My phone is in bad shape. I want to back it up before taking it in but I can't unlock it or do anything that involves the display and touch. It does not have a home button so my options are very limited. Is there a way to override the need to unlock my phone?
iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 15
Sorry, no. You need to perform backups before the phone is damaged.
This is one reason why it it would have been good to have automatic backups to iCloud enabled. If you had those enabled, and frequently recharged the phone in a place where it had Wi-Fi Internet access, it might created a fairly recent backup without you lifting a finger. Unfortunately it is too late to enable those now.
Note that if you were synchronizing data to iCloud – e.g., you were using iCloud Photos – that data might still be available from iCloud, for synchronization to a repaired phone or a replacement phone. You can log into the iCloud Web interface ( https://www.icloud.com/ ) even from a device like a Windows PC, ChromeBook, or Android phone. Again, though, this will only help you if synchronization was enabled on the phone before it became damaged.
Backups MUST happen before catastrophe strikes. My iPhone backs up every night when plugged in to charge, connected to Wifi. Doesn't yours?
backing up iPhone to Mac when screen is smashed
