HT204518: Back up your Apple Watch

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Michael Bradshaw
Level 5 (4,143 points)

Q: Does the manual backup verify success before the erase happens?

My watch hasn't backed up for 15 days now. This article says "automatically" back up, so something is broken. The article also says you can manually back up, but that process erases the watch data.

 

I know something is wrong since I get daily backups of the iPhone to iCloud and can manually back up, but there is zero feedback that the watch backup is complete and will restore without data loss.

 

Songs sync, health data is showing up on iOS, so I'm worried that something about the backup specifically is broken even though the devices are talking.

 

How can I ensure a viable backup is complete to iOS before the erase happens?

Apple Watch, iOS 9.0.1, Watch OS 2.0

Posted on Sep 25, 2015 12:54 PM

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Michael Bradshaw

Q: Does the manual backup verify success before the erase happens?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by sberman,

    sberman sberman Sep 25, 2015 1:21 PM in response to Michael Bradshaw
    Level 8 (39,142 points)
    Sep 25, 2015 1:21 PM in response to Michael Bradshaw

    Read about Apple Watch backup here:

    Back up your Apple Watch - Apple Support

     

    Un-pairing your Apple Watch guarantees a backup creation, as the article states.

  • by Michael Bradshaw,

    Michael Bradshaw Michael Bradshaw Sep 25, 2015 1:41 PM in response to sberman
    Level 5 (4,143 points)
    Sep 25, 2015 1:41 PM in response to sberman

    Interesting. Could you elaborate on the "guarantee". As I read the article - the automatic backup should be guaranteed as well? I would feel better about potentially erasing my watch if I had better information on what is an acceptable interval for "automatic" backups.

     

    1. Are they every time one or both devices is on charge?
    2. Are they on a timer?
    3. How many backups can fail "automatically" before some diagnostic log is emit?

     

    I have read the article carefully and Apple doesn't guarantee software at all, so I'd love some actual data to know if my automatic backup has failed and if the manual backup will fail just like I presume the automatic backups have failed.

     

    This seems like checking that your parachute is packed after you've already left the plane to me...

  • by sberman,

    sberman sberman Sep 25, 2015 8:17 PM in response to Michael Bradshaw
    Level 8 (39,142 points)
    Sep 25, 2015 8:17 PM in response to Michael Bradshaw

    Apple has provided the information in the article attached above.  There is no additional information that I (an Apple user like you) know about.

     

    But I dip know that if I were to lose all information stored on the Apple Watch, that would be just fine with me as the important information that should not get lost is duplicated on the iPhone.  The Apple Watch, after all, os not really intended to be like a standalone computer.  Rather it provides synopses of data typically available from other sources (your iPhone), with some minor exceptions.

     

    If you're as worried about losing some minuscule piece of data as the parachute analogy implies (which I would not understand), then un-pair and re-pair your Apple Watch.

  • by Michael Bradshaw,

    Michael Bradshaw Michael Bradshaw Oct 21, 2015 11:52 AM in response to Michael Bradshaw
    Level 5 (4,143 points)
    Oct 21, 2015 11:52 AM in response to Michael Bradshaw

    Does anyone actually know the answer to this?

     

    > How can I ensure a viable backup is complete to iOS before the erase happens?

     

    I'll assume sberman didn't really mean to attack me and belittle my request for a verifiable backup and was just frustrated that they couldn't actually answer the question. My health data and how I've configured app settings are both not "some minuscule piece of data" so I'm just looking to understand how to verify that these "automatic" backups have been completed. I'm happy for everyone that cares not about backing up their data but I'm here to ask for more specifics than Apple has cared to provide publicly (yet).