My iPhone 13 mini has never successfully backed up for about two years, and older backups that I used to have no longer appear. I have more than 100,000 photos, 93.27 GB of 128 GB of iPhone storage is used, and my iCloud plan appears to have enough available space. The phone is running iOS 17 and has not been updated in roughly two years.
For the past week, I've tried starting an iCloud backup repeatedly. The estimated time eventually changes to several days, but the progress barely moves beyond the beginning before it stops with "Backup could not be completed." I've restarted the phone and left it charging overnight while both powered on and powered off, but nothing has helped.
The battery is also in poor condition at 79% capacity. A charge can drop from around 90% to 15% within an hour or two, so I'm worried the phone may fail before I can preserve my data. The backup screen shows "Next Backup Size: +2.72 GB" while the current backup size says zero KB. One app category appears to be around 661.1 MB, and another number may have been misread as 504.8 MB. Could the first backup be failing because of its size, or is there another likely cause? I don't currently have a reliable computer, but I may be able to use one. What is the safest way to back up everything, especially my photos, without risking the phone during an update?
4 Answers
Because the battery is deteriorating so quickly, prioritize getting the photos off the phone before experimenting too much. If you can borrow a working Mac or Windows computer, connect the phone directly with a proper USB cable, unlock it, and approve the trust prompt. You can make a local backup and import the photos separately. Replacing the battery is also worth considering, since an unstable battery can interrupt long backup operations.
The best alternative is an encrypted local backup to a computer. On a Mac, connect the iPhone with a USB cable and use Finder; on Windows, use the Apple Devices app or iTunes, depending on the system. A computer’s storage is used for the backup, so it avoids relying on iCloud. Choose the option to encrypt the local backup and save the password somewhere safe, because encryption preserves more sensitive data such as saved passwords and Health information.
The backup size itself probably isn’t the problem—2.72 GB is relatively small if your iCloud plan has enough free space. However, the phone still needs some working storage while preparing the backup, and iCloud’s estimate may not include everything immediately. With 93 GB of 128 GB used, you have some room, but freeing several more gigabytes could help. Also check that the phone stays connected to Wi‑Fi and power while the backup runs.
I have about 35 GB free, so I thought that should be enough, but I’ll try freeing more space if possible.
Updating iOS normally should not erase your data, but no update is completely risk-free—especially when the phone’s battery is unhealthy. Don’t erase or restore the phone until you have at least one verified copy of the important photos. If a computer is available, make the local backup first, keep the phone connected to power, and use a reliable cable. A USB flash drive can hold exported photos, but it usually isn’t the same as a full restorable iPhone backup.
Right—the flash drive option is mainly for files or photos. For a full restore, a Finder or Apple Devices backup is the more appropriate method.
A computer backup is separate from iCloud and can be a complete device backup. You can also copy photos separately if you mainly need to protect those first.