How often does icloud backup take place

Question

How often does icloud backup take place

My phone keeps alerting me that it hasn't had a backup in two weeks, and the only way I can get backups done is to perform them manually. I have icloud backup turned on. For whatever reason it just doesn't perform backups despite having all the settings apple recommends. I have gone through the steps of turning off backups, deleting old backup files, and then turning backup on again. This doesn't solve the problem.

Furthermore, I keep finding old data in my "current" backup settings. The list of things to be backed up includes data for apps I deleted over two years ago. Why on Earth would this show up in a "recent" backup?? What do I have to do to get icloud backup to work as described by apple?

Posted on Mar 10, 2022 5:08 PM

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Answer 1

ArmMan1016

Community Specialist

Mar 11, 2022 12:32 PM in response to applegottoomuchlikemicrosoft

Hi there applegottoomuchlikemicrosoft,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We're happy to help with these issues you're having with iCloud backups. First, iCloud backups should happen automatically once a day if certain conditions are met: Make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.Connect your device to a power source.Connect your device to a Wi-Fi network.Make sure that your device's screen is locked.More details can be found here:

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

For the other issue, we recommend creating a new "current" backup, and then deleting the older one. iCloud backups don't overwrite the previous backup, just add the newly acquired data. Creating a new backup will give you all the "current" data that you have right now. Get more info on managing iCloud backups here:

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Feel free to reach back out if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

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Answer 2

Dorain1

Community Specialist

Mar 12, 2022 8:24 AM in response to applegottoomuchlikemicrosoft

Hi applegottoomuchlikemicrosoft,

For the old contacts that keep returning, do you have multiple mail accounts on your iPhone? Do the added accounts have Contacts enabled to share? If so, you may want to check to see if any of the old contact information could be returning from one of those accounts.

The back up that's not completing overnight, have you checked to see if there has been any interruptions in your internet connection? Such as, the provider may be doing work over night to minimize the number of people affected by a brief outage?

As for the old data from apps deleted long ago that keeps reappearing on your iPhone, have you tried deleting the data, then manually back up your iPhone with the data not there? If you have, and it still keeps returning, we recommend reaching out to Apple Support by going to Get Support.

Have a great day!

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Answer 3

Mar 11, 2022 11:59 PM in response to ArmMan1016

"iCloud backups should happen automatically once a day if certain conditions are met:" I've double checked, and all these conditions should be met when I plug my phone in at night. But no backup has taken place since I posted the question, in just the same way that no backups have taken place since Feb. 22, despite having the setting for backups turned on.

I've gone through this whole 'backup reset' process of deleting previous backups and resetting at least 3 times now. But the fact that ancient data from two years ago is still randomly showing up *despite having been "deleted"* tells me that something beyond my control is malfunctioning with icloud. Lol this is why i had to write all my contacts down on paper, icloud kept deleting them as if it were doing backups in reverse, it kept deleting the new stuff and returning my contact list to a previous state. Icloud got stuck in the past at some point and i can no longer trust it to work for any really important stuff. This is serious bug behavior

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Answer 4

Mar 12, 2022 11:48 AM in response to Dorain1

Thanks for taking time to respond, I'm sorry to report that none of these scenarios account for what's taking place.

for contacts, i have the gmail app which i use in addition to the native ios mail (linked to my icloud email, of course). I've never allowed any apps to import or access contacts. What is happening is that i enter new contacts consisting of names and mobile numbers directly into my phone's contact list, but they disappear.
As for the internet connection, we are forced to use c*mcast, and while our service is garbage, it's not cutting out every single night. And there are times when my phone is plugged in, on wifi, and locked in the middle of the day, but no backups happen then either.
And finally, yes, as i described in the previous post, i've manually deleted and then created new backups multiple times over the last two years. But these problems persist.

It's just disappointing how much apple has gone downhill since i first got an iphone. FWIW i knew i wasn't going to get any answers or help here, i searched the issue beforehand and others have this problem too. But it's important to create a public record of bugs that exist and have yet to be addressed.

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How often does icloud backup take place

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