Choose your language
Open Settings → Language and choose System default, English or 简体中文. This changes the app's interface; your own project names, notes and imported pattern text keep their original wording. The control names below use the English interface.
Sync your library between iPhone and iPad
Use the same Apple Account on both devices and check that iCloud is available for Purl & Paper in your device settings. Open Purl & Paper on each device, go to Settings → Sync with iCloud, and enable it. No separate Purl & Paper account or login is required.
Changes save locally before they transfer. Sync runs while the app is open in the foreground. Keep both apps open for the first sync. Finish editing Inspiration with Done before opening Settings or waiting for incoming idea updates. Wait until Settings reports Saved on this device and up to date in iCloud before continuing on another device. Large PDFs and photos can take longer. Keep both devices on a compatible, current version of the app.
Turning the switch off pauses transfers and keeps copies already saved locally and in iCloud. If your Apple Account changes, syncing pauses to protect the previous account's library. Sign back into the original Apple Account as instructed by the app; there is no account migration tool. Export a backup before troubleshooting account or recovery issues.
If a sync error appears, read its message, check your network, Apple Account and available iCloud and device storage, then choose Sync now in Purl & Paper Settings while the app stays open. Work already saved on the device remains available while cloud access needs attention.
Understand recovered versions
Two devices can change the same item before either receives the other's update. When the versions cannot be combined safely, Purl & Paper keeps a recovered copy so you can compare them. Settings may report Up to date. Conflicting versions were kept as recovered copies. Counter values are kept as separate versions rather than added together, because both devices may be counting the same knitting. Review the copies before removing one.
Clean up iCloud storage
In Settings, choose Clean up iCloud storage… and read the confirmation before choosing Clean up. Cleanup removes superseded cloud content and unused media. It preserves current library items, conflicting versions and unfinished transfers. Small technical receipts and deletion records remain to prevent repeated transfers and deleted items reappearing.
Cleanup also removes unused local transfer cache files. Your saved device library and exported backups remain. Historical cloud content removed by cleanup cannot be restored through the app. Export a library backup first if you want an independent snapshot.
Remove the cloud library permanently
To pause syncing, turn off Sync with iCloud. To permanently remove its cloud content instead, choose Settings → Remove iCloud library…, read the confirmation, then select Remove permanently. This removes the app's cloud library, history and media and turns syncing off on that device. Other updated devices pause when they next connect. Their local libraries, original files, exported backups and Apple or computer backups remain separate. Deleting the app alone does not remove its cloud library.
A small marker with no library content remains in iCloud to prevent updated devices from automatically uploading older copies. If removal cannot finish, follow the status and use Retry iCloud removal…. Keep the app open until the operation finishes.
If you later choose Use iCloud again… → Upload this device's library, the local content on that device can be uploaded into a new or restarted cloud library. This can include items previously removed from iCloud. Other updated devices keep their local copies and require an explicit decision before joining the restarted library. Review those copies before restarting if you want to keep specific content out of iCloud.
Create in Inspiration
Inspiration brings the former To Knit and Design Studio features together. Open Inspiration, tap the plus button (New or import idea), and choose Blank space or Garment template. A sweater or another garment outline gives you sections to colour; a blank space gives you room to collect an idea without a fixed paper border.
Use the Writing style dropdown for Pen, Running Stitch or Soft Yarn. These change freehand strokes rather than the font of typed text. The top toolbar also holds the drawing and fill colour, Stroke size, Template and Playspace controls. Choose Playspace to change the background colour, including Custom colour…. Use Fill to colour garment sections. Inspiration has its own drawing tools on both iPhone and iPad.
Use Insert → Text, Photos, Image from Files, Paste image or text, or Image from web link to build your idea. Web links must be direct HTTPS image addresses, rather than ordinary web pages; choose an image smaller than 16 MB. You can also drop supported images into the playspace. Use Insert → Stickers to choose from the Cozy Watercolour and Little Knitting Club packs, with 20 knitting illustrations and reactions in total.
Choose Select, select an imported photo, then choose Make sticker to cut out its subject on-device. Use a photo with a clear subject; if detection cannot find one, keep the photo or insert a transparent PNG. Restore original photo brings back the imported copy, which can be resized during import to a maximum dimension of 2048 pixels. The full-resolution original in Photos is unchanged. Selected items can also be edited, resized, rotated and rearranged with the layer controls.
To rename an idea, open the three-dot Idea actions menu, choose Idea details, and edit Idea name. The same panel contains notes and links to saved patterns and yarn. Add more spaces from the spaces menu as the idea grows. Changes save as you work; check the Saved indicator and tap Done to return to the Inspiration library. The Idea actions menu also offers Save, Export image, Export PDF, Export editable idea and Start knitting. Use Import editable idea from Inspiration's plus menu to reopen an editable export.
Start a project
Import a pattern from Files, choose pattern photos, or scan paper pages. Save the pattern, then create a project from it. Each project has its own counters, notes, progress and annotations, so you can knit the same pattern again without changing an earlier attempt.
Update project progress, yarn and photos
Open an ongoing project and use Project in the workspace's top toolbar. Choose its Progress entry to adjust completion, Yarn usage to record consumption, or Project details to edit the project. Yarn usage can include strand counts and the number of balls or grams used; multiple needle setups can be recorded in the project editor.
Use Project → Change project cover to choose a new cover. The pattern editor also provides a separate Pattern display photo. You can crop a photo or select a PDF page for display while preserving the original pattern document.
Write on a pattern
Open an ongoing project with a PDF attached. On iPad, choose Write or Highlight in the top toolbar. Use Ink options to change colour and stroke size. Choose Erase to remove ink or Select to move selected marks. Apple Pencil lets you write while your fingers move around the page. Enable finger drawing if you want to write by touch instead.
The iPhone companion can view saved pattern annotations. Creating freehand PDF pattern annotations is available on iPad. Typed notes can be edited on both devices; compatible text fields also work with Apple Pencil Scribble on iPad.
Rows, repeats and the guide
The row and repeat controls are independent. Use each counter's plus or minus button as you knit; resetting the row counter returns it to zero. Edit the repeat total when your pattern needs a different target. Use Project → Manage counters to give project sections useful names and manage their counters.
Turn on the row guide to mark the line you are following. Drag its movement handle to reposition it, and open Row guide size to adjust width and thickness. The guide and counters are saved with that project.
Check a test swatch
Add a swatch with its yarn, needle, photo, measured width and height, and the number of stitches and rows inside that measured area. Record whether it has been washed or blocked. Enter the pattern's recommended stitches and rows per 10 cm in its pattern details, then choose Compare gauge from Swatches.
Gauge Check compares those measurements and estimates their effect on size. The result depends on your measurements and stitch pattern. Knit and measure another swatch when you change yarn, needles or technique.
Compare yarn
Yarn Match compares the details you have entered for a pattern and a yarn. It explains differences in weight, gauge, fibre, construction and length, and converts metres, yards and whole packages. Incomplete labels can leave parts of the comparison unknown. Use a measured swatch before deciding on a substitution.
Back up or move your library
Use Settings → Export backup and save the .knitarchive file somewhere you can find again. Backups are snapshots, so export a fresh copy after important changes. Use Import backup in Settings to transfer that library. Import adds records, skips identical records and keeps different versions as recovered copies.
A library archive includes original patterns and editable saved data, including Inspiration, plus flattened annotated PDF copies where they can be produced. Use the workspace's annotated-PDF export when you want a standalone readable PDF with marks flattened onto its pages.
Archives are not encrypted by the app. Store them securely. An archive saved in iCloud Drive is separate from live library sync. Keep an independent backup even when sync is enabled: a deletion can sync to your other devices, while an exported archive remains a separate snapshot.
If something goes wrong
If a pattern will not import, check that it opens in Files and is a valid PDF or supported image. A password-protected PDF may need an unlocked copy that you are entitled to use. If camera access is disabled, enable it in your device's Settings or import from Files instead. For an Inspiration web-image error, use the image's direct HTTPS address, save it to Photos or import from Files.
If the app cannot open its library, try the offered retry action. Avoid deleting the app as a troubleshooting step when it holds your only copy of a project. Keep a recent library archive before reinstalling or replacing a device.
For help, email [email protected]. Include your iPhone or iPad model, iOS or iPadOS version, Purl & Paper version and build, the steps that caused the problem, and the exact error or sync status. For sync issues, say whether one or both devices are affected. Share only screenshots or example files you are comfortable disclosing and entitled to share.
Read the Privacy Policy for details about local and iCloud storage, Inspiration images, sharing and deletion.