iCloud backup is an essential tool for anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. It provides a way to save a copy of your device’s data to Apple’s servers, allowing you to restore that data if needed. With iCloud backup enabled, many important things are saved from your device each day, including:
- Device settings – This includes settings and preferences you’ve customized.
- App data – Information the apps on your device have saved, like your game progress.
- Home screen and app organization – Your home screen layout, as well as which apps are in which folders.
- iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages – All messages are saved.
- Photos and videos – All photos and videos you take are saved if you enable iCloud Photos.
- Apple Watch backups – Backs up your Apple Watch data and settings.
- Device keychain – Stores passwords and credit card information.
As you can see, iCloud backup saves critical information from your device. Here are some key questions about what iCloud backup does:
What data does iCloud actually back up from an iPhone?
The main data categories backed up by iCloud are:
- Photos and videos – By default, iCloud Photos is enabled, so any new photos or videos you take are automatically uploaded and stored in iCloud.
- Contacts, calendars, reminders – All your contacts, calendar events, reminders, and notes are backed up.
- Documents and data – Files, keychain passwords and credit card information are stored.
- Settings and preferences – Custom settings, home screen layout, and app organization are saved.
- App data – Data within apps, like game progress, is backed up.
- Messages – iMessage, SMS, and MMS messages are backed up.
In summary, most data on an iPhone is backed up, with the key exceptions being music, books, and movies. Those need to be synced separately.
How often does iCloud backup occur?
iCloud backups happen automatically and wirelessly each day as long as:
- Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch has sufficient battery and is connected to power.
- Your device has an internet connection (WiFi or cellular data).
iCloud backups occur once per day when your device is connected to power and WiFi. The time of the backup is not fixed – it happens automatically at some point in each 24 hour period.
You can also manually trigger an iCloud backup by going to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tapping “Back Up Now”.
What types of data does iCloud not back up?
Although iCloud backups are quite comprehensive, there are a few types of data that are not included:
- Music, movies, TV shows – Media purchased through iTunes or Apple TV must be downloaded separately and is not part of iCloud backups.
- Ripped CDs – Music ripped from CDs is also not stored in iCloud.
- Books – eBooks and audiobooks must be downloaded separately.
- App binaries – The actual app binaries themselves are not backed up, only the data within the apps.
- Touch ID settings – Touch ID and Apple Pay settings and data are not backed up.
- Apple Pay information – Credit and debit card information is not included in backups.
So mostly media content, along with Touch ID and Apple Pay data, needs to be restored separately if switching devices or restoring from a backup.
What happens if you get a new iPhone?
If you purchase a new iPhone, restoring from an iCloud backup during setup will transfer your data like so:
- Settings and preferences will match your previous iPhone.
- Home screen and folders will look the same.
- Messages, contacts, calendars, notes, etc. will be downloaded from iCloud.
- App data will be restored – launch each app to begin download.
- Media files can be downloaded after restore is complete.
So your new iPhone will match your old one without having to actually transfer anything directly. Media files don’t transfer automatically, but you can download them after the restore process finishes.
What if you need to restore to factory settings?
If your iPhone is experiencing problems, restoring it to factory default settings can help. When this is done, there are two options:
- Don’t restore from backup – Your iPhone will be completely reset with no data, and you’ll need to set it up like a brand new device.
- Restore from iCloud backup – Your iPhone data will be brought back after being wiped, including all the items mentioned previously.
So if you’re keeping your device, make sure to restore from your iCloud backup when prompted to avoid losing your data.
Does iCloud backup use cellular data?
iCloud backups will only happen when your device is connected to WiFi, so the backups themselves do not use any cellular data.
However, there are two cases where iCloud backups could impact cellular data usage:
- Turning on iCloud Photos – This will upload all photos to iCloud over cellular if needed.
- Restoring a device – Downloading apps and data could use cellular data.
But in general day to day usage, iCloud backups don’t utilize cellular data at all as long as WiFi syncing is enabled.
How secure and private are iCloud backups?
iCloud backups are encrypted and can only be accessed on your authorized devices after entering your passcode. So they provide a reasonable level of security and privacy.
However, it’s important to note that Apple does hold the encryption keys, so if compelled by legal authorities, Apple could grant access to your backups.
If you have more stringent security requirements, you may want to create encrypted local backups instead by connecting your iPhone to a Mac or Windows PC and backing up with iTunes.
Can you access iCloud backups directly?
There is no way to directly view or manage the raw backup files stored in your iCloud account. The only way to access the data within them is to actually restore to one of your devices.
However, once restored, you can export certain data like Contacts by syncing to iTunes and backing up in that format. So there are indirect ways to retrieve portions of your backups.
But in summary – you cannot log into iCloud and explore your backup files. The restore process is the only way to access that data.
How long are iCloud backups stored?
Apple keeps only a limited number of backups for each device:
- The current backup
- The two most recent backups
So at most, the last three backups will be available for any device. Older archives are deleted automatically from iCloud storage.
This system ensures you have backups available from the past few days, while limiting the total amount of storage space that’s utilized.
Can you save iCloud backups locally instead of the cloud?
Unfortunately there is no setting to save iCloud backups locally or to your own storage. They are only saved remotely to Apple’s servers.
This ensures backups happen automatically and regularly without needing user intervention. It also makes setting up new devices much simpler since backups are always available remotely.
The only way to do local device backups is to connect to a computer via USB and use iTunes to sync and backup your iPhone or iPad that way.
What happens if you disable iCloud backups?
If you disable iCloud backups under Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup, then the following will occur:
- Automated wireless backups to iCloud will stop.
- Your backup archive in iCloud will be retained but new backups will stop being added.
- You’ll need to backup manually to a computer to have a current backup.
- Restoring from an iCloud backup will restore your device’s data from the last date when backups were enabled.
- You can re-enable iCloud backups at any time to resume them.
So disabling backups means you’ll lose the convenience of automatic wireless backups to the cloud. Make sure to occasionally connect your device to iTunes for wired backups if you disable iCloud backups.
Can you choose what gets backed up to iCloud?
There is no ability to selectively choose which data you want included or excluded from iCloud backups. It’s an all-or-nothing approach.
You either have iCloud backups enabled and everything gets backed up automatically, or you disable iCloud backups entirely.
Apple’s approach is designed to be simple while ensuring critical data like messages, photos, and app data is always included in backups without having to think about it.
What happens when iCloud storage is full?
If your iCloud account storage fills up, your device will fail to backup until you free up space.
You’ll see a notification that says “Not enough iCloud storage to create backup” or something similar if a backup attempt fails for this reason.
To fix it, you have a few options:
- Upgrade your iCloud storage plan for more space.
- Delete old backups your device has stored in iCloud.
- Disable app backups for large apps like games.
- Turn off iCloud Photos to exclude photos and videos from the backup.
So in summary, be sure to monitor your storage usage, especially if you have limited space on the free 5GB iCloud plan. Backups require at least as much free space as used on your device.
What’s the difference between iCloud backup and iCloud sync?
iCloud backup and iCloud sync are two related but distinct iCloud services:
- iCloud backup – Automatically backs up your entire device daily over WiFi. Backups include settings, app data, messages, photos, and more.
- iCloud sync – Synchronizes select app data across devices in real time over WiFi and cellular. This includes contacts, calendars, notes, and more.
The key difference is that backups comprehensively save your device’s data on a schedule, while sync maintains matching selected data across devices continuously.
Both are useful counterparts for safeguarding and consistency in Apple devices. Backups protect against data loss, while sync provides always up-to-date information.
Conclusion
In summary, iCloud backups provide an automated and convenient way to safeguard your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Just make sure you have sufficient iCloud storage, a nightly connection to power and WiFi, and your important device data will be backed up each day.
Restoring from these backups makes setup simple when upgrading or replacing your device. While iCloud backups aren’t accessible directly for security reasons, the peace of mind of having regular off-device backups is well worth enabling the feature.