Learn how to back up your iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iCloud. You can back up your device and get a copy of your data in case your device is lost, damaged or you are moving to a new iOS device. Backups include your documents, photos, and videos.
Basically, there are two methods to back up your iOS device, you can use iCloud or iTunes. In this post, we will focus on using iCloud to back up your device as I believe this is the most preferred and convenient method for iOS users.
This is the proper way to back up your iOS device with iCloud as suggested by Apple on their support forum. When you back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iCloud, the most important data on your device is backed up automatically and you can restore them anytime.
See also how to restore iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch from an iCloud backup.
How to back up iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iCloud
- Turn on your device.
- Connect the device to a Wifi network.
- Go to Setting.
- Scroll down and tap on iCloud.
- Scroll down, tap on Backup and make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on. Toggle the setting to confirm.
- Tap Back Up Now to start back up. Make sure to stay connected to the Wifi network until the process completes.
- When the backup is finished, the backup should appear in the details with the time and backup size.
- Tap Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage, then select your device.
If you are done with the backup, you can set your iOS device to automatically back up your device each day with iCloud.
How to automatically back up with iCloud Backup
- Make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on in Settings > iCloud > Backup.
- Connect your device to a power source.
- Connect your device to a Wifi network.
- Make sure that your device’s screen is locked.
- Check that you have enough available space in iCloud for the backup.
Done! You successfully back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iCloud.
Note: If you run out of iCloud storage, your device won’t back up to iCloud. New photos and videos won’t upload to iCloud Photo Library. iCloud Drive and other iCloud apps won’t update across your devices. And you can’t send or receive messages with your iCloud email address.