I have iPhone and iPad. iCloud storage close to 5. Do I need to back up ipad and iPhone on both devices? Can I back up iphone on iPhone and iPad on iPad?

Hockeystars9 wrote:

Hate to buy more. Wouldn’t I be under the limit if I backed up iPhone on phone and iPad on iPad and didn’t duplicate? I’d have backup of each.

You are not duplicating anything. Each device uses its own space in iCloud for backups. Whatever is on each device is being backed up. Furthermore, I’m still not sure what you mean when you say “backed up iPhone on phone and iPad on iPad”. You have to back up the phone on the phone, and back up the iPad on the iPad. You can’t backup one device from the other device.

This kb article is a very good resource that talks about managing iCloud storage. Take a look at it and read the relevant links in the article and it should be of some help.

Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

If you think that you can remove some content for the iCloud backups, then you may have enough space for both backups. With two devices backing up, I don’t think that you will be leaving yourself any wiggle room. I have three devices and my iCloud storage is almost 16GB and I do not use iCloud Photos which would use even more space. I find it well worth the 99¢ monthly fee to know that I have ample storage space for my backups. The final decision is yours. You have to do what works for you.

No. You need to purchase more iCloud Storage or back up on your computer if you have one. You will not be able to backup both devices to iCloud devices or probably either one very soon if you are that close to the 5GB limit.

Upgrade your iCloud storage plan - Apple Support

In addition to that, you have to back up each device on its own, on the device itself.

Hockeystars9 wrote:

Thank you for your input. When I look at the iCloud storage on my IPad it shows what is comprising the 4.3GB of the 5GB I have. Most all of it is blue and is “backups” and a tiny amount of photos and mail. When I go to manage storage and to “backups” it shows that the iPad is backing up 4 GB of phone and the .3 is iPad. Same with phone it shows both phone and iPad are being backed up. (I have read that article and have deleted to save space). My thought is if the iPad only backed up the ipad it would be a lot less than the 4.3 GB because it would remove the iPhone which is 4GB. If phone only backed up phone it would be 4GB.

I think I finally understand what you are trying to convey. What you are seeing is normal, expected behavior. You are seeing the backups on both devices in the settings and that is what you should see if you are signed into the same Apple ID and iCloud accounts on both devices. The devices are not backing up on the other device. That is not possible. You are just seeing the backups in the storage settings, that’s all.

I have three iOS devices, two iPads and an iPhone and I can see the backups for each device - on each device - in the iCloud storage settings.

I think where I’m confused is where the devices show both are included in the blue “backups” and I could reduce that if only the phone was backed up on the phone and only Ipad in the “backup” on iPad.

I hope that I explained this above.

I’m not worried about the .99. When I initially looked at them there was an old iPad also being included in”backups” and I was able to delete that and I thought if I deleted iPhone backup on the iPad and vice versa it would reduce space.

When I upgrade my devices, I always see the last backup from the old device in the settings and I delete them as well once I am sure that everything has transferred from the old device to the new one.

’ll just buy the extra space but just wondered if it showed an old iPad backing up maybe each device was only supposed to be showing it’s device and not both.

thanks.

You’re welcome.