How to Backup iPhone? 4 Methods for Backing Up iPhone

How to Backup iPhone?

There are several reasons you might want to back up your iPhone. For instance, you’ve upgraded from your old iPhone 7 to the latest iPhone and want to load all your applications, data, passwords, and settings.

You might also want to back up your iPhone because you want to factory reset it. This comes in handy when you want to sell your iPhone or you’re experiencing software-related issues.

Either way, it’s important to back up your iPhone in case it’s stolen or damaged in an accident. Therefore, how can your back up your iPhone?

In this review, we’ll look at several ways you can back up your iPhone, such as using Finder on your Mac desktop or laptop, using iTunes on a Windows PC, and using iCloud. The latter is restrictive because you must pay for iCloud space above 5GB.

1. Backup iPhone Using iCloud

Backing up your iPhone using iCloud is perhaps the easiest backup method because ‘iCloud Backup’ is inbuilt into your iPhone. To setup iCloud backup:

1. Open the settings app on your iPhone
2. Scroll down to iCloud and click on it.
3. Next, click on iCloud backup.
4. Toggle the switch next to ‘iCloud Backup’ if it’s off.
5. Finally, click on ‘Back up Now.’
6. Below the ‘Back Up Now’ button, you should see a timestamp indicating when last your iPhone was backed up. However, your iPhone will back up to iCloud regularly if it has enough juice and is connected to a working WiFi network.

But, automatic backups can only happen if you have switched on iCloud backup. Keep in mind that you can also back up your iPhone using a metered connection like cell data; switch on cell data and follow the steps listed above.

2. Backup iPhone Using Finder on Mac Desktop or Laptop

This process works on all MacBooks, whether old or new. But we will discuss how to back up on iPhone on Macs with macOS Catalina or later. To do this:

Launch a Finder window on your Mac.
Connect your iPhone to your PC using the lightning cable.

How to Backup iPhone

If you’re prompted to enter a password, follow the on-screen steps
Next, select your iPhone from the menu on the left-hand side of your screen
If you want to encrypt your backup, click on the checkbox next to ‘Encrypt local backup’ and set up a password you can easily remember.

How to Backup iPhone

Finally, click on ‘Back Up Now.’ When your Mac device has finished backing up your iPhone, you should see a timestamp indicating when last your iPhone was backed up.

3. Backup iPhone Using iTunes on Windows PC

If you want to back up your iPhone on a computer but don’t have a Mac, you can do so on your Windows OS desktop or laptop using iTunes. Of course, you must first download the iTunes app from the Microsoft Store. Once you’ve downloaded the app, follow these steps:

Open the iTunes app on your Windows PC.
Next, connect your iPhone to the PC using the lightning cable
After a couple of minutes, your device should appear on the iTunes home screen. Click on your iPhone to display its information.
Next, confirm that the backup is set to ‘This Computer.’

Then click on ‘Back Up Now.’ iTunes will commence backing up your iPhone to your Windows PC, and you can see the progress in percentage at the top of the window.

Keep in mind that you have the option to encrypt your backup. This helps keep your data safe because, to extract it, a password will be required.

4. Backup iPhone on External Hard Drive

Connect your HDD and iPhone to your Mac desktop or laptop
Open a Finder window in the dock
Next, click on ‘Locations’ to find your iPhone

How to Backup iPhone

Click on ‘Manage Backups.’

How to Backup iPhone

Then press and hold the ‘CTRL’ key on your keyboard and assign a name to the backup.
Next, click on ‘Show in Finder.’
Go back to the window containing your iPhone backup and select the backup folder.
Drag the folder to your external HDD under ‘Locations.’ At this point, you might be prompted to enter your Mac password, so enter it and click ‘OK.’

How to Backup iPhone

Now you should rename your iPhone backup folder on the external hard drive, preferably to something like ‘ios_backup.’ The good thing is that anytime you want to back up your iPhone to your HDD, you can repeat the steps above.

In conclusion, there are many ways to back up your iPhone, with the easiest being iCloud because you don’t need to connect to other devices. The other methods will come in handy if you haven’t upgraded your iCloud subscription.