Your iPhone has everything. Hundreds of contacts, pictures, videos, official files, and your favorite grooving music, all in one device. However, that also means that you need to secure your data should your iPhone get misplaced, broken, or worst, stolen.

iPhones are being stolen more than ever. In San Diego, for instance, the first half of the year saw over a thousand smartphones being stolen. Of it, as many as 670 were iPhones. In 2016, we saw over 60,000 mobile thefts and robberies in the London area in the U.K. Most of the phones stolen were iPhones.

Top 10 iPhone Backup Methods and Tips

Doing a regular backup of your iPhone will help you to save app data, images, music, health records, and files. Now, you don’t always need multiple backups in Mac, computer, or iCloud – but you do need a dependable solution. You can access them easily without using your own iPhone. However, most of the data does not back up automatically, and it demands a manual setting. We will help you learn how to back up your iPhone the easy way.

Method 1 – Backup an iPhone Data to iCloud

The easiest way to backup your data is on iCloud. They are simple to understand and perform. However, if you have a free Apple account, you will only get 5GB of files of free cloud storage. This might not be sufficient for the entire backups. You can extend your cloud storage through a monthly subscription and get up to 2TB of space. It also provides you family sharing option where your whole family can have access to the same Apple subscription. It will not only lessen your economic burden but also gives privacy to each family user.

You can perform backup in iCloud automatically by:

Firstly, make sure that iCloud backup is turned on. If not, then-

1. Go to the settings option.
2. Then click on your name i.e. your Apple ID.
3. Open the iCloud option.
4. Tap on the iCloud Backup option. Make sure you flip the button green.
5. Now click the Backup Now option and wait till the process gets finished.

When the Backup process will be completed, you need to upload the backup data to iCloud by following these simple steps:

1. Go to the settings option.
2. Click on your name i.e. your Apple ID.
3. Then tap on the iCloud Storage option.
4. Open the Manage Storage option.

By enabling an automatic mode of data backup, whenever your device will be connected to the wifi, iCloud will try to backup once every 24 hours. It overrides the existing backups and saves the latest data. If you have not done backup before, it might take some time to complete the process. It all depends upon your internet speed and the amount of data. It backups almost all data that are stored in your device.

However, it does not back up your purchased apps, music, movies, television shows, books, contacts, calendars, Face IDs, Touch IDs settings, and apps. It can be downloaded from the apps and then you can restore it from the iCloud Backup. Do remember though that iCloud backup restoring can take much time.

Deleting the old iCloud backups

The iCloud backup only saves the latest information. However, there might be duplicate files, synced to your iCloud. This will drain your iCloud’s storage capacity. Additionally, there might be redundant files. First, you need to clean up the storage space to make the room for new data. This can be done easily by following these simple steps:

1. Go to the settings option.
2. Tap on your name i.e. your Apple ID.
3. Click on the iCloud Storage option.
4. Now open the Backup option. If you see multiple backups, select them.
5. Tap on the Delete Backup option.

Method 2 – Backup an iPhone to iTunes

For using iTunes backup, you might be needing a computer or Mac. Though iTunes will be soon phased out completely, it is still in use in the older OS version. Backing up through iTunes is straightforward. You can connect your device either through a Wifi connection or a USB cord.

To start the process:

1. Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable.
2. Open iTunes and click on the Continue option.
3. On the iPhone, Trust This Computer option will come. Tap the Trust option.
4. Enter your passcode to continue the process.
5. In iTunes, click the little iPhone icon on the top left of your device.
6. Tap on the Summary option.
7. Then click on Back up Now from the summary page.

With this method, you can overcome the limitations of iCloud. This platform offers the backup of your entire iPhone’s content and, it is free of cost. So, you do not have to pay for external storage features. It is entirely dependent upon the storage capacity of your computer.

You need to have enough free space in the computer’s hard drive to store the backup. In addition to this, you will have to do backup manually. The advantage of using iTunes is that you can easily backup your entire device and can also restore the backup through it.

Method 3 – Back up an iPhone, iPad, and macOS by using Finder.

If you have already upgraded to the newer version of iOS, CatalinaOS,  iTunes is not the place to look for a backup plan. A new tool named Finder helps you find your backup. Here is what you need to do.

1. Connect your iOS device to the Mac through a USB cord.
2. Tap on the Finder option.
3. Now click on the small iPhone icon.
4. Then tap on the Trust button on the Mac.
5. Tap the option of Trust This Computer on your iPhone\iPad.
6. Enter the passcode to continue the process.
7. Click on the Back Up Now option.
8. Press on Back up all of the data of your iOS device to the Mac option.
9. Now click the Ok button.

Deleting the old Finder backups

In Finder, backup is stored in the hard drive of your computer. It also overwrites the existing backups and saves only the newest addition of the information in data. Since there is limited storage space in the computer hardware, you need to get rid of the old and useless backup data. This can be performed very easily by following steps:

1. Connect your iOS device to the Mac through a USB cord.
2. Tap on the Finder option.
3. Click on the Manage Backup option. You will find all the backup files there.
4. Select the backup files which are no longer required.
5. Then tap on the Delete backup option.
6. Now click on the Ok button.

Other backup options to save your data

If you are not in favor to spend much money on purchasing iCloud storage or planning to switch from Apple to Android phones, then the dilemma to lose your all precious memories, pictures, and important files is valid. Moreover, there is a limitation to copy from iCloud to another storage compatible with your new devices. So, here we are offering you other options to backup your iOS data

Method 4 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using Google Drive

Google One Service is a good option for backing up some of the important data like photos, contacts, calendars, and videos across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. You can download the app from the iOS app store and follow the below instructions.

1. Make sure you have good internet speed. Open the app on your device.
2. Select the files you want to backup.
3. Now click on the Back Up Now option.
4. Keep the app open during the entire backup process otherwise it will pause.

The process will soon get started. The selected data will be backed up to Google’s servers. Google offers unlimited image storage. However, photos are stored at reduced quality. It compresses the image so that it takes less space on its servers. Google’s free storage is limited to 15GB of space.

Method 5 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using iPhone Backup Extractor

It is a third-party backup application. By using this, you can get access to your iCloud or iTunes backup, extract iMessage, SMS messages, Whatsapp chats, call history, Screen Time password, and voice recordings. It can also download and transfer photos from iPhone to the PC from iCloud and Photo Stream. It can also help you to restore your corrupt data.

However, the free version of the iPhone Backup Extractor allows extracting four files only from the backup. The full version is paid.

Method 6 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using External drives for iOS Devices

The external devices can be very helpful for storing large files, movies, web series, and backup of backups. There is a range of different external devices available in different storage capacities. You can connect them to iPads and Mac to transfer data directly to PC. you can also encrypt your data and generate passcodes to protect privacy.

Method 7 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using Dropbox

You can have access to your files from Dropbox easily. You can upload the entire backup in dropbox. Its paid storage capacity is up to 2TB. It allows uploading images and large files. You can upload individual iPhone files by following these simple steps.

1. Download the Dropbox app from your iOS App Store.
2. Log in or sign in to the Dropbox account. Then enter your dropbox email and password.
3. Click on the Continue With The Basics option.
4. Then tap on the Create option.
5. Select an upload option.
6. Then choose the files you want to upload.
7. Click on the Next tab and finally click on the Upload button.

It will soon start uploading the selected data to Dropbox.

Method 8 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using Amazon Cloud Drive

Amazon Cloud Drive is much better for backup your photos and videos than Google Drive if you are not in a mood to compromise picture quality. It saves the images in their original resolution. However, it demands paid subscription. But if you are already using an Amazon Prime account, you should definitely go for Amazon Cloud Drive. It has similar features like Google photos and an auto-save option.

Method 9 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using Microsoft One Drive

Microsoft One Drive does not offer a broad range of features like iCloud. However, you can upload pictures and videos here from your iPhone by using the OneDrive app. It can automatically sync and backup the images.

You have to back up the iPhone by using iTunes or Finder in the Mac and then you can copy the entire backup in the OneDrive app.

Method 10 – Back up an iPhone/iPad/Mac by using Acronis True Image 2020

By using this application you can back up photos, videos, contacts, calendars, and reminders easily. You can also backup your iPhone by using a paid subscription to Acronis Cloud Storage.

The above-mentioned apps are online storage applications. By using them, you can backup photos and videos. There are options to view and share them with others, either online or via the iPhone app. Now, they are not complete package to store the entire backup. But they are effective alternates to backup the data when you run out of hard drive or iCloud’s storage.

By using different storage applications for specific purposes can boost your data storage management skill. They also give freedom to access the data by using the internet from anywhere and from any device. These applications can also run on your iPhones and capable of data backup.

Keeping multiple back-ups is always good

Always create a backup of your data backups. It will not only reduce the possibility of losing the entire data. Gadgets are prone to technical errors. Moreover, the software might also get bug or crash completely.

All this might seem to be a time-consuming process and require extra storage space. With these simple tips though, you will find retrieving data a lot easier.

Last Updated on July 7, 2021 by Icy Tech Team