Mac/iOS software
Back up your iPhone or iPad
Protect the personal data and settings on your iOS device
IT WILL TAKE
10 minutes
YOU WILL LEARN
You will learn the backup options for your device
YOU’LL NEED
You will need an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch; a Mac
Genius tip!
A backup isn’t the same as a sync.Backups copy your data and settings; a sync copies newly purchased media such as music or books to your device.
There are two ways to back up the data on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You can back up to iCloud, or you can back up locally to your Mac.
With an iCloud backup, your backups can be accessed from anywhere you can get a Wi-Fi connection. The backups are always encrypted to keep your data secure, and you don’t need to remember to repeatedly back up your stuff: it can all happen automatically. Unfortunately, the 5GB you get free with your iCloud account is hilariously small, so you’ll need a paid iCloud storage plan – especially if you have multiple devices to back up. Local backups are stored on your Mac, so you’re only limited by the size of its hard drive or SSD. Transfers are usually much faster. But you need to remember to actually do the backup and to turn on encryption to keep your data safe: encryption is switched off by default.