iPhone backup setting in iTunes keeps changing to iCloud

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Level 1

13 points

iPhone backup setting in iTunes keeps changing to iCloud

For the last couple of weeks of the new year it seems that when I go into iPhone Settings in iTunes on my iMac, the radio button for Automatically Backup has been switched from This Computer to iCloud. As such, my iPhone never gets backed up to the Mac unless I hit the Back up Now button.

Every morning I go to the Settings and switch it back to This Computer, and hit Apply/Sync/Done (whatever the button says at the time).

And the next time I plug it in via Lightning cable, it's set back to iCloud.

In fact, once a manual "Sync" is done, the setting will switch itself back to iCloud :(

On the iPhone, iCloud backup is turned off

2017 iMac 5K 27" - macOS Mojave 10.14.6

iPhone 11 64GB - iOS 13.3

Apple Lightning cable plugged in to the iMac

iPhone 11

Posted on Jan 15, 2020 3:22 PM

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Answer 1

rose_10

Community Specialist

Jan 18, 2020 2:34 PM in response to ric_lewis

Hi, ric_lewis.

I'm glad you decided to reach out on the Apple Support Communities forums today. I understand that you’re trying to get the settings in iTunes to default to a local backup, but it keeps switching to iCloud when you have iCloud Backup is turned off at Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup as outlined here:

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

If we’re on the same page, I have a few questions that may help me (or another Apple Support Communities user) aid you.

Have you been able to get iTunes to automatically back up locally without having to change that radio button or manually back up before?
What settings do you have checked in the last section of the Overview page when you connect your iPhone to iTunes?
Do any other settings revert back to the default when you Sync your iPhone with iTunes?

Best Regards.

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Answer 2

ric_lewis Author

Level 1

13 points

Jan 19, 2020 2:28 PM in response to rose_10

Hello,

I got the iPhone 11 soon after release, prior to that I had a 6 Plus that was able to retain the local backup setting (and I had Mojave installed for most of 2019).

Since getting the new phone, I honestly can't recall if it's ever been able to keep the setting, this forum post is a last resort after months of giving the phone and iTunes a chance to fix the problem.

On the iTunes phone settings page, the Options checkboxes are:

YES - Automatically sync when iPhone connected

YES Sync this iPhone over Wifi

YES Sync only ticked songs and videos

No Prefer standard video

No Convert higher bit rate songs

YES Manually manage music

I believe that group of settings above retains their values, they are the same settings I used for my iPhone 6 Plus for 5 years.

I've attached a screenshot of the phone settings page in iTunes.

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Answer 3

sterling r

Community Specialist

Jan 21, 2020 12:35 PM in response to ric_lewis

Hi, ric.

That screenshot helps a lot, thank you. If I understand correctly, the selections in the “Options” section are retained, but your “Backups” options always default back to iCloud. Right?

I see that you have sections to automatically sync and sync over Wi-Fi selected in Options, and you mentioned that your iPhone isn’t automatically backing up in iTunes any longer either. Does it automatically sync when you make changes in iTunes? For example, if you remove a song from iTunes that you have selected to sync, does that song get removed from your iPhone? Syncing and backing up are two separate processes, and backups via iTunes aren’t designed to happen automatically via Wi-Fi but syncing is.

In other words, you’ll have to connect your iPhone to your Mac and iTunes and manually tell it to back up, but syncing should happen automatically without you having to do anything per your settings.

If you find this isn’t the case, try restarting both your Mac and iPhone. Make a change in iTunes on your Mac and see if it syncs to your iPhone when they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network. If they don’t, or if your Backup options continue to revert back to iCloud, reach out to Apple Support for further guidance.

Contact Apple Support

Good luck!

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Answer 4

ric_lewis Author

Level 1

13 points

Jan 21, 2020 2:57 PM in response to sterling r

The "Sync" option checkboxes are pretty much obsolete as I don't have any media ticked for Sync (individual pages for Movies, TV, Music, Podcasts are all unticked). This is because I prefer to manually move items.

I unplugged the lightning cable.

I tried right-clicking a song and choosing "Add to device" - that did not work.

I tried dragging a song to the "Music" section of the iPhone in the Device sidebar: that worked - it copied the song successfully over WiFi.

I went to the Music sidebar of the iPhone Settings and ticked "Sync Music - selected playlists" and chose one playlist and clicked the "Sync" button at the bottom of the window. It backed up and then successfully synced the playlist over Wifi – correction, it retained the checkbox selection for another playlist that I had previously synced a long time ago before turning off the global Sync Option. That's a nice touch, I think it's good that it remembers which playlists I had selected before.

On the Sync Music page, I unchecked a playlist and hit the Apply button and the playlist was removed from the phone via WiFi.

So remote sync over the air seems to work fine.

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Answer 5

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jan 18, 2020 2:38 PM in response to ric_lewis

Mine will no longer allow me to backup on iTunes to the cloud but will to computer

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iPhone backup setting in iTunes keeps changing to iCloud

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