How to back up your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with your Mac

If you back up your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you’ll have a copy of your information to use in case your device is ever replaced, lost or damaged.

Back up with the Finder

  1. On a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, open a Finder window.
  2. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.
  3. If asked for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps. Get help if you forget your passcode.
  4. Select your device on your computer. Can't see your device?
  5. If you want to save Health and Activity data from your device or Apple Watch, you’ll need to encrypt your backup. Tick the Encrypt local backup box and create a password.
    Save your password somewhere safe, because there’s no way to recover your backups without this password.
  6. Click Back Up Now.
    A Finder window showing the Back Up Now button
  7. When the process has finished, you can see if the backup has completed successfully. You’ll see the date and time of your last backup.
    A Finder window showing the date and time of the last backup
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