How to Back Up an iPhone to iCloud

You are about to trade in, reset, or update your iPhone, or you want a safety net in case it is lost. An iCloud backup copies your data to Apple's servers so it can be restored to any iPhone. Turning it on takes under a minute; the first backup itself can take much longer.

Open your Apple Account settings

Open Settings and tap your name at the very top of the list. This opens your Apple Account, called Apple ID on iOS 17 and earlier.

Tap iCloud, then iCloud Backup

Tap iCloud. Scroll down and tap iCloud Backup. On recent versions it sits under a Device Backups heading.

Turn on Back Up This iPhone

Tap the Back Up This iPhone toggle so it turns green. Once it is on, the iPhone backs up automatically about once a day whenever it is connected to Wi-Fi, connected to power, and locked. iPhones with 5G also show a Back Up Over Cellular toggle on this screen; leave it off unless your data plan can absorb several gigabytes.

Tap Back Up Now

Tap Back Up Now to start a backup immediately instead of waiting for the automatic one. Stay on Wi-Fi and leave the phone on a charger until it finishes. A progress line shows the estimated time remaining. A first backup of a full phone can take an hour or more; later backups only upload what changed since the last one.

Check the date of the last backup

When it finishes, the last successful backup time appears below the Back Up Now button. Come back to this screen any time to confirm the backup is current before you erase or hand over the phone. If the date is old or the screen reports a failure, the usual cause is not enough iCloud storage.

About the free 5 GB. Every Apple Account includes 5 GB of iCloud storage, and a phone full of photos will not fit in it. To see what is using the space, go back to the iCloud screen and tap Manage Account Storage (labeled Manage Storage on older versions). From there you can delete old backups from devices you no longer own, or upgrade to a larger iCloud+ plan. Photos already stored in iCloud Photos are not duplicated inside the backup, so turning on iCloud Photos can shrink the backup itself.

What the backup does not include. Data already synced to iCloud, such as Contacts, Notes, and iCloud Photos, is stored separately and restored with your account. Apple Music content is re-downloaded rather than backed up, and Apple Pay cards must be added again after a restore.