iPhone's calculated (iCloud) backup size doesn't make sense

Question

Level 1

35 points

iPhone's calculated (iCloud) backup size doesn't make sense

I'm having some issues with iCloud backup and my iPhone 5. It has been backing up dutifully for a good while now ever since I deleted a large portion of photos from my camera roll to reduce the size of the phone's backup so I'd have enough room in iCloud's paltry—and at this point embarassing—5 GB limit. In the iCloud backup settings now, though, it is calculating the backup to be 5.5 GB, which just doesn't make sense from the app breakdown it's showing me. I deleted the backup and turned iCloud backup off for a few hours, thinking it might've just been a glitch, but it's still showing a backup size of 5.5 GB. Has anyone else had this issue where the backup size just doesn't comport with the breakdown that it shows?

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Feb 6, 2014 7:08 AM

Reply

Answer 1

randers4

Level 9

63,567 points

Feb 6, 2014 8:16 AM in response to Alex T.

The backup contains more than the list of apps shown. Those are just the ones you have the option to exclude from the backup. In particular, it contains text messages. If you have lots of photos and videos in your text messages that can significantly increase the backup size.

Reply

Answer 2

Alex T. Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 6, 2014 8:40 AM in response to randers4

Thanks, as I was searching around more I saw this suggestion and did some cleaning up of SMS and iMessage threads that were old and likely to contain a lot of photos/videos. I also deleted all of the voice memos I had, though there weren't very many of those. Is there anything else you can think of that isn't listed that can take up a lot of space in a backup?

Reply

Answer 3

randers4

Level 9

63,567 points

Feb 6, 2014 8:45 AM in response to Alex T.

You might try checking the usage bar in iTunes by connecting your phone to your computer, opening iTunes and clicking on the name of your phone in iTunes. In particular, check the size of "Other" by hovering your mouse over the yellow segment on the right. That contains everything that doesn't belong to the other categories shown, and is normally 1-2GBs in size. If yours is significantly larger than that you may need to restore your phone in order to clear out unnecessary cache files on your phone.

Reply

Answer 4

Alex T. Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 6, 2014 11:45 AM in response to randers4

Gotcha. Yeah I may do a restore tonight since I'm at around 3.5 GB in the infamous "other" category. Thanks very much for your replies.

Reply

Answer 5

randers4

Level 9

63,567 points

Feb 6, 2014 11:49 AM in response to Alex T.

You're welcome. Be sure to back up your phone to your computer using iTunes (by clicking Back Up Now on the Summary tab of your iTunes sync settings) before restoring it.

Reply