There is a lot of stuff on your iPhone/iPad including your messages, photos, documents, health data and more. Everything from your memories to your preferences is stored on your little gadget and all this data is really important as well. But how can you keep everything secure? Well, you must think of backing up your iPhone/iPad data before it is too late. Whether you back everything up directly to your computer with the help of iTunes or you go with the iCloud option, back up is really important. In fact, before downloading any new software, taking a fresh backup is very important. Other than that, a regular routine should be followed for taking backups so that your important data can be recovered in case of any mishaps. So, how exactly can you do that?
Jump To Section
- Enabling iCloud Backup On iPhone/iPad
- How To Trigger iCloud Backup Manually
- Enabling iTunes Backups On Your iPhone/iPad
- How To Manually Backup iPhone/iPad Using iTunes
Enabling iCloud Backup On iPhone/iPad
It is great to use iCloud to backup your iPhone/iPad. In case if something goes wrong with your device, there will be a backup available that you can access, no matter where you are,only with a working internet connection. But before any of your important data is sent to the iCloud from your device, you need to enable iCloud backups on your iPhone/iPad.
Though enabling iCloud has been pretty much the same over the years, iOS 10.3 offers some new features as part of the process. So, let’s discover you can enable iCloud on your device.
- Go to Settings on the device that you want to backup
- Tap user banner that you can see on top of your screen
- Tap on iCloud
- Now, tap on iCloud Backup
- On the next screen, toggle iCloud Backup On
- Just tap OK now
iCloud will try to backup all your data after every twenty four hours if your device is charging and connected to a Wi-Fi. And if it’s the first time that you are backing your stuff up to the iCloud then it may take some time to complete. However, if there is already some backup on the iCloud then it will update it and upload those changes that you have made since your last backup to iCloud. So, the process will be faster this time around.
How To Trigger iCloud Backup Manually
Though the iCloud backups are taken automatically, at least, one time a day and they trigger as soon as you have plugged in the chargerand your device is connected to the Wi-Fi. With that being said, you can also trigger iCloud backups manually whenever you want in order to make sure that you have up-to-the-minute backups available. Here is how trigger backups manually.
- Go to Settings
- Tap user banner that you can find towards the top
- Tap on iCloud
- Now, tap on iCloud Backup
- Finally, tap the Backup Now option
It is important to mention here that if you intend to backup your device to iCloud, you should first have iCloud account that you can use for this purpose and you must also sign into that account first.
Enabling iTunes Backups On Your iPhone/iPad
If iCloud is not the kind of backup you want for your iPhone/iPad data, an alternate option for you is iTunes backup. This way, you can have a local backup right on your Mac or Windows PC which you can access anytime you like. Here is how to enable iTunes Backups on your device.
- Connect your iPhone/iPad to the computer
- Launch iTunes
- Click that Device icon which you can see in front of category dropdown list towards the left of the window
- Choose Summary in sidebar
- In Automatically Backup section choose This Computer option
- There will also be an option Encrypt local backup. Just click the checkbox for ensuring that all your passwords, HomeKit and health data is safely backed up. The encrypted backups are protected by a password that you have to set. This password is stored automatically in the Keychain.
- Once finished, click Done.
How To Manually Backup iPhone/iPad Using iTunes
When iTunes backups are enabled on your device, it is backed up automatically every time it is connected to the computer. However, there is also an option of manual backups as well. Here is how you can be able to do that.
- Connect your iPhone/iPad to the computer
- Launch iTunes
- Click Device icon that is you can see in front of category list towards the left of the window
- Choose the Summary option from sidebar
- In Manually Backup And Restore section, choose Backup Now option
- Now click to Done button to finish.
So, these are the different options that you can try for keeping all your iPhone/iPad data safe. You can choose any of these options as you like or, may be, try a couple of them just to be on the safe side.