If I have 100 apps on my iPad Pro and I offload 80 of them. I make an I cloud backup. Erase my device and restore from backup. What happens to the apps will it:
1. Only re-install/replace the data for the 80 offloaded apps and install the other 20
or
2. Will it re-install all 100 apps fully?
Thanks
iPad Pro Wi-Fi + Cellular
Backups do not contain the apps themselves, just their data (apps can be reinstalled directly from the App Store at any time).
If you deleted 80 apps before making the backup, then restoring from that backup will only restore the data for the 20 remaining apps you had on the device at the time you made the backup.
The data for the 80 deleted apps would be removed with the app when you deleted them, and thus will not be part of the backup you made after deleting them.
Yes, if you use the offload feature, you delete only the app itself - all its data and settings remains and should be captured in your backup.
In that case, yes, the restore from backup does replace the settings and data for the offloaded apps - otherwise the offload feature would not work at all after a restore and you could not reinstall the app itself without losing its data. And since iCloud and iTunes backups are incremental, you would lose your offloaded app's data with successive daily iCloud backups otherwise.
So you gain back less space on the device with offloading, but you retain the data for a later reinstall of the app. Completely deleting the app gains you more free space, but if you reinstall the app, it would be starting blank and fresh.
One caveat I would say is I have not tried this with my own devices as I am not short of space. An offloaded apps data should be backed up but I have no direct experience doing that yet. Not saying it doesn't work as advertised, just that I have not tested that new feature personally.
Not all apps support iCloud or some other online storage, so no, not all data from all apps is automatically put up on cloud storage. Even apps that support iCloud document storage have to be enabled to do so. And they store documents online, not settings, app options, app specific passwords (if supported and if used), and other app specific data.
Actually the whole idea behind iCloud (other than storing whole device backups and providing a free email) is to provide a document synchronization service, not a backup or archival service. Your documents only live in iCloud for the purposes of cacheing them in a common place to be synchronized across all devices using that iCloud account. If you delete something on your device, it is deleted in iCloud and then on all connected devices. Your analogy to a hardware based office or personal backup or archive scenario is simply incorrect.
Whereas an iCloud backup file includes settings, options, passwords, and all the other data associated with apps.
Many people also simply don't use iCloud, or any online storage services as they prefer to use their own personal hardware for backup and archives. There is no requirement to even have an iCloud account with an iOS device. or one can simple enable find my iphone but disable all other iCloud features and options.
E.g. I do not use iCloud for photos or videos at all and never have. i do as I always have and simply import my photos after taking them onto my MacBook Pro and backup that to a TimeMachine drive and a couple of whole device clones. So my photos would have to be re-sync'd from my laptop if I needed to restore them.
My neighbor doesn't use iCloud for anything at all - he does not even have an iCloud account. He still sync's everything with iTunes as he has gotten used to over the years before iCloud ever existed. He can still use the app offload feature if he ever wished to.
The new iOS offload feature is intended to free space on the iOS device by temporarily removing unused apps or apps used infrequently. Yet it leaves their data and settings intact so the app can be quickly restored to its previous state by simply downloading it again from the App Store. It should re-install and be right back to its exact previous state, data, options, settings and all.
I think I am technically deleting the apps, but I am using the offload feature from iOS 11. It takes the apps off but leaves the data on the phone and greys out the icon. If I want to use the app again I tap it it re-installs and all the data/documents are replaced into it. Which to me seems like half a deletion. If I do an iCloud back up it better still have the data/documents from before I offloaded it. If I touch the app make it jiggle and tap the x, then it un-installs AND deletes the data from my iCloud backup I believe.
For example if I had a scanner app that just the app took ... lets say 1Gb of storage on my phone and I have 500Mb of scans saved in the app. If I offload the app I free up 1Gb of storage but still have the 500Mb of scans on my phone. Later I need to scan again or I want to migrate the scans to a different app or whatever, I can just tap the offloaded app and reinstall it and the scans can be acessable again.
Now lets say I Offload that app, do an iCloud back up, erase the phone, restore from back up. Does it reinstall and replace the scans from the whole app during the restore process or does it just put the app data/scans on the phone and an offloaded icon to reinstall the app like it was just before I erased.
What it sounds like you are saying in the previous comment then when I offload even though it keeps the data it wont back it up in the icloud. If I restore from back up that app AND data are lost and will not be replaced unless I redownload the app from the app store. If that is so I will not offload apps that have stuff I want lost if I ever need to restore due to calamity or a new phone.
Yes but, izn’t all the data still available because it’s skreafy saved in the cloudz because that’s where the data was ‘Saved As’ or ‘Saved To’ initially ?
(I.E. - I typically initially save my dokz directly to the Apple 🍏Cloud, Box, Dropbox, or Adobe cloudz, so backups aren’t affected...right ?) What am I missing here ?
I mean the whole idea behind cloudz (which IMHO is just 1993’s Client/Server nomenclature to begin with) is to save your important data directly to the network shares that are being backed up by the IT Dept./Network Admins and likely on RAID Volumes anywho...
Offload app and backup restore
