iphone itunes backup is far too small. What is not backed up? How do I do a "full" backup (and restore)

Question

Level 1

96 points

iphone itunes backup is far too small. What is not backed up? How do I do a "full" backup (and restore)

I was given an iphone XS about a year ago. I have an iphone SE. I have been putting off using the new phone becase there seems to be no way to "transfer" the contents of my old phone to the new.

I don't use or have icloud.

I did an encrypted backup to external HD (which is difficult, but necessary if you mac is full) from itunes. My 64GB iphone has 30GB used. the backup is only 3GB. Obviously only a tiny fraction is actually backed up.

This means there is a huge task of reinstalling and reconfiguring all my critical tools on the new phone. I don't have time for this.

E.g. i have google authenticator with around 30 authenticated apps. If this is not restored to the new phone, along with all my music (which is from my mac), banking apps, outlook with 12 email addresses configured, then i can't afford to change phones.

Or am I missing something? Is there some 3rd party tool which does a real backup (i.e. everything, not just 10%)

I dont want to open the new phones box unless I can gauge how painful finding what is not transferred and re-configuring is going to be. I cant afford to be out in the field, then find that some critical app is not setup and working on the new phone (such as slack, skype, whatsapp, google authenticator, google home (for gmail 2fa) etc. etc.

Anyone got any experience of what is actually backed up, and what is not? This info doesn't seem to exist anywhere.

Because the backup is so small, it is probably not even backing up my photos. so if I restore to new phone, all photos lost.

iPhone SE

Posted on Sep 16, 2019 12:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

FoxFifth

Level 10

471,975 points

Sep 16, 2019 12:56 PM in response to sfromgi

See the following from About backups for iOS devices - Apple Support

From your Mac or PC, you can make a backup of your device in iTunes. Syncing your device with your computer isn't the same as making a backup. An iTunes backup includes nearly all of your device's data and settings. An iTunes backup doesn't include:

Content from the iTunes and App Stores, or PDFs downloaded directly to Apple Books
Content synced from iTunes, like imported MP3s or CDs, videos, books, and photos
Data already stored in iCloud, like iCloud Photos, iMessages, and text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) messages
Face ID or Touch ID settings
Apple Pay information and settings
Apple Mail data
Activity, Health, and Keychain data (To back up this content, you'll need to use Encrypted Backup in iTunes.)

Reply

Answer 2

sfromgi Author

Level 1

96 points

Sep 16, 2019 2:01 PM in response to FoxFifth

So backup doesnt include anything I need to backup. It doesnt backup and restore any of the photos on my phone, doesnt restore any of my music, doesnt even setup mail. Mail is a huge task to configure. I have 10 email accounts, each of which requires tricky 2FA and difficult setup, not to mention 5GB of emails from the last 4 years. None of this is backedup?

"An iTunes backup includes nearly all of your device's data and settings." I would argue that it includes almost none of your devices data. my device has 30GB of data used. the backup is 3GB.

its useless. this cannot be called a backup. IT should be called a partial backup of a hand full of settings, but no data.

All my content is manually synced from itunes, such as many technical books, guides and pdfs I need to do my job. None of this is backed up. This is what I need backed up and restored.

It means anyone purchasing a new phone, as to spend hours or days installing and configuring, and will loose all their photos and music. I import all my photos into adobe lightroom, but I ahve no idea how to get photos I want on the phone out of lightroom and back on the phone.

It also means I need to write down each album I have on the phone, then manually sync each one back using itunes. As apple are still using a 30 year old USB2 standard for the transfer cables, even on the iphone XS, restoring 30GB of Music takes hours. Most of my music was ripped from my 1000 CD collection many years ago. None of this is synced. That a pain.

Very disappointed. When I bought the new iphone, I honestly thought I could just transfer it form the old one, like you do when you get a new mac.

I think its actually easier to start form scratch, and carry both phones round with you for some weeks, manually transferring each app, then configing it by hand, until you are confident everything you have to have for your life is on the new phone, then retiring the old one. What a pain.

Reply