This guide will teach you how to back up an iPhone to your Mac computer remotely using iCloud or directly using the hard drive from iTunes.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Using iCloud
Step 1. Open Settings
of the cell phone.
This is the gray app containing gears that is normally located on the home screen.
Step 2. Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen
The name and profile picture will be at the top of the menu. This button will take you to the Apple ID menu.
Tap "Sign in to your [device] " and log in with the email and password associated with your Apple ID if you haven't already
Step 3. Tap iCloud
This is the white icon containing a blue cloud near the top of the menu.
Step 4. Tap the button
for every application to back up.
When the button is green, it indicates that cloud backup has been enabled for that particular app and that your data will be automatically protected.
Step 5. Tap iCloud Backup
It is next to a green icon containing a circular arrow.
Step 6. Tap Backup Now
This will send your device backup to the cloud. The iPhone will now be protected using iCloud and can be restored from the device itself or from the Mac computer via iTunes.
Method 2 of 3: Using the Finder (Catalina or later versions)
Step 1. Connect the device via USB
Step 2. Select the device in Finder
It will be on the left side of the window, in the Locations section.
Step 3. Select Backup Now
This option is normally enabled automatically, but you may need to modify it manually if your device has already backed up via iCloud.
Step 4. Encrypt the backup
Enable backup encryption if it hasn't already been done. It is important that this option is enabled for the following reasons:
- Unencrypted backup data can be extracted with third-party applications by anyone with access to it (even if it has been copied to another computer).
- Only encrypted backups include keys (all sensitive data and app passwords such as password admins and banking apps), saved Wi-Fi passwords, and health and home automation data.
Step 5. Press Backup Now to start the backup
Method 3 of 3: Using iTunes (Mojave and older versions)
Step 1. Open iTunes
This is the app containing two musical notes in a white icon.
Step 2. Connect your iPhone to your computer
Use a USB cable to connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer. You'll see the device icon appear in the iTunes sidebar on your Mac.
- It is important that the device is unlocked before being connected. If the iPhone asks if it can trust the computer, tap Trust about the message.
Step 3. Click on iPhone
This is the iPhone-like button near the top left side of the iTunes window.
Step 4. Click the button next to This computer
It is found in the Backups section of the device summary for iPhone and is to ensure that you will create a backup of your phone on your computer's hard drive.
- You can activate the box of Encrypt local backup if you want the data to remain encrypted and require a password for access.
Step 5. Click Backup Now
It is on the right under the "Manually Backup and Restore" section. This will start creating the backup on the Mac.
Wait for backup to complete before disconnecting iPhone from your Mac
Step 6. Click on
When the backup is complete, you can eject iPhone and disconnect it from your computer. The eject icon resembles a triangle over a horizontal bar and is located in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window, next to the iPhone's name.
Tips
- iCloud backups do not include data already synced to the cloud. If you activated the function iCloud photos, for example, your photos not will be included in the iCloud backup.
- iCloud and iTunes backups make use of your device's local space. For speed, it is best to always keep at least 5% of the total space free.
- The password used to encrypt iTunes backups not can be retrieved. If you have forgotten about a specific backup, it will not be possible to restore it or extract its data.
- You can reset the backup encryption password, but this will only affect future backups.
