I recently cut my iCloud usage from around 100 GB to just under 20 GB by deleting old photos and other clutter. While reviewing my storage, I noticed that iCloud Backup was using nearly 50 GB. I understand that it creates regular snapshots of an iPhone, but I'm wondering how much overlap there is between a device backup and data that's already synced to iCloud, such as photos and other files. Is it reasonable to keep iCloud Backup turned off and enable it again before switching to a new phone, or does that leave important data unprotected?
3 Answers
The backup isn’t just a duplicate photo library or a sales trick. It’s meant to provide a recent recovery point when a phone is broken, lost, or destroyed. You can save photos and other important files to a computer or another service instead, but relying only on manually restoring everything takes more time and leaves gaps unless you have a thorough backup plan.
You can set up a replacement phone as new and manually reinstall apps, while synced photos and other data come back after signing in. The tradeoff is that you’ll lose or have to recreate settings, app data, layouts, messages, and other details that weren’t separately synced. Re-enabling backup only when you’re about to replace the phone may work, but it won’t protect you from an unexpected failure that happens beforehand.
iCloud Backup and iCloud syncing serve different purposes. Data that regularly syncs to iCloud, such as supported photos, contacts, notes, and files, generally doesn’t need to be duplicated in the device backup. The backup mainly preserves data and settings that aren’t already synced, along with information that helps restore your phone more completely after it’s lost, damaged, or replaced. Turning it off means you’re accepting that anything not synced elsewhere may be lost.
That makes sense. My thought was to turn it back on before upgrading, but I hadn’t considered losing anything if the current phone fails unexpectedly.