Backing up your iPhone to iCloud is one of the most important things you can do to safeguard your data. According to Apple Support, iCloud provides an automatic backup solution that helps keep your most important information protected in case anything happens to your device (What does iCloud back up?). By enabling iCloud backups, you ensure that your photos, messages, contacts, calendars, device settings and other critical data is copied and stored remotely. This gives you the ability to restore that data if needed, such as when transitioning to a new iPhone or recovering lost information. With over 100 million active iPhones potentially vulnerable, making regular iCloud backups is a simple but essential part of owning an iPhone.
Prerequisites
Before backing up an iPhone to iCloud, you’ll need to make sure you meet the prerequisites. The most important requirements are:
– An iCloud account set up on the iPhone originally. This allows the backup data to be stored in your iCloud storage.
– An active internet connection, either Wi-Fi or mobile data. The iPhone needs to be connected to the internet to communicate with Apple’s iCloud servers.
– Sufficient iCloud storage to hold the iPhone backup. Apple provides 5GB of free iCloud storage, but iPhone backups can take up a lot of space. You may need to purchase additional iCloud storage if the 5GB free tier is not enough.
Other requirements are an Apple ID signed in on the iPhone, iOS 10.3 or later, and Find My iPhone enabled. Meeting these prerequisites ensures you can successfully back up and restore your iPhone data using iCloud.
Backing Up a Functional iPhone
To back up your functional iPhone to iCloud, first connect your iPhone to a power source and join a Wi-Fi network. This ensures your device stays powered on and connected during the entire backup process.
Next, open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on your Apple ID banner at the top of the screen. This will take you to your Apple ID account settings.
Under Account, tap on iCloud. On the iCloud screen, tap on iCloud Backup to view your backup options.
To start a new backup, tap on Back Up Now. Your iPhone will now create a full iCloud backup of your device. Stay connected to the Wi-Fi network until the backup completes. Under Back Up Now, you can see the date and time of your last successful backup.
For more details, visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977
Backing Up a Broken iPhone
Even if your iPhone’s screen is damaged or completely unresponsive, you can still back up your iPhone data to iCloud or your computer. As long as your iPhone will turn on and connect, you can force it to back up.
To back up an iPhone with a broken screen:
- Connect your iPhone to power using the charging cable. This ensures the iPhone battery doesn’t die during the backup process.
- Force restart your iPhone by pressing and quickly releasing the Volume Up button, then pressing and quickly releasing the Volume Down button, then press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo. This will boot your iPhone into recovery mode.
- With your iPhone now on, connect it to your computer using the Lightning to USB cable.
- Open iTunes on your computer, then click on your iPhone icon. In the Backups section, click “Back Up Now”. iTunes will now create a full backup of your iPhone.[1]
The backup may take some time depending on the amount of data on your iPhone. Once completed, you will have a complete copy of your iPhone data safely stored in iCloud or on your computer.
Restoring from iCloud Backup
If you have an iCloud backup of your broken iPhone, you can use it to restore your data and settings to a replacement iPhone. The restore process will erase all current data and settings on the new iPhone and replace it with your iCloud backup.
To restore from an iCloud backup on a replacement iPhone:1
- Turn on the replacement iPhone and go through the initial setup prompts.
- When you reach the Apps & Data screen, tap “Restore from iCloud Backup.”
- Sign in with the Apple ID you used on your broken iPhone.
- Select the desired backup from the list of available backups.
- Follow the onscreen prompts to restore your settings, data, and apps from the iCloud backup.
The restore process can take some time depending on the size of your backup. Your replacement iPhone will reboot a few times during the restore process. When completed, your iPhone will be restored with the data and settings from your iCloud backup.
Verifying Backup Completion
Once your iPhone backup to iCloud is complete, it’s important to verify that the entire backup process completed successfully. Here are the steps to check the status of your latest iCloud backup on a replacement iPhone:
Open Settings on your replacement iPhone and navigate to iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage. This will show details about your iCloud storage usage and backups.
Check the date and size of the latest backup shown. This allows you to confirm the full backup completed and wasn’t interrupted or partial. The date should be very recent assuming you just completed the backup. The size also indicates if a full backup of your iPhone contents was uploaded.
If the date and size look correct, you can be assured your latest iPhone backup to iCloud completed properly. You can now feel comfortable restoring that data to your replacement device knowing it contains your full iPhone contents.
If the date or size seems off, the backup may have failed or only partially completed. You may need to retry the backup process to ensure you have a complete, up-to-date iCloud backup before restoring to a new iPhone.
Troubleshooting Tips
If iCloud backup is not working properly, there are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:
- Clear up storage space on iCloud if full – Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage to delete backups of other devices or reduce the amount of photos stored (source).
- Connect iPhone to better wifi network – Slow or unstable connections can disrupt the backup process. Connect your device to a strong WiFi network to ensure a consistent connection (source).
- Force restart iPhone before backing up – Press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the Apple logo appears. This can help resolve temporary glitches.
- Update to latest iOS version – Installing the newest iOS update can fix bugs that may be interfering with iCloud backup.
Taking these steps can often get iCloud backup working again when running into issues.
Alternative Backup Options
If you don’t want to use iCloud to back up your iPhone, there are a couple other options you can consider:
Back up to computer with iTunes
You can back up your iPhone data locally to your computer using iTunes. To do this, connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes. In iTunes, select your iPhone and then go to the Summary tab. Click “Back Up Now” to do a manual backup of your iPhone to your computer. iTunes will save the backups in a folder on your computer. You can restore these backups later if needed [1].
Use third party cloud backup services
There are also third party cloud storage services you can use to back up your iPhone, like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. Many of these services have mobile apps that allow you to directly back up your iPhone data to the cloud. Some advantages over iCloud include offering more free storage space, backing up other types of files, and working across non-Apple devices. Some services to consider include:
- Google Drive – 15GB free storage
- Microsoft OneDrive – 5GB free storage
- Dropbox – 2GB free storage
- pCloud – 10GB free storage
Just make sure to choose a reliable service and enable automatic backups so your iPhone data stays protected [2].
Data Recovery Options
If you don’t have a current backup of your iPhone data, your options for recovering lost data are limited. However, third party iOS data recovery services may be able to help in some scenarios.
Professional data recovery services like DriveSavers and Ontrack can sometimes recover data from a damaged or non-functional iPhone, but the costs often start at $500 or higher. These services use specialized tools and techniques to extract data directly from the iPhone’s storage chips.
Lower cost software solutions like iMyFone D-Back and FoneLab can recover limited data like contacts, messages, photos, and call logs if the iPhone is still partially functional and can connect to a computer. But they generally cannot recover data from an iPhone that won’t turn on.
Without a backup, there is no guarantee that lost iPhone data can be recovered. This underscores the critical importance of regularly backing up your iPhone to iCloud or iTunes. Enabling automatic iCloud backups ensures you have a recent backup available if you ever need to restore, replace or recover data on your iPhone.
Conclusion
Backing up your iPhone to iCloud is crucial to protect your data, especially if your device becomes damaged or unusable. We covered the main steps to back up a working iPhone using iCloud – going to Settings, tapping your name, selecting iCloud, and choosing Back Up Now. For a broken iPhone, you can use a trusted computer with iTunes installed to initiate a backup instead.
Regularly backing up provides peace of mind that your photos, messages, contacts, and other important information can be restored if needed. Be sure to verify successful backups by checking your iCloud storage usage or the date of last backup on your iPhone. Enable automatic backups as an extra safeguard too.
For more help backing up or restoring your iPhone, Apple provides in-depth support articles and step-by-step guides on their website. You can also contact Apple Support or visit an Apple Store for assistance from knowledgeable representatives.