diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/metrics/metric.py b/pytorch_lightning/metrics/metric.py
index fe78869911fda..c9fb053c7d336 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/metrics/metric.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/metrics/metric.py
@@ -218,3 +218,13 @@ def reset(self):
                 setattr(self, attr, deepcopy(default).to(current_val.device))
             else:
                 setattr(self, attr, deepcopy(default))
+
+    def __getstate__(self):
+        # ignore update and compute functions for pickling
+        return {k: v for k, v in self.__dict__.items() if k not in ["update", "compute"]}
+
+    def __setstate__(self, state):
+        # manually restore update and compute functions for pickling
+        self.__dict__.update(state)
+        self.update = self._wrap_update(self.update)
+        self.compute = self._wrap_compute(self.compute)
diff --git a/tests/metrics/test_metric.py b/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
index 62b9384b219d0..366c873127eab 100644
--- a/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
+++ b/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 import os
 import numpy as np
 
+import pickle
+import cloudpickle
+
 torch.manual_seed(42)
 
 
@@ -106,3 +109,30 @@ def compute(self):
     # called without update, should return cached value
     a._computed = 5
     assert a.compute() == 5
+
+
+class ToPickle(Dummy):
+    def update(self, x):
+        self.x += x
+
+    def compute(self):
+        return self.x
+
+
+def test_pickle(tmpdir):
+    # doesn't tests for DDP
+    a = ToPickle()
+    a.update(1)
+
+    metric_pickled = pickle.dumps(a)
+    metric_loaded = pickle.loads(metric_pickled)
+
+    assert metric_loaded.compute() == 1
+
+    metric_loaded.update(5)
+    assert metric_loaded.compute() == 5
+
+    metric_pickled = cloudpickle.dumps(a)
+    metric_loaded = cloudpickle.loads(metric_pickled)
+
+    assert metric_loaded.compute() == 1
diff --git a/tests/metrics/utils.py b/tests/metrics/utils.py
index 88997006b0014..3ba87f456ad43 100644
--- a/tests/metrics/utils.py
+++ b/tests/metrics/utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import pytest
+import pickle
 
 NUM_PROCESSES = 2
 NUM_BATCHES = 10
@@ -19,6 +20,10 @@ def _compute_batch(rank, preds, target, metric_class, sk_metric, ddp_sync_on_ste
 
     metric = metric_class(compute_on_step=True, ddp_sync_on_step=ddp_sync_on_step, **metric_args)
 
+    # verify metrics work after being loaded from pickled state
+    pickled_metric = pickle.dumps(metric)
+    metric = pickle.loads(pickled_metric)
+
     # Only use ddp if world size
     if worldsize > 1:
         setup_ddp(rank, worldsize)