iPhone/iPad Hint – Make Your Backups Worth The Trouble

Make Your Backups Worth The Trouble

My good friend Jess – IT wiz and fellow Apple fanboy – emailed me at the end of 2014 with a discovery that he thought my readers would appreciate.

His revelation was related specifically to backing up your device to your computer via iTunes (versus using iCloud) and selecting the "Encrypt iPhone/iPad backup" option available on the iTunes device Summary screen.

Why Encrypted Is The Way To Go.
When you select the “Encrypt iPhone/iPad backup” option, you’re guaranteeing that the vast majority of the account passwords you use on your device and any data that you’ve accumulated through the new Apple Health app will be backed up. More important, it also means that all this information can then be restored to the device it came from AS WELL AS to a new device. The implications here should be obvious. If you don't select Encrypt, you will ONLY be able to restore your password credentials to an existing device. And there’s no hope for your Health data. That will be lost for good.

Computer Versus iCloud?
With that settled, I decided to dig deeper into Apple’s overarching Computer versus iCloud backup strategy. Until now, my approach has been to regularly backup to both repositories on an alternating schedule and to always select the encrypted option. That’s a good tactic, if you want to simply cover all the bases. But it doesn’t answer the larger questions: What’s the difference and which one is the sensible option for me.

Spoiler Alert: You’re Not Going To Like the Ending.
My first thought was to do some research, post links to a handful of reliable sources (like Apple’s Support Pages and knowledgeable experts,) and let you do the rest. Bad idea. Frighteningly, I’ve uncovered a wealth of incomplete, contradictory, or poorly explained information regarding the differences between the two methods. So much so that, even with my pretty knowledgeable background, I’ve only grown more confused.

Stay Tuned.
For now, I suggest you make a New Year’s Resolution to follow my approach. On a regular basis:

Plug your device into your computer (with the sync/power cable,)
open iTunes,
backup to iCloud,
select the "Encrypt iPhone backup" checkbox, and
backup to your Computer, on a regular basis.

If you don't have an iCloud ID, get one. If you don’t own a computer, your only option is to backup directly to iCloud from your iPhone/iPad. This technique will require an Apple/iCloud ID and will offer some measure of protection. You can find this option under Settings > iCloud on your device.

Watch for a future series on this topic. I plan to provide a detailed account of my research and a definitive overview of the advantages/disadvantages, pros/cons to protecting your data from a catastrophic event via backups to iCloud and/or your computer.