What does iCloud backup contain for an iPhone?

People store a lot of very important information in their phones. In case something happens to your phone, you want to be sure that you have protected this information well enough, . We need to know what iCloud backup contains?

Two ways

iOS has two backup facilities built in. First, is iCloud for your content. You identify which types of information you want to be backed up in iCloud. The information you save this way is available for synching across all of your devices. Many people back up their contacts, calendars, and photos this way.

The other way is to use iCloud Backup to back up the whole phone. This method includes the apps and set up of your iPhone so you can completely recreate it if it is lost.

Setup

To set up backup in iCloud:

Go to the Settings App
Tap on your name at the top of the screen
Tap on iCloud

iCloud backup in settings screenshot

Then scroll down until you see iCloud Backup and tap on it

iCloud backup in settings screenshot

If it is not already green as shown here, tap on the slider to turn it on.

Get Started

Tap on Back Up Now if you haven’t backed up before, or if you are going to do a major update or need to reset your phone. Otherwise, the back ups will happen automatically.

iCloud backup in settings screenshot

When backing up the whole phone users can decide what exactly is backed up. If not using iCloud photos, then the backup may be very large and include all the photos on the device as well. Users have the option to turn this off in the backup menu.

If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to
Settings
then iCloud
then Backup.

When does it backup?

The backup will happen automatically when the following conditions are all met:

  • Device plugged into power
  • Device connected to Wi-Fi
  • Device’s screen locked (asleep not turned off)
  • There is enough iCloud available storage for the size of the backup for this device.

The Backup will contain:

  • Data from the apps you have
  • Apple Watch backups
  • Phone settings
  • Organization of your Apps and Dock
  • Messages
  • Photos and videos
  • Purchased items if purchased from Apple, like music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
  • Ringtones
  • Voicemail password

Items stored on your phone are backuped here, not items that are already stored in iCloud.

Here is Apple’s description.

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