iCloud User Guide
- Welcome
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- Sign in and use iCloud.com
- Customize the homepage
- Keynote
- Numbers
- Pages
- Recover files and information
- Use iCloud on your Windows computer
- Get more help with iCloud
- Legal notices and acknowledgements
- Copyright
Back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iCloud
You can use iCloud to back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You can customize which apps and data are backed up.
For more information about what’s included in an iCloud backup, see the Apple Support article What does iCloud back up? To learn about managing your backups, see View and manage iCloud device backups.
Turn on automatic backups
When you turn on iCloud Backup, iCloud automatically backs up your device information over Wi-Fi when your device is turned on, locked, and connected to a power source.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
Turn on iCloud Backup.
If your device and carrier support it, you can also turn on Back Up Over Cellular to use cellular data with iCloud Backup instead of Wi-Fi when Wi-Fi is unavailable.
Customize which apps and data are backed up for a device
You can customize which apps and data are included in your iCloud backup.
Some Apple apps back up data in iCloud but aren’t included in the list of apps. You can only turn off the backup for listed apps.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
Do one of the following:
iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or later: Tap iCloud Backup.
iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or earlier: Tap Manage Storage, then tap Backups.
Tap the name of your device.
Note: Although you can see all the devices that have iCloud Backup turned on, you can only change which apps are included in the backup for the device you’re currently using.
Turn the backup for each app on or off.
The apps list may be abbreviated. Tap Show All Apps to see a complete list.
Back up manually
After you turn on automatic backups, you can manually back up your device at any time.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
Tap Back Up Now.
Turn off automatic backups
If you turn off iCloud Backup for a device, any backups stored in iCloud are kept for 180 days before being deleted.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
Turn off iCloud Backup.
If you need help with iCloud Backup, see the Apple Support articles If you can’t back up to iCloud and If restore from iCloud backup failed.
You can also use your computer to back up your device. See the Apple Support article How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.