How to Back Up an iPhone to iCloud

iCloud is Apple’s backup service that stores your data on its Internet servers, or “the cloud,” for remote access anywhere. iCloud is very powerful if you rely on a fleet of Apple products for your daily work and entertainment, as it alleviates the need for manual transfer of data. Although iPhones back up to iCloud wirelessly by default, you may also want to implement a manual backup. Learn how with these steps.

Steps

iOS 8

Open your “Settings” app.

Scroll down to iCloud and tap it.

Review your current iCloud settings. This screen will tell you the current account you have set up for iCloud, how much storage you have available, and which apps are linked to your iCloud backup.

Select Backup. On this screen, you’ll see an option for iCloud Backup. If you turn this on (so the toggle goes green), your iPhone will at regular intervals automatically create a backup of your iTunes purchase history, videos and photos, accounts, iPhone settings and home screen setup, app data, messages, ringtones, and visual voicemail. To review exactly what will and won’t be backed up, click “Learn More” on that screen.

Click “Back Up Now”. Below this link, you’ll see the date and time of your last backup. If you want to create a more recent version, click “Back Up Now” to do so immediately. This process can take a few minutes, but you can hit “Cancel Backup” if you change your mind during the update.

iOS 7

Open up the “Settings” app from your iPhone.

Scroll down and tap “iCloud.” On the next screen, you can see a list of the data stored on your iPhone and toggle whether you’d like each item to backup to iCloud.