Want to back up your iPhone? Here is how to do it.

If you ever lose your phone or need to migrate contacts to a new device, backing up your iPhone will come in helpful. Your iPhone most likely has thousands of photos of locations you’ve visited, memories you’ve shared, and lovely pet photos you’ve taken.

Backups are also useful for restoring your phone if something goes wrong with iOS or if you’re tired of coping with a problematic beta. To avoid losing images, contacts, and other crucial data you’ve downloaded, we recommend making regular backups of your phone.

Fortunately, backing up an iPhone is simple, and your backup may be automatically updated. This article explains how to backup an iPhone using Finder, iTunes, and iCloud.

MacOS Catalina or newer: Use Finder

On MacOS Catalina, Apple removed iTunes as we know it. It has been replaced by a new Music app with the iTunes logo. It is not, however, used for iPhone backups. Instead, Apple included that functionality into the Finder.

1: Connect your iPhone to a Mac running MacOS Catalina or later. You’ll need a USB-C adapter or a USB-C-to-Lightning cable for recent MacBooks.

2: Launch Finder and navigate to the iPhone listed on the left.

3: On the right, click the blue Trust button.

4: A Trust This Computer prompt comes on the iPhone. To proceed, tap Trust and input the passcode.

Step 5: Return to Finder and click the Back Up Now button on the General tab.

The backup process will be displayed in a status bar along the bottom. This may take some time, so go get something to eat while you wait. Keep in mind that the Finder also has options for encrypting the local backup (which is enabled by default), restoring an iPhone from a backup, syncing all media to the Mac, and so on.

MacOS Mojave and earlier, or Windows 10: Use iTunes

While Apple is discontinuing iTunes, it remains compatible with Macs running MacOS Mojave and older, as well as Windows 10 PCs. It can be an excellent backup tool for your iPhone’s most essential memories. The instructions below are based on iTunes for Windows 10.

Step 1: Connect the iPhone to the USB port on your Mac or Windows 10 PC. Depending on the PC, you may require a USB-C adapter or a USB-C-to-Lightning cable.

Step 2: Launch iTunes and follow the prompts. It just asks if the computer has permission to access the linked iPhone.

Step 3: A Trust This Computer prompt comes on the iPhone. To proceed, tap Trust and input the passcode.

Step 4: In iTunes, select the iPhone icon in the upper left corner, as shown above. If iTunes does not appear to identify your device, follow the instructions outlined by Apple.

Step 5: On the left, select Summary.

Step 6: If you want to encrypt the backup, select Encrypt Local Backup, enter a password, and then click Set Password. Make a note of your password or store it in a password manager.

Step 7: Under Backups, click the Back Up Now option.

When the backup is finished, look for an entry under Latest Backups to see if the backup was successful.

How to use iCloud

Apple’s iCloud service may control backups manually or automatically, transferring your files to a remote cloud server in real time. When you enable this function, you won’t have to worry about losing your photographs and other important data if one of your iCloud-connected devices dies.

If you have a free account, you will only have 5GB of storage capacity. That probably won’t be enough space to back up every single media file you have. Nonetheless, Apple provides three premium storage options with a maximum capacity of 2TB.

1: Go to Settings and press on your name (or Apple ID).

2: Choose iCloud. If you haven’t already linked your iCloud, you can do it now and select which applications will be automatically backed up.

3: Scroll down and select iCloud Backup.

4: Tap the Toggle next to iCloud Backup to enable it (green).

Step 5: Tap Back Up Now to manually back up the iPhone right now. The backup will be confirmed immediately under the Back Up Now button. For more information on iCloud and the platforms and operating systems of your iOS devices, see our in-depth guide to utilizing iCloud.

Safe and secure

Proper backups are a guaranteed way to secure your confidential information and ensure its safety. Meanwhile, your heavy-duty phone case will protect your phone’s hardware from harm. The only way to ensure that you don’t lose all of your valuable cell phone data—apps, music, photographs, movies, and more—is to regularly back up your iPhone. If you want to learn more, you can also check out our handy tutorial on how to reset an iPhone.

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