How to Backup iPhone? Mastering iPhone Backup Secrets

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How to Backup iPhone? Mastering iPhone Backup Secrets

16 January 2024 Amanda J. Brook Senior Product Manager

Summary
Discover different methods to back up your iPhone, ensuring the safety of your personal data. Find out everything you need to know about iPhone backup in this informative article.

Table of contents

1. About iPhone Backup

Which is better for iTunes or iCloud backup?

2. iTunes backup

working principle
backup location
operation method
Precautions

3. iCloud backup

working principle
backup location
operation method
Precautions

4. Third-party iPhone backup tools

1. iFunbox backup software
2. Cloud storage service

I. About iPhone backup

A variety of data can be stored in the iPhone, such as photos, videos, health data, personal documents and settings, etc. Various unforeseen problems and failures may occur during the use of iPhone, and these failures may lead to iPhone data loss. In order to protect the important data in the iPhone, the best way to protect it is to back up the data. You can directly enable iCloud backup on your iPhone, or you can back it up on your computer through iTunes. The main function of iPhone backup is to restore the backed up personal data and settings to the iPhone no matter what kind of failure occurs, without data loss. Besides preventing data loss, this also provides a great way to transfer data from your old iPhone to your new one.

Regarding iPhone backup, you should first understand the content of the files that can be backed up and how to back them up regularly. The data that can be included in iTunes backup and iCloud backup include device settings, application data, iMessage information, text (SMS) and MMS, purchase records in Apple services, etc., which can basically cover all basic data. It should be noted that photos and videos will only be backed up if you have not enabled “iCloud Photos” on your iPhone or computer.

The official backup methods provided by Apple include iTunes and iCloud. The biggest difference between the two is the storage location. iCloud backups are stored in the cloud, while iTunes backups are stored in the local folder of the computer. If you use iCloud to back up your iPhone, you can access it at any time as long as you have a Wi-Fi network connection. If you back up your device with iTunes, you must be using the computer where the backup is stored to access the backup. When it comes to backing up your iPhone, which one should you choose?

Which is better for iTunes or iCloud backup?

In fact, there is no question of who is better between iTunes and iCloud. The best choice is to do double protection and use them to backup iPhone at the same time.

In fact, the efficiency of using iTunes local backup will be higher than that of iCloud. If you need to restore the backup to your iPhone, you can choose to restore from iTunes in order to save time. However, if you need to restore your iPhone device while traveling without your computer, you can use iCloud backup to restore. The best data protection plan is to regularly back up your iPhone data to your computer using iTunes, and occasionally (such as once a week) to iCloud. If you’re going to be away for a while, you can turn on iCloud backup on your iPhone, then turn it off when you get home. Using both backups at the same time, your data will be fully protected.

Considering that the iCloud backup space is limited, there are different places to focus on the backup content of the two. When backing up with iTunes, you back up a complete copy of all data on your device so that you can later restore the device to the same device state. Well, when using iCloud backup, only back up the “most important data” on your device to your iCloud account. This allows you to save limited iCloud space without having to upload and download data in bulk.

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In order to let you know more about iTunes and iCloud backup, the following will introduce their working principles and operation methods in detail.

II. iTunes backup

working principle

To perform an iTunes backup, you must have a Mac or Windows computer. The benefit is that you don’t need to be affected by the speed of your internet connection, and you don’t have to buy additional iCloud storage. As long as your computer hard disk capacity is large enough, the backup space of iTunes is unlimited. iTunes is Apple’s official free data management software that supports all iOS devices. Before making an iTunes backup, you must successfully connect your iPhone to the computer with a USB cable, otherwise the iTunes backup cannot start.

An iTunes backup includes almost all data and settings of the device. But the content of iTunes backup does not include:

● Content from the iTunes and App Store, or PDF download directly to Apple Books

● Content synced from iTunes, such as imported MP3s or CDs, videos, books and photos

● Data already stored in iCloud, such as iCloud Photos, iMessages, texts (SMS) and multimedia messages (MMS)

● Face ID or Touch ID settings

● Apple Pay information and settings

● Apple Mail data

● Activity, Health and Keychain Data (To back up this, you need to use encrypted backups in iTunes.)

backup location

On different operating systems, the backup location of iTunes is not the same. You can open the backup location of iTunes by following the instructions below.

1. On a Mac computer:

① Click the search icon in the menu bar.

② Type or copy and paste the following: (~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/)

③ Press the “Return” key.

2. On Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10:

① Find the search bar:

● In Windows 7, click Start.

● In Windows 8, click the magnifying glass in the upper right corner.

● In Windows 10, click the search bar next to the Start button.

② Enter in the search bar: (%appdata%) or (%USERPROFILE%). Press the “Enter” key. Then double-click to open the folders: “Apple” or “Apple Computer” > “MobileSync” > “Backup”.

operation method

iTunes can back up data on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices. The following will take iPhone backup as an example.

The specific operation steps are as follows:

① Connect the iPhone device to the computer. On a Mac computer with macOS Catalina 10.15, open the Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a Windows computer, open iTunes.

② Unlock the iPhone and display the main screen, then connect the iPhone to the computer, click “Trust” in the pop-up window and enter the unlock password.

③ If you want to store the “Fitness Record”, “Health” and “Keychain” data in the device, you need to encrypt the backup and set an encryption password. If you do not need to store Activity, Health, and Keychain data, you can make unencrypted backups. Just click “Back Up Now”.

Note: If you choose an encrypted backup, you need to keep the password safe, otherwise you will lose access to the backup.

④ Finally, wait for the backup to complete.

Precautions

● It is recommended to start the backup manually.

When using iTunes backup, it is recommended that you enable manual backup. If automatic backup is turned on, it can use up a lot of network bandwidth at inopportune times.

● Make sure your computer has sufficient storage space.

You need to confirm that there is enough free space on your computer hard drive to store your iPhone backup. Currently, the storage capacity on the iPhone can be as high as 256GB.

● After the backup is completed, the backup needs to be archived.

After iTunes has finished backing up, you need to archive it. Archiving protects this backup from being overwritten by a new backup, saving it as a specific device backup.

tipsThe operation steps of iTunes backup archive are as follows:

① Open iTunes on the computer.

② After opening the iTunes software, click “iTunes” > “Preferences” > “Device”.

③ Under the list of device backups, find the backup you want to archive. Then right-click on that backup and select Archive.

archive backup

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④ Make sure the iPhone backup is archived by checking the lock icon and time stamp on the backup name, click “OK” to exit iTunes Preferences when done.

The introduction of iTunes backup has been completed, and the following will introduce the relevant knowledge and operation methods of iCloud backup in detail.

III. iCloud backup

working principle

In order to simplify the backup process of iOS devices, Apple has launched a new iOS device backup tool – iCloud after the launch of iTunes. iCloud Backup backs up your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch device data to the cloud. iCloud Backup enables automatic backup whenever your iOS device is powered on, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi (as long as iCloud Backup is not turned off). If you have never backed up your device with iCloud before, the first backup will take longer. However, the time taken for subsequent iCloud backups will be shortened and the backup upload speed will be much faster.

With iCloud backup, the following will be backed up:

● App data

● Apple Watch Backup

● Device settings

● HomeKit configuration

● Home screen and app arrangement

● iMessage, text (SMS) and MMS

● Photos and videos on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

● History of purchases in Apple services, such as your music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books

● Ringtones

● Visual Voicemail password (requires active SIM card loaded during backup)

backup location

iCloud backup files are stored in the cloud, but the backup list cannot be found on iCloud.com. If you’re looking for or managing backups, you can only open them on your iPhone or other device. Here’s how to find iCloud backups on your iPhone, Mac, or Windows computer.

1. On the iPhone:

If you’re using iOS 11 or later, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backup.
If using iOS 10.3, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Tap the graph showing your iCloud usage, then tap Manage Storage.
If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage.

2. On a Mac computer:

① Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.

② Click “iCloud” > “Management”, select “Backup”.

3. On a Windows computer:

① Open iCloud for Windows.

② Tap “Storage”.

③ Select “Backup”.

operation method

If you want to back up your iPhone to iCloud, you must first have an iCloud account and be signed in.

The specific operation steps of iCloud backup are as follows:

① Connect your iPhone device to a Wi-Fi network.

② Go to “Settings” > “[your name]” and tap “iCloud”.

③ Click to enable “iCloud Cloud Backup”, and then click “Back Up Now”. Please stay connected to the Wi-Fi network until the iCloud backup finishes.

Precautions

● The free storage space for iCloud backup is only 5GB. If you need more storage space, you can only pay for it. The maximum storage space is 2TB. Its payment method is a monthly payment, and the price charged is higher than that of most online data storage services.

● iCloud backup is not a complete data backup, some data will not be backed up, please confirm before restoring the backup.