iPhone 13 Questions about backups Mac vs Cloud

[GRUNT_0341]

Hello all- I recently purchased the new MacBook today and before I migrated over, I had a question about backups. I have always backed up my iPhone on my MB Pro as just a personal preference. I always felt that it was more secure. I then back up the MB to an external drive through Time Machine.

Today I noticed that the (1) iPhone backup is taking up 97G of space. I have about 166 of 512G used on my iPhone 13. I always thought the backups were sized down much smaller than that, but apparently not.

Does that sound about right for sizing for (1) backup using that much data? If I switched to iCloud backup, I would end up having to pay another $10 for iCloud space. And then also rely on the cloud encryption instead of my local encryption.

Are there any benefits besides ease of use to backing up on iCloud and paying the extra storage $? Just curious the thoughts...Thanks!

 

[eyoungren]

I would just mention that part of the backup is images and images inside the Messages app. If you're using an Apple email account it probably also includes attachments.

But the biggest thing is that any time you install an app, iOS automatically assumes that you want to back up that app's data. Now, if you truly want to do that, then great. But look through all the apps on your phone. I would bet that there is data being backed up for apps that you could care less about. Turning those off saves some MBs.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

97 out of 166 sounds about right if you’re not using iCloud Messages or iCloud Photos. Backups don’t include apps themselves (app data is backed up) but most everything else is included.

 

[GRUNT_0341]

I would just mention that part of the backup is images and images inside the Messages app. If you're using an Apple email account it probably also includes attachments.

But the biggest thing is that any time you install an app, iOS automatically assumes that you want to back up that app's data. Now, if you truly want to do that, then great. But look through all the apps on your phone. I would bet that there is data being backed up for apps that you could care less about. Turning those off saves some MBs.

I definitely have apps taking up tons of data. I did not know you could even turn that off...Example, Instagram using 8.61G of "I don't know what" space... Is there an easy way to turn that off?

45G messages, 28G photos, and then the rest apps besides the operating system. I am sure some of that mysterious "other" is in there too, but the settings/general/storage isn't showing that.

 

[eyoungren]

I definitely have apps taking up tons of data. I did not know you could even turn that off...Example, Instagram using 8.61G of "I don't know what" space... Is there an easy way to turn that off?

45G messages, 28G photos, and then the rest apps besides the operating system. I am sure some of that mysterious "other" is in there too, but the settings/general/storage isn't showing that.

Open the Settings app and tap on your Apple ID at the top. From there…

iCloud>Under Apps Using iCloud tap Show All.

You'll see switches next to each app storing data. Turn off those you don't want storing data in the backup. You may be asked to confirm deleting the data off the phone, which removes it from being backed up the next time around.

 

[GRUNT_0341]

Open the Settings app and tap on your Apple ID at the top. From there…

iCloud>Under Apps Using iCloud tap Show All.

You'll see switches next to each app storing data. Turn off those you don't want storing data in the backup. You may be asked to confirm deleting the data off the phone, which removes it from being backed up the next time around.

Perfect. Thank you!

 

[now i see it]

Also backing up to icloud can take a reeeeeealy long time if you’ve got slow upload speeds. (5Mbps)
Backing up to a Mac is then much much faster.

 

[Madhatter32]

Is it one local snapshot taking up all the storage on your Mac or multiple ones? You can delete the older local snapshots to free up a lot of space on your Mac.

 

[GRUNT_0341]

Is it one local snapshot taking up all the storage on your Mac or multiple ones? You can delete the older local snapshots to free up a lot of space on your Mac.

I am assuming it could be multiples over the years, but for me it’s just showing one backup within the iTunes backup. I am sure there are probably a million older folders that were overwritten. But I am definitely not tech savvy enough to know what old folders I’m deleting. Is there an easy way to locate them and delete the old ones? Thanks!

 

[now i see it]

There’s only one iPhone backup on the Mac. Each time you backup, the older backup gets overwritten

 

[Madhatter32]

I am assuming it could be multiples over the years, but for me it’s just showing one backup within the iTunes backup. I am sure there are probably a million older folders that were overwritten. But I am definitely not tech savvy enough to know what old folders I’m deleting. Is there an easy way to locate them and delete the old ones? Thanks!

You can go to "GO" menu up top and then GO TO FOLDER and enter ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ to see the backups in the GUI.

If there is only one iPhone backup, which is overwritten each time, you can always save that file to an external drive and remove it from the Mac. You then could create a sym link that would save to the external everytime you want to backup the iPhone. This would require you to plug the external drive to the Mac and then make the iPhone backup.

 

[GRUNT_0341]

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate the help.