Icloud what should i backup

Backups from your computer A computer backup of your device, which is not the same as a sync , includes almost all of your device's data and settings. Can I use my device's backup for another kind of device, like an iPhone backup for an iPad? Learn more Back up your device or restore from a backup. Encrypt backups using your computer. Back up your Apple Watch. Published Date: June 30, They use multiple layers of file and geographic redundancy, just like all companies that operate cloud-storage, allowing recovery even when there are huge hardware failures or natural disasters.

What could go wrong? This happens automatically, when your iPhone is plugged in, locked, and connected to a Wi-Fi network. You can also manually initiate a backup to iCloud. To turn on iCloud backups, go to Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud. Scroll down a bit until you see iCloud Backup, and tap that. Tap the iCloud Backup toggle to turn this feature on. If you want to back up your device right away, tap Back Up Now.

An iCloud backup can take a while the first time, especially if your network bandwidth is limited. But subsequent backups are quicker, because the device only backs up files and settings that are new or that have been modified. By default, you have a free 5 GB iCloud account. There are a few different ways to back up your Apple device but probably the easiest is to use iCloud. Unfortunately iCloud has its limits which can lead to you seeing the dreaded "not enough iCloud storage" error message.

But don't fret. And I'll even show you how to troubleshoot and workaround some of iCloud's limits. If you'd like to follow along step by step, watch the video below: How to back up your iPhone. However, it doesn't back up everything on your phone. Things you buy with your Apple ID, such as apps or music, won't back up because Apple has a receipt that you already bought them and will allow you to download them again for free.

Email, contacts and calendars are usually synced with your email account like Gmail, but in some cases, you might also sync these things with iCloud. Under each address, you can see what's being synced: mail, contacts, calendars and so on.

If you're not signed in, take a moment to do so and then tap on iCloud. Depending on how much data you have or if this is your first time backing up to iCloud, the backup process could take a few minutes or an hour. Check below the Back Up Now button to see the exact time and date your phone was last backed up.

Now, any time your iPhone is connected to power, locked and on Wi-Fi, it will automatically back up whatever new data you have to iCloud. If that iCloud backup worked just fine, then great, you're done. But I realize a lot of people won't be able to back up to iCloud without a little work. You might see this message on your iOS device, "This iPhone cannot be backed up because there is not enough iCloud storage available. Every iCloud account gets 5GB for free.