diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1ecec5f9d..45af4ed94 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 ### Changes
 - Update iroh, remove `default-net` from `[patch.crates-io]` section.
 - transfer backup: Connect to mutliple provider addresses concurrently.  This should speed up connection time significantly on the getter side.  #4240
+- Make sure BackupProvider is cancelled on drop (or dc_backup_provider_unref).  The BackupProvider will now alaway finish with an IMEX event of 1000 or 0, previoulsy it would sometimes finishe with 1000 (success) when it really was 0 (failure). #4242
 
 ## [1.112.1] - 2023-03-27
 
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 832ffd88c..ae6ef62cf 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1202,6 +1202,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-io-timeout",
  "tokio-stream",
  "tokio-tar",
+ "tokio-util",
  "toml",
  "trust-dns-resolver",
  "url",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index ba4ea5fc5..e153ecf55 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -84,10 +84,11 @@ strum_macros = "0.24"
 tagger = "4.3.4"
 textwrap = "0.16.0"
 thiserror = "1"
+tokio = { version = "1", features = ["fs", "rt-multi-thread", "macros"] }
 tokio-io-timeout = "1.2.0"
 tokio-stream = { version = "0.1.11", features = ["fs"] }
 tokio-tar = { version = "0.3" } # TODO: integrate tokio into async-tar
-tokio = { version = "1", features = ["fs", "rt-multi-thread", "macros"] }
+tokio-util = "0.7.7"
 toml = "0.7"
 trust-dns-resolver = "0.22"
 url = "2"
diff --git a/deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h b/deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h
index 8cb694c4f..3203d865d 100644
--- a/deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h
+++ b/deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h
@@ -2775,6 +2775,12 @@ void dc_backup_provider_wait (dc_backup_provider_t* backup_provider);
 /**
  * Frees a dc_backup_provider_t object.
  *
+ * If the provider has not yet finished, as indicated by
+ * dc_backup_provider_wait() or the #DC_EVENT_IMEX_PROGRESS event with value
+ * of 0 (failed) or 1000 (succeeded), this will also abort any in-progress
+ * transfer.  If this aborts the provider a #DC_EVENT_IMEX_PROGRESS event with
+ * value 0 (failed) will be emitted.
+ *
  * @memberof dc_backup_provider_t
  * @param backup_provider The backup provider object as created by
  *    dc_backup_provider_new().
diff --git a/src/imex/transfer.rs b/src/imex/transfer.rs
index 1837bcca8..441d5e531 100644
--- a/src/imex/transfer.rs
+++ b/src/imex/transfer.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ use tokio::sync::broadcast::error::RecvError;
 use tokio::sync::{broadcast, Mutex};
 use tokio::task::{JoinHandle, JoinSet};
 use tokio_stream::wrappers::ReadDirStream;
+use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
 use crate::blob::BlobDirContents;
 use crate::chat::delete_and_reset_all_device_msgs;
@@ -74,6 +75,8 @@ pub struct BackupProvider {
     handle: JoinHandle<Result<()>>,
     /// The ticket to retrieve the backup collection.
     ticket: Ticket,
+    /// Guard to cancel the provider on drop.
+    _drop_guard: tokio_util::sync::DropGuard,
 }
 
 impl BackupProvider {
@@ -125,10 +128,12 @@ impl BackupProvider {
                 return Err(err);
             }
         };
+        let drop_token = CancellationToken::new();
         let handle = {
             let context = context.clone();
+            let drop_token = drop_token.clone();
             tokio::spawn(async move {
-                let res = Self::watch_provider(&context, provider, cancel_token).await;
+                let res = Self::watch_provider(&context, provider, cancel_token, drop_token).await;
                 context.free_ongoing().await;
 
                 // Explicit drop to move the guards into this future
@@ -137,7 +142,11 @@ impl BackupProvider {
                 res
             })
         };
-        Ok(Self { handle, ticket })
+        Ok(Self {
+            handle,
+            ticket,
+            _drop_guard: drop_token.drop_guard(),
+        })
     }
 
     /// Creates the provider task.
@@ -191,8 +200,8 @@ impl BackupProvider {
         context: &Context,
         mut provider: Provider,
         cancel_token: Receiver<()>,
+        drop_token: CancellationToken,
     ) -> Result<()> {
-        // _dbfile exists so we can clean up the file once it is no longer needed
         let mut events = provider.subscribe();
         let mut total_size = 0;
         let mut current_size = 0;
@@ -252,8 +261,12 @@ impl BackupProvider {
                 },
                 _ = cancel_token.recv() => {
                     provider.shutdown();
-                    break Err(anyhow!("BackupSender cancelled"));
+                    break Err(anyhow!("BackupProvider cancelled"));
                 },
+                _ = drop_token.cancelled() => {
+                    provider.shutdown();
+                    break Err(anyhow!("BackupProvider dropped"));
+                }
             }
         };
         match &res {
@@ -660,4 +673,16 @@ mod tests {
             assert_eq!(out, EventType::ImexProgress(progress));
         }
     }
+
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 2)]
+    async fn test_drop_provider() {
+        let mut tcm = TestContextManager::new();
+        let ctx = tcm.alice().await;
+
+        let provider = BackupProvider::prepare(&ctx).await.unwrap();
+        drop(provider);
+        ctx.evtracker
+            .get_matching(|ev| matches!(ev, EventType::ImexProgress(0)))
+            .await;
+    }
 }