How to back up an iphone to a mac

Backup software creates one or more copies of the data on your digital devices in case your original data is lost or damaged. Different backup solutions protect different kinds of data and different combinations of devices.

What is Backup

For example, with PCs and Macs, some solutions only back up your files and folders, while other solutions back up everything by taking a snapshot of the entire hard disk, which means you can recover to bare metal and a fully bootable state. Other solutions backup only selected devices, such as your PC and Mac, but don’t protect your mobile devices. Other backup solutions can protect all of your devices.

How to back up an iphone to a mac
How to Back Up iPhone

Why Is iPhone Backup Important?

Everyone experiences problems with their digital devices, even their smartphones. Blancco Technology Group released a report on iPhone failures stating that 25 percent of iPhones failed between January and March of 2016. However, a study performed the following quarter found that:

These statistics don’t appear to be going in the right direction when it comes to peace of mind.

The bottom line is if any of these failures result in lost data and you have not backed up, you risk losing a lot more than your phone contact list!

Back Up Before Upgrading To iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, or iOS 12

In fact, online advice indicates that you can’t successfully upgrade an iPhone without a backup. Recent articles from C|net and MacWorld both recommend that the first thing you should do when upgrading to the iPhone XR or iPhone XS (or when you update to iOS 12) is to create a backup.

Ideally you should create a backup of your old phone once your new device arrives so you won’t lose any recent conversations, photos or changes to your contacts list.

Three Ways to Back Up Your iPhone

There are many different backup solutions on the market that back up your iPhone. iTunes and iCloud are different types of backup solutions offered by Apple. There are also other backup solutions from third-party vendors. Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office offers a comprehensive and easy way to not only back up your iPhone data, but also lets you back up to the cloud and your computer, back up multiple mobile devices, recover accidentally deleted files, and more.

  1.  iCloud Backup
  2.  iTunes Backup
  3. Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

iCloud and iTunes backup have their advantages and we recommend using them. But for complete peace of mind when backing up your iPhone, also use Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office to protect and easily recover all your data.

iCloud Backup

With iCloud Backup, you back up your data to the cloud automatically with a Wi-Fi connection and back up:

  • Purchase history for music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books purchased from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBook store
  • Photos and videos, settings, app data, home screen, iMessage, SMS Text, MMS messages, and ringtones

You can select the iCloud backup option from the settings for your iOS device in iTunes when connected, or from the iOS device itself. You can perform backups automatically or manually. While it doesn’t back up your purchased apps, music, movies, and books, it will download these from the App, iTunes, and iBook store when you restore from an iCloud Backup.

Apple provides 5GB of free cloud storage per Apple ID. You can easily eat up 5GB of storage quickly if you are backing up your photos and videos, but you can purchase additional iCloud storage for a fee.

iCloud syncs files automatically.  An automated sync, however, is not a true backup. For example, if you accidentally delete a photo from your iPhone, it’s gone once an automated sync is performed. With a true backup solution, you can recover the photo from the backup destination.

Directions to back up using iCloud:

  1. Connect your device to a Wi-Fi network
  2. Tap Settings > [your name], and tap iCloud. If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings, then scroll down and tap iCloud.
  3. Scroll down, tap iCloud Backup. If you're using iOS 10.2 or earlier, tap Backup. Make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on
  4. Tap Back Up Now and stay connected to your Wi-Fi network until the process completes
  5. Make sure that the backup finished: Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Storage > Manage Storage, then select your device — the backup should appear in the details with the time and backup size. If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, your path is Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage.

Automatically back up with iCloud Backup:

  1. Make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup. If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings > iCloud > Backup
  2. Connect your device to a power source
  3. Connect your device to a Wi-Fi network
  4. Make sure that your device's screen is locked
  5. Check that you have enough available space in iCloud for the backup

iTunes Backup

Many consumers are more familiar with iTunes because this what they use to buy apps, music, and books from the Apple Stores. To back up with iTunes, plug your iPhone into your PC or Mac, open iTunes, and sync your files between your PC or Mac and iPhone. Unlike iCloud, iTunes backs up all your photos, images, media files not purchased from iTunes, messages, call logs, application data, settings, memos, calendar, and bookmarks. You cannot copy files to the cloud using iTunes.

Directions to back up using iTunes:

  1. Open iTunes and connect your device to your computer
  2. If a message asks for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps (If you forgot your passcode, get help)
  3. Select your iPhone, iPad, or iPod when it appears in iTunes  

If your device doesn't appear in iTunes, you can learn what to do here. Note that this is a lengthy and potentially convoluted process that can take some time to sort out.

How to backup Iphone without iCloud: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

iCloud or iTunes take care of backing up certain applications and settings, but the Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office app protects user generated content — photos, videos, contacts, reminders, and calendar appointments — in a more complete way. To get the app, go to the Apple App Store and search for Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. If you will store iPhone backups in Acronis Cloud Storage you’ll need a trial or subscribed Acronis account.

Directions to back up using Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office:

To install Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office:

  1. Open the App Store on your iPhone
  2. Tap Search
  3. Type Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office in the search field
  4. Select Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office in the search results to go to the app page
  5. Follow the standard installation procedure

To back up your mobile data to Acronis Cloud:

  1. Start Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office
  2. Tap Backup
  3. Sign in to your Acronis account
  4. Select the data categories that you want to back up
  5. Tap Back up now
  6. Allow Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office access to your personal data
How to back up an iphone to a mac
Manage data to backup
How to back up an iphone to a mac
Back up your mobile data to Acronis Cloud

When the backup is complete, your data is uploaded to secure Acronis Cloud Storage. If you want data changes (for example, new photographs) to be backed up automatically, make sure the continuous backup setting is turned on. If this setting is turned off, the new data is backed up only when you tap backup.

How to back up an iphone to a mac
Automate your backups to the Acronis Cloud Storage

To back up your mobile device to a PC:

  1. Make sure that your mobile device and your computer are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
  2. On your computer:
  3. Start Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office
  4. On the sidebar, click Devices, and then click Mobile device local backup

A QR code will be displayed. Please do not close this window.

  1. On your mobile device:
  2. Start Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office
  3. Tap Back up to PC
  4. Tap I already have it, or follow the on-screen instructions to install Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office on your computer
  5. Tap Scan QR code, point your camera at the QR code on the computer screen, and then wait until the mobile device is connected to the computer
  6. Select the data categories that you want to back up
  7. Tap Start Backup
  8. Allow Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office to access your personal data
How to back up an iphone to a mac
Acronis True Image 2017 makes mobile backups easy

When the backup is complete, you can see information about this (and other) mobile device backups from the backup list or the Online Dashboard.

You can also recover one or more items from the backup by selecting Access and Recover from the mobile app menu.

Acronis Makes Mobile Backup Easy without iCloud!

  • Back Up to Anywhere – Cloud or Your PC or Mac With Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office backup software, you can back up to Acronis Cloud Storage or your PC. If you use cloud backup with Acronis Cloud Storage, you can back up your mobile devices any time you have an internet connection. You can access your data from any device via a simple web interface or from your mobile devices via a touch-enabled web portal.
  • Have Multiple Mobile Devices? Most households have multiple mobile phones and tablets. With Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, you can use the same cloud account or your PC to back up multiple devices (yes…iPhones, Android phones, or any combination) to one place using one interface.
  • Don’t Back Up Everything Every Time Don’t waste time backing up all your data every time. With Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, you just back up what has changed rather than repeating a full backup over and over. This saves both time and storage space.
  • Migrate Between iOS and Android Quickly switch between iOS and Android devices because even though they use different formats. No need to feel stuck with a particular device because you can’t migrate the data to a different operating system — Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office makes it possible to go from iOS to Android or vice versa without a loss of data.
  • No-Worry Backup Automatically back up your mobile device to the Acronis Cloud whenever you have an internet connection. No more worrying about or taking the time out to do backups.
  • Restore a Single File Uh oh! You accidentally deleted a file or photo. With Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, you can restore one file at time without having to perform a complete restore.
  • Recover from Accidental Deletions If you accidentally delete a file with iCloud, you can lose it permanently. With Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, you never permanently lose data. That’s why you have a backup!

The Clear Choice for iPhone Backup

With mobile device backup through Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, your iPhone data is safe and can be recovered in the event of corruption or loss. And while iCloud and iTunes will sync and protect data, Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office protects user-generated data in a faster, more complete, more convenient, and more granular way. And you can restore all data or individual files from the cloud or your PC without cables. Whether you accidently delete a file, lose your data or your iPhone, or if your iPhone fails, you can always easily and completely recover with Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.

How do I transfer everything from my iPhone to my Mac?

To transfer files between iPhone and Mac via iTunes:.
Connect your device to the computer and launch iTunes..
Click the device icon in the iTunes window and choose "File Sharing"..
Select the app that you want to transfer a file to or from..
Transfer files between the iPhone and the Mac..

Why can't I backup my iPhone to my Mac?

Make sure your Mac or PC is up-to-date. If you're using iTunes, make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable, and locate your device on your computer. If your device doesn't appear in Finder or iTunes, learn what to do.

How do I backup my iPhone to my Mac without iCloud?

To back up iPhone to computer:.
Connect your iPhone to your computer and wait for iTunes to launch automatically..
Unlock your iPhone and trust the computer..
In iTunes, click the "Device" tab, choose "Summary", and click "Back Up Now" to start backing up your iPhone without iCloud..

How do I backup my iPhone to my Mac wirelessly?

To set up Wi-Fi syncing, first connect your device to your Mac using a USB or USB-C cable. You then turn on Wi-Fi syncing and choose the settings you want. Whenever your device connects to your Mac over Wi-Fi, you can select it in the sidebar and sync it. (You can turn on automatic syncing if you want.)