Storage confusion

greatchap · May 9, 2022

Hello Everyone,

I have a IPHONE 11 PRO mobile phone. I currently use a paid icloud backup plan where I get 50 GB icloud storage.

Currently when I click on icloud details I see 46 GB being used our of 50 GB. Check mark is shown against photos, icloud drive, notes, reminders & whatsapp.

However it shows ICLOUD backup > OFF.

1) If I lose my phone then will only those items be restored such as photos, reminders, notes & whatsapp
2) In order to take complete backup of phone data in cloud do I need to turn on ICLOUD BACKUP
3) Contacts is currently OFF. If I turn it on it asks What would you like to do with existing local contacts on your iphone ? There is Merge button. What do do here?

Basically I wanted that if I lose my phone then I should be able to restore all data.

Any help/advice will be appreciated.

Thank you,

GR

carolineM · May 10, 2022

You need to turn iCloud Backup ON and tick all the Apps you want stored in iCloud. This will also enable synching between your phone and other Apple devices.

greatchap · May 10, 2022

Thank you carolineM.

I do not want syncing between other apple devices. But if I do not tick icloud backup but tick apps will it do the job. Plus my query regarding contacts remains unanswered.

carolineM · May 10, 2022

greatchap said:
Thank you carolineM.

I do not want syncing between other apple devices. But if I do not tick icloud backup but tick apps will it do the job. Plus my query regarding contacts remains unanswered.

I would merge your Contacts and you must have iCloud backup on if you ever need to restore your phone.

scifan57 · May 10, 2022

carolineM said:
I would merge your Contacts and you must have iCloud backup on if you ever need to restore your phone.

The only other choice is backing up in iTunes on a Windows computer or in Finder on a modern Mac.

greatchap · May 10, 2022

So if my icloud backup is OFF and still few things are being backed up then can I restore or them or not (if I lose my phone).

carolineM · May 10, 2022

greatchap said:
So if my icloud backup is OFF and still few things are being backed up then can I restore or them or not (if I lose my phone).

If you turn off iCloud Backup, but turn on certain individual Apps on in iCloud, the data in those Apps only will be stored.

greatchap · May 10, 2022

So to sum up if I turn off I cloud backup but items like photos, notes, reminders, whatsapp etc are ON then those will only be backed up and I can restore them. Correct ?
Turning ON iCloud backup will backup entire phone?

J. A. · May 10, 2022

Turning on iCloud backup will not backup the entire content of your iPhone.

If you use iCloud for your photos, these are synced (not backed up). The same goes for notes and reminders (Apple apps). Syncing means when you remove a note, photo, reminder on your device, and also get rid of it in Recently Deleted, it will be gone forever. There‘s no chance to get it back.

J. A. · May 10, 2022

For more information:

Backup methods for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

A backup allows you to copy and save the information from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you replace your device, you can use a backup to transfer your information to a new device.

support.apple.com

The_New_Me · May 10, 2022

greatchap said:
So to sum up if I turn off I cloud backup but items like photos, notes, reminders, whatsapp etc are ON then those will only be backed up and I can restore them. Correct ?
Turning ON iCloud backup will backup entire phone?

An iCloud backup will NOT backup items that are synced to iCloud such as contacts, calendars, reminders, photos, etcetera. Those items will automatically restore to your new device when you login to iCloud on the new device. From that perspective, those items are backed up and will restore to the device upon logging in to iCloud.

The items that are not synced to iCloud and are NOT checked will not be backed up and will not restore to the device.

greatchap · May 10, 2022

Thank you for your replies guys.

Therefore If I want to only backup important stuff such as notes, reminders, photos, whatsapp & contacts then I am good if they are ON even if icloud backup is OFF. I can still restore those items if I want in a new phone. Correct ?

With icloud backup ON I think more items probably most contents of the phone may get backed up.

Plus even if I turn iCloud Backup ON, it wont backup photos etc the things that are already ON as of now. Am I right ?

The_New_Me · May 13, 2022

greatchap said:
Thank you for your replies guys.

Therefore If I want to only backup important stuff such as notes, reminders, photos, whatsapp & contacts then I am good if they are ON even if icloud backup is OFF. I can still restore those items if I want in a new phone. Correct ?

Notes, Reminders, photos and contacts are synced to iCloud as long as you’re signed in to iCloud on the device. I assume you sign in to your WhatsApp account and it syncs to iCloud or to WhatsApp (I don’t use WhatsApp so I can only assume.