Your phone holds a lot, years of photos, your contacts, saved passwords, apps, and messages. If your phone is lost, stolen, or breaks, all of that could disappear. Unless you have a backup.

A backup is a copy of your phone’s contents, stored somewhere safe. If something goes wrong, you can restore everything onto a new phone as if nothing happened. Here’s how to set it up.

What is iCloud Backup?

iCloud is Apple’s cloud storage service, a secure server on the internet where your phone can save a copy of itself. With iCloud Backup turned on, your iPhone backs itself up automatically, overnight, whenever it’s:

Plugged into power (charging)
Connected to Wi-Fi
Locked (screen off)

You don’t have to do anything once it’s set up. It just happens.

Checking whether iCloud Backup is on

Open Settings (the grey icon with cogs).
Tap your name at the very top.
Tap iCloud.
Tap iCloud Backup.

You’ll see either:

iCloud Backup: On, great, you’re protected.
iCloud Backup: Off, tap the switch to turn it on.

Below the switch, you’ll see the date and time of your last backup. If it says “Last Backed Up: Yesterday” or “Today”, everything is working. If it says weeks or months ago, or “Never”, it’s worth investigating why.

What’s included in a backup?

An iCloud Backup includes:

All your photos and videos (if iCloud Photos is not separately enabled)
Your contacts
Messages (iMessage and SMS)
App data and settings
Your home screen layout
Device settings (Wi-Fi passwords, wallpaper, etc.)

It does not include things already stored in iCloud separately (like photos in iCloud Photos) or content you can re-download (like apps and music purchases).

What if I don’t have enough iCloud storage?

iCloud comes with 5GB of free storage. For most people, this isn’t enough for a full phone backup, especially if you have a lot of photos.

You’ll know this is an issue if you see a message like “Not enough iCloud storage” or the backup hasn’t completed.

Options:

Upgrade iCloud storage, go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Change Storage Plan. Plans start at 79p/month for 50GB, which is enough for most people.
Back up to a computer instead, if you have a Mac or PC, you can back up via a USB cable using Finder (Mac) or iTunes (Windows). This is free and doesn’t use iCloud storage. Connect your phone, open Finder or iTunes, and click Back Up Now.

Taking a manual backup right now

If you want to make a backup immediately (rather than waiting for the overnight automatic one):

Go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → iCloud Backup.
Tap Back Up Now.

Keep the screen on and stay on Wi-Fi until it says “Last Backed Up: just now”.

Restoring from a backup

If you ever need to restore, whether you’re switching to a new phone or recovering from a problem, the process is straightforward:

Set up the new (or restored) iPhone and choose Restore from iCloud Backup when prompted.
Sign in with your Apple ID.
Choose the most recent backup.
Wait for it to download, this can take 20–30 minutes depending on how much data you have.

Everything comes back: your photos, contacts, apps, and settings, just as they were.

A note on iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos is slightly different from iCloud Backup. If you have iCloud Photos turned on, your photos are continuously synced to iCloud, not just during nightly backups. This means your photos are always up to date in the cloud.

To check: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Photos. If it’s on, your photos are already in iCloud independently of your backup.

Not sure if your backup is working, or need help switching to a new phone? Get in touch with Hebden Tech Tutors, we’re happy to help you through it.