/spec/database.md
index 9e5adfcb64..cb08abe2aa 100644
--- a/apps/ios/spec/database.md
+++ b/apps/ios/spec/database.md
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@ See [`getDocumentsDirectory()`](../SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift#L47) and [`getGro
 
 The container choice is stored in `dbContainerGroupDefault` (`GroupDefaults`).
 
+### Backup Exclusion
+
+`isExcludedFromBackup` is set on both containers by [`excludeAppDataFromBackup()`](../SimpleXChat/FileUtils.swift#L69-L79), which is called from [`prepareForLaunch()`](../Shared/AppDelegate.swift#L124-L127) on each app launch. Files that the app, NSE and SE create or replace in these directories later are excluded as well.
+
 ---
 
 ## 3. Haskell Store Modules