How to Backup iPhone

Mobile phones have become such an important part of our lives that more and more people are backing up their phones. With so many photos, messages, contacts, app data, and other things stored on these mobile devices, it would be terrible to lose even one of them, let alone all of them. Often, our phones are the only place where this kind of information is kept, so if we lose it, we can't get it back. Backing up your phone is like making a copy of all your data and putting it somewhere safe. Backing up your iPhone is important if you are planning to upgrade your iPhone or you want to avoid data loss in case your iPhone is lost or damaged. Here's how to backup your iPhone.

What's a backup?

A backup, also called a "data backup," is a copy of the data on your phone or computer that is kept in a different place. You can use this copy to protect yourself from losing data.

Data loss can happen because of any of the following:

• hardware or software problems
• data corruption
• virus or malware attacks
• accidental data erasure

Why you need to backup your iPhone?

Most people should back up their iPhones every two weeks. This way, you can avoid losing a lot of data if things don't go as planned. If your iPhone breaks, gets damaged, or is stolen, or if you decide to switch to a newer iPhone, having backups is a big help.

Backup your iPhone is worth your time. Whether you're getting the new iPhone SE or the green iPhone 13, updating to iOS 15.4, or getting ready in case your iPhone is lost or stolen, taking a few minutes to back up your important photos, videos, and text messages can save you a lot of trouble in the future.

Should you backup your iPhone via iTunes or iCloud?

Apple gives you two ways to back up your iPhone: with iTunes or with iCloud. A backup of iTunes stores the files on your computer. Because the data is sent through a cable, it is faster. More data can be saved with iTunes backup than with iCloud. It can store apps, music, and videos that you haven't gotten from iTunes. It can also store photos that aren't in your camera roll, your call history, and a few other things that iCloud can't.

An iCloud backup stores data remotely on Apple servers over WiFi. You get 5GB of free space on iCloud, but you can pay to get more space. It's only meant to store information that Apple thinks is important, like your Messages, Camera Roll, Account information, and Passwords, among other things you can change when you turn on iCloud backup.

We recommend that you back up your iPhone as often as possible through iTunes, but also keep a copy of the most important things on iCloud. The first time you back up will take longer, but after that, it will go faster because only the new files will be added.

How to Backup iPhone

Backup iPhone with iTunes

You need iTunes installed on your PC or Mac in order to use it to back up your iPhone.  In order to connect your iPhone to the PC, you should also have a Lightning to USB cord.

1. Open iTunes then connect your iPhone device to a computer with a Lightning to USB cable.

2. A popup that says Trust This Computer? will show up. Tap on Trust. 

3. If you're connecting your iPhone or iPad to iTunes for the first time, you'll see a pop-up that says "Do you want to allow this computer?" Click Continue.

4. Also, when iTunes shows you a screen that says Welcome to Your New iPhone, choose Set up as a new iPhone and click Continue.

5. Click on the phone icon in the top left corner, in the row below the menu options. It might take a while to show up. This takes you to the device's Summary page.

6. On the Summary page, choose This Computer and make sure the Encrypt local backup box is checked. This will let iTunes back up account passwords, app data, and game saves. Make sure that the encrypted backup has a password that is easy to remember, or it won't be useful.

7. Click the Back Up Now button to start the process of backing up. Depending on how much data you have on your iPhone, it could take a few minutes.

When the process is done, you can check to see if the backup worked. You can see when your last backup was launched.

Backup iPhone with iCloud

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap on [your name] then tap iCloud.

If your iPhone is running on iOS 10.2 or earlier version, go to Settings, scroll down, and then tap iCloud.

3. Tap iCloud Backup. 

Tap Backup on iOS 10.2 or earlier then turn on iCloud Backup.

4. Tap Back Up Now to turn on iCloud Backup.

Until the process is done, make sure your device is connected to your Wi-Fi network. You can see the date and time of your last backup under "Back Up Now."

Related: How to restart iPhone.

Backup iPhone with Mac

1. Use a cable to link your iPhone to your computer.

2. In the Finder sidebar on your Mac device, select your iPhone.

3. If you want to use the Finder to back up your iPhone, you need macOS 10.15 or later. If you have an older version of macOS, you can back up your iPhone with iTunes.

4. Click General at the top of the Finder window.

5. Choose “Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac.”

6. Select "Encrypt local backup" to encrypt your backup files and protect them with a password.

7. Click Back Up Now.

Note: If you set up Wi-Fi syncing, you can also connect your iPhone to your computer wirelessly.

Backup iPhone using your Windows PC

1. Use a cable to connect your iPhone to your computer.

2. In the iTunes app on your computer, click the iPhone button.

3. Select Summary.

4. Click Back Up Now.

5. Select "Encrypt local backup," type a password, and then click "Set Password" to encrypt your backups.

6. To see the backups on your computer, select Edit then Preferences then click Devices. In the list of backups, encrypted backups have a lock icon.

Note: If you set up Wi-Fi syncing, you can also connect your iPhone to your computer wirelessly.