Mar 17, 2020 If you want to backup iOS data without iTunes, now you have option to sync iPhone/iPad/iPod Mail, Calendar, and Contacts to Google. Google Sync is only supported on Apple iOS versions 3.0 and above. Here is a step-by-step guide to set up Google Sync with your iOS device.
Jan 13, 2021 Backup iPhone without iTunes for free. Click 'Back Up Now' button. It takes some time to complete the iPhone data backing up process with iCloud. If you want to check whether iCloud has backed up your iPhone or not, go back to 'Settings' again. Follow above operations to choose your name, iCloud and iCloud Backup. 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.Here’s how to find your iCloud backups. 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.
What is a backup?
A backup is a direct copy of all of the important data on your iPhone (read more: What is stored in an iPhone or iCloud backup?). You can use a backup to safeguard your data in the event that you lose or break your iPhone.
Do I really need to backup my iPhone?
If you store important data on your iPhone, then you need to keep a backup of your data. If you lose or break an iPhone without a backup, you can also lose your photos, contacts and message history. Backing up your phone prevents this data from being permanently lost.
Backing up your iPhone is simple, and there are three methods you can use to backup your device. This article walks you through using iTunes, Finder and iPhone Backup Extractor to create iPhone or iCloud backups. The functionality is free in all of these applications.
Beware of overwriting previous backups
Before we look at each of these methods in detail, bear in mind that making a new backup overwrites a pre-existing one. So, if you're looking to recover data from your device, don’t rush to create a new backup until you have examined the existing one.
How to backup your iPhone without iTunes
iPhone Backup Extractor can create backups of your iPhone on Windows or macOS over WiFi or a USB connection -- without needing to have iTunes installed. You can also use this method to access the information inside your backup.
To create a backup using iPhone Backup Extractor, follow these steps:
- Download, install and run iPhone Backup Extractor.
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer via USB.
- Select your device from the left-hand menu.
Choose
Utilitiesor clickBackup.Click
Start. iPhone Backup Extractor will prompt you to set a password on your backup in order to keep your data safe and secure.
Summary: Using iPhone Backup Extractor to backup your iPhone is fast and free, and allows you to access the data within your backup, but you'll need to have access to a Mac or PC.
How to backup your iPhone with iTunes or Finder
You'll need to use a computer to backup your phone to iTunes or Finder, but you can use as much storage space as you have free on your computer.
Apple removed iTunes from macOS 10.15, with its backup functionality now available directly in Finder. Therefore, if you have a Mac running macOS 10.15 or later, you should use Finder to backup your iPhone, while if you have a Windows PC or a Mac running an earlier version of macOS, use the most up to date version of iTunes.
Here’s how to get backups working with iTunes or Finder in three steps:
Connect your iPhone or iPad to the computer with a USB and find and select your
iPhonein iTunes or Finder.Ensure
This computeris the backup location, notiCloud.If you want to encrypt your data, select the encryption checkbox and choose a password for the backup. We recommend doing this, as it provides better protection for your information. Without setting a password, anyone who has access to your computer can access any information stored in your iPhone backup.
As an added bonus, if your backups are encrypted, Apple will include even more data in them than they otherwise would: such as Health information and the saved passwords in your Keychain.
Click the “Back Up Now” button in iTunes or Finder, and a backup should be taken over Wi-Fi. (It’s not necessary to hit “Sync” first.)
Wait until the backup is finished, and don't disconnect the USB cable until then. The first time a backup is taken it can take quite a while, particularly for iPhones with a lot of data on them. Subsequent backups will be faster, as only the newer files need to be added to the backup each time. Keep reading to find out how to backup your iPhone overnight.
Apple Configurator?
If you're using Apple Configurator, it's possible to create and restore backups directly within its interface. Simply right-click on the device and choose 'Backup'.
Summary: Using iTunes to backup your iPhone might provide you with more free storage space than iCloud, but running iTunes can slow down your computer.
(Related: find out how to speed up a slow iPhone backup)
How to enable wireless iPhone backups
To configure your iPhone or iPad to back up over Wi-Fi, you should run through the following steps:
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to the computer with a USB and open the
iPhonesection on iTunes or Finder. - Tick
Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi - Hit
Doneat the bottom of the window. - Disconnect the USB cable from the phone.
- Ensure your iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer. If so, the iPhone pane should still be available in iTunes or Finder.
- Click the
Back Up Nowbutton in iTunes or Finder, and a backup should be taken over Wi-Fi.
How to get automatic iPhone backups
Your iPhone is able to back up automatically each night to iCloud or iTunes if you satisfy the criteria for automatic backups. These are:
- The device must be locked
- The device must be powered
- The device must be connected to a Wi-Fi network
If your phone is set to back up to iTunes over Wi-Fi, then your PC or Mac must be left powered on and connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
Many people choose to use iCloud, Apple's default option, to backup their iPhone data, because data can be backed up directly from your phone, though you can also create an iCloud backup on a PC, using iTunes, or a Mac, using Finder
Option A. Here’s how to create an iCloud backup directly from your iPhone or iPad:
- On your iPhone, go into
Settings - Select
[your name](at the very top of the screen) - Select
iCloud Choose
iCloud Backup. You can also manage your iCloud storage from the same menu.
Option B. Here’s how to create an iCloud backup using iTunes:
If you don't want to create an iCloud backup wirelessly, you can also use iTunes to create and save your backup in iCloud.
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your PC or Mac via USB and open the latest version of iTunes.
Select your iPhone in the top left of iTunes, and scroll to the backup section.
Select iCloud and click on the button reading 'Back Up Now' -- it will take a few minutes to generate and store your iCloud backup.
Unfortunately, iCloud only provides 5 GB of free storage space, so you'll need to pay a monthly fee if you need to backup more data.
Wondering how much space you'll need? Apple's latest iPhones provide up to 512 GB of storage, or 100 times more storage space than iCloud will backup for free. The amount of storage you need for a backup will depend on your device and how you use it, but the things that tend to take up the most space are:
- Your iCloud Photo Library. This can grow to be larger than the storage on your phone, as it doesn't all have to be fitted onto the phone at any one time.
- All of your app's data, and any files you store on the device. Apps that include a lot of images, videos or sound files (such as Pinterest, Netflix and Spotify) will use large amounts of storage space.
(Find out how to free up iCloud storage here.)
Summary: you can use iCloud to backup your data directly from your phone, but you'll have to pay to protect more than 5 GB of data, and backups tend to be slow.
One neat thing to note with iCloud storage space is that it can be shared between family members configured on iCloud. If you have your partner or kids connected, you can pool the space between you. So, if you upgrade your account, it's possible that they won't need to.
(iCloud iPhone backup failed? Find out how to fix it)
Which backup method should I choose?
Unfortunately, you can't choose to backup to both iTunes and iCloud at the same time, but you can switch between the two without older backups being deleted.
Here are some of the things to weigh up when choosing between iTunes and iCloud backups:
Given the advantage that iTunes backups have in speed of access, we recommend taking an iTunes backup to your local computer before any iOS upgrade. You don't want to end up waiting hours for an iCloud backup restore!
How to restore an iPhone from iTunes
Once you’ve created your backup you can use it to restore your data in the event that your iPhone is lost or damaged, or if you want to add the data to a second iPhone.
Here’s how to switch iPhones using an iTunes backup:
- Connect your computer to the iPhone you want to switch to using.
- Open iTunes (or Finder if you’re using macOS Catalina 10.15)
- Select your iPhone from the list on the left-hand side.
Click
Restore Backup…(Be careful not to clickRestore iPhone)Select the backup you want from the drop down list.
Enter your backup password if your backup is encrypted, and click
Restore.- Keep your iPhone connected until the backup restore has completed.
As you know that iTunes and iCloud can back up your iPhone data, however, where are the backup files stored? How to access iPhone backup on computer?
That is the point today.
This post collects 2 easy ways to help you view and access iPhone backup on Windows 10/8/7 and Mac, from iTunes and iCloud backup efficiently.
What you need to do is the following the step-by-step guide.
Part 1. How to access iPhone backup from iTunes on computer
iTunes can easily backup your iPhonea data to computer. The backup file will be stored in the library file. For accessing the iPhone backup on computer from iTunes, you just need to navigate the location of iPhone backup, and extract data from backup file.
Find iPhone backup location on computer
Find iPhone backup location on Mac
Step 1. Click the Search icon in the Menu bar.
Step 2. And then enter the path for iPhone backup:
Library/Application support/MobileSync/Backup/
Step 3. Press return to access iPhone backup on Mac.
Find iPhone backup location on Windoows 10/8/7
Windows 7 and Windows VistaC:UesrsYOURUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingApple ComputerMobileSyncBackup
Windows 8 and Windows 10C:UsersYOURUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingApple ComputerMobileSyncBackup
Windows XPC:Document and SettingsUserApplication DataApple ComputerMobileSyncBackup
Check the details here to find iPhone backup location if you have ever changed or deleted iPhone backup.
Access iPhone backup from iTunes with iBackupBot
From the above steps, you notice that the iPhone backup is kept as the library file, and you cannot open them directly. What you need is the third-party tool to read data from the backup file and extract files from it.
iBackupBot is the tool you can use to extract data from iPhone backup. Get details here.
Feel a little complicated in method one? Just move on the next method to access iPhone backup directly.
Part 2. How to view and access iPhone backup files from iTunes/iCloud
Feel a little complicated in method one? Just move on the next method to access iPhone backup directly.
4,000,000+ Downloads
Access photos, contacts, messages, call logs, etc. from iCloud backup.
Access app data, Safari history/bookmark, notes, calendars, etc. from iTunes.
View and restore data from backup selectively to computer.
Support backup form iPhone XS/XR/X/8/7/6/5/4, etc.
How to Access iPhone Backup from iTunes
Step 1. Download and Install the program
At first, you need to download and install iPhone Data Recovery on your computer. Once you connect iPhone to your computer, you can launch the program to detect iPhone accordingly.
Step 2. Access iPhone backup files on iTunes
Choose the 'Recover from iTunes Backup File' option, which enables you to access iPhone backup file. Choose the iTunes backup, and then you can click 'Start Scan' button to check all iPhone backup files on iTunes.'
Itunes Backup Iphone Download
If your iTunes backup is locked with lock image, it means your iPhone backup is encrypted, and you need to input iTunes backup password to unlock it for scanning and accessing.
Step 3. Retrieve data from iPhone backup
After scanning, the backup files will be listed in categories, such as 'Message', 'Music', 'Contact', etc. Now you can click 'Recover' option to save the backup files from iTunes to computer.
How to Access iPhone Backup from iCloud
Step 1. Access iPhone backup files on iCloud
Download Itunes For Backup
Connect iPhone to computer with the USB cable, and then you need to choose the 'Recover from iCloud Backup File' option, enter the Apple ID and passcode in order to access iPhone backup.
Step 2. Retrieve iPhone backup from iCloud
Check all iCloud backup in different categories, then click the 'Recover' button to download the files selectively to your computer. Of course, you can also sync the files to iPhone from computer.
Part 3. Best iTunes/iCloud backup alternative
iTunes or iCloud is the free tool to backup data on iPhone. However, for accessing iPhone backup, you need to professional tool to extract files from it.
Do not want the troublesome steps? Just get iPhone backup alternative, iOS Data Backup & Restore.
Back up iPhone contacts, messages, notes, call history, calendars, reminders, voicemails, WhatsApp, app data, etc. to computer with encryption, and access the iPhone backup with this software directly without any companion tool.
Get the detailed steps to backup iPhone to computer and access iPhone backup easily here.
Conclusion
This post aims at showing you how to access iPhone backup (iTunes and iCloud backup) on computer. Considering the inconvenience of iTunes or iCloud backup, you need the third-party tool to access iPhone backup specially. Surely, you can find an alternative to iTunes/iCloud to backup iPhone to computer and access your backup directly without extra tools.