My iphone has never been backed up before and it wont back up now

You need to have enough storage on your phone to backup to icloud (50 megs).

You may need to find better network and do it for few hours. We are talking about huge backup now (your phone is full, right) and we are talking about uploading all that data - it is a long process. If you have cable Internet and your ISP will not start blocking you, under suspicion that you trying to distribute virus or something (upload that much data may trigger their firewalls). Uploading say 16 gigabyte of data may take overnight. So if I were you - I d try overnight backup first and watch it for first 20 minutes. If that does not work, I d try faster network.

Here is important part. Just cause you decided to hook up icloud, it will not change one simple fact -your phone is still full and needs to be cleaned out.

Thanks as always, Randers!

It actually sounds now from your further description that you actually pretty successfully "hooked up" icloud.

You backed up 7 gigabytes of your data from the iphone, which sounds about average for iphone backups. I think you had some other expectations from icloud and if you want to mention to us, what you expect - we can talk if that is what icloud actually does. But first, before anything else, follow Randers instructions above. After you do - verify that you can view those photos on your computer and consider erasing them from your phone. It will make your life easier.

Apple TV - you are going to love it. My particular fav is airplay. I have it hooked up to Home Theater receiver and to my TV set. Good part - I can stream movies and music to those. Favorite part - when friends coming over and quiet music plays on the background, they do not realize that music changes as we talk, kind of like part of conversation. You literally control it on any Apple device and you choose what plays now, sound level and transition to another album or song seamlessly.

Photostream.

It does not depend on your backup in any form. As long as you have it "ON' on your phone and your Apple TV, every picture that you take, from now on, on your phone is going to be in photostream album of Apple TV and iphone.

Backup. Reason you need backup, imagine something happened to your phone and you lost all data. You will get another phone, but all your texts, contacts, pictures are gone. For that not to happen you need a backup.

What needs to happen now is you need to reduce size of the backup and go on good network. Your work is not good, common mistake. What they do at work, most of the time is they block secure ports, that would allow your phone to properly authenticate to icloud server. You need to get to fast open network. Apple store, Starbucks, MikeeD, Coffee shops, that kind of thing. You also may need to start slow.

How to start slow: two parts

1. First time you want to backup minimal amount, since we really don't know how large your backup is now. I have seen as big as 22 gigs, or as small as 1. In order to reduce size of the backup look in that article and for the first time you may need to turn off all of those.

iCloud: Managing your iCloud storage - Support - Apple

2. Reduce something that is not on that page that you can control at the article above. What seem to be very common, biggest amount of space inside of the backup are imessage conversations. We tend to send pictures or small videos to our friends. So you sent one picture to 8 friends - takes 8 times amount of space in backup.

Clean those out if you can. Do it before you backup.

Good luck, I think I never typed that much.

curious zoe wrote:

I want to take the photos off and save them on my computer, but I don't even know how to do that?

See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083.