Occasionally, an iPhone may experience a hardware problem. Or you buy a new model. In these various scenarios, you will want to find your configuration and your data as they are. To do this, the iPhone will rely on a previously completed backup. How to ensure that your information is well and truly kept?
There are various situations where you may need to recover your iPhone data:
- following a device failure, iOS has performed a full reset and the iPhone is in its factory state;
- the iPhone was lost or stolen and you bought a new model;
- you bought a new model but still have the previous one. Normally by placing the old iPhone near the new one, iOS copies the content from one to the other via Bluetooth — if the models are running at least iOS 15. Otherwise, the data and configuration of the previous one must be restored to the new device.
If the restoration is not possible from the old iPhone placed near the new one, it will be necessary to use a backup. And so, to make it possible at any time to restore your software environment and your data, it is essential to make regular backups of your iPhone. Here we will see four scenarios:
- backup data to iCloud;
- backing up data on mac via le Finder ;
- backup data on an old Mac or on a PC with iTunes;
- backup with Anytrans utility.
Backup to iCloud
iCloud is Apple’s cloud service and it can be used to back up all your data related to the Apple environment: iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, etc. Only here: by default, iCloud only allocates 5 GB free for this data backup. It will probably take a paid subscription to have a larger storage volume. Having 50 GB costs €0.99 per month, 200 GB costs €2.99. The 2 TB option induces a monthly charge of €9.99.
If you have such a space on the cloud, the ideal is to trigger the iCloud backup automatically. For it to be carried out every day, here is how to proceed:
- go to iPhone Settings;
- click on their name or Apple ID at the top of this page;
- choose iCloud;
- enable the iCloud Backup option, then Back up this iPhone.
From there, the backup is performed automatically each night in “incremental” mode (only what has changed), as soon as the iPhone is plugged into the power supply and connected to WiFi.
You can also back up once in a while by choosing “Back Up Now” and then turning off iCloud Backup.
Note that, if you have purchased a new iPhone, Apple offers you the possibility of backing up data from the old device to iCloud for free for a limited time. As well enjoy. To do this, in the Settings, select the Transfer or reset iPhone option, then Start.
Selective iPhone Backups to iCloud
If you do not want to pay a monthly subscription to Apple, you can select only certain families of data to back up to iCloud. To do this, from the iCloud panel, select Show All and turn off certain categories of data. For example, you can not back up Photos. An application such as Google Photos allows you to save up to 15 GB for free and it operates “transparently”: photos and videos are saved in the background. You can also disable iCloud backup of data from most applications because this operation is redundant. So, why back up Whatsapp or Messenger information to iCloupd since they already have their own backups?
One-Time iPhone Backup from Finder
If the Mac is recent (system 10.15 / Catalina and above), barely the iPhone plugged in when you open the Finder, it shows the mention iPhone in the left column. Among the options offered is the backup of this smartphone.
One-Time iPhone Backup via iTunes
If your Mac is running a system earlier than 10.15 (Catalina), or if you have connected the iPhone to a PC, then you can back up the iPhone from iTunes.
Once the iPhone is connected to the computer by USB cable, when iTunes is open, you will see a small smartphone icon appear on the left (to the left of the Library mention). In the Backup section, choose iCloud or This computer, then Back up now.
In Windows 11, since January 2023, Apple no longer manages iTunes and has replaced it with the “Apple Devices” app / Apple Devices for backup / synchronization / recovery operations.
Backup via Anytrans
Anytrans software is an alternative to Apple’s solutions. This utility is a kind of Swiss Army knife of iPhones. Among its options are the ability to perform selective backups or restoration of data from an iPhone to a computer by categories (music, photos, videos, messages, personal information, home screen, etc.). Anytrans also offers a global (non-selective) backup option on a PC or Mac. This software also has the advantage of facilitating data exchange between the iOS and Android world.
It is good to know however that Anytrans – unless you make unlimited use of it – is not free. However, there is a “lifetime” solution that only costs €50 and may satisfy some Internet users.
