iCloud backup size "0 KB"-- what does this mean?

Hello GB.

I use 2 devices ( ipad 2 and iphone 5c ) on the same iCloud account, and both devices can't see each other's backup.

As i've said before, wiped the old backup and started a whole new one sized 3.2 Gb. It finished successfuly in a suspiciously short time ( less than an hour, when the initial estimated duration was 13 hours, coherent with that size and the upload speed ).

The icloud.com settings shows total backup size iof 6.32Gb , and that's the only sign of normality.

Do you know of someone with these symptons who managed to get a restore done ?

Thanks.

Hi from France ! I have the exact same issue with three devices running old versions of iOs 9.3.5 to 10.3.3. No problem with two iPhones running iOs 11

And the size of those "zero bite" backups seems normal on my iMac

So , reading former answers is a good news ! Thanks !

Bonsoir à la France!

I'm glad this thread helped. I know it makes people nervous, but when the backup size is represented correctly everywhere else, and when I was able to successfully restore an erased device from one of those backups, it seems a minimal risk event.

And I'm glad you confirmed it is devices running older iOS's. That adds another concrete piece of evidence that this is related to the older iOS versions and how they are represented, rather than anything suddenly having gone awry with backups of devices running said iOS versions!

Thanks for posting back,

Cheers,

GB

Hi - thanks for all your info on this post. I just want to confirm something before I make a huge mistake. I have an iphone 6 running on an older OS. Today I noticed that 6 years of texts with my hubby just disappeared. GONE! none of my other text threads were gone. I thought "I'll just restore my phone from an old backup" so I checked to see when the last one was. I have one backup for my phone in icloud and it was from yesterday (perfect) but like others here have stated, it says 0 KB. When I log into Icloud on my macbook I can see I have a backup from yesterday that is 1.8GB (sounds ok). My concern is if I wipe my phone and go to restore from backup, since my phone currently thinks that backup has 0 data, will I even be able to select that as a backup option? Also, what OS am I going to end up with when I wipe and restore my phone? will it force me to update to the latest? I've avoided that because my phone is older and my hubby had issues updating the OS on his older phone. Thanks for all your valuable input!

thanks for the reply. When I follow that path: main icloud screen, it shows a multicolored bar with a big hunk in blue for photos and a big hunk in yellow for backup (only my iPhone gets backed up to icloud). However, when I click thru to "manage storage" and then select "EW iPhone 6" it says Last backup 5/3/18, backup size 0kb. It also says "next backup size" 177.7 mb, which is no way correct. I'm sure the data is in iCloud, my concern is when I go to restore my phone from that backup, since it thinks there is 0kb data in it, will it even let me select that option?

You indicated that it did show that the backup was showing as 1.8GB on your Mac, so I would say that it is there, and regardless of what is showing on your device, it will show it in the list for you to select from. But again, just to play it safe, I would strongly recommend that you create an iTunes backup before you try to restore from the iCloud backup, just to CYA. Then, the worst that would happen is that you would either restore from an iCloud backup from, say, 2 days ago, or, you would have the option to restore to exactly where you were at the beginning of the process.

Best of luck,

GB

I just wanted to mention that it's interesting that the new backup for you was 3.2GB as this is the exact same size of the backup for my iPad Air 2 is showing (3.2 GB), despite Backups also showing as 0 KB! How odd (and tbh, a little too coincidental)! I'm not sure what to do or trust if the backup is there in full or not. I have the last version of iOS 9 running and need to update to iOS 11 but I'm not going to do so until I'm 100% certain everything is actually backed up first.

Hi all- just wanted to report that I took the plunge and wiped my iPhone 6 and restored it with the 0KB iCloud backup. Yes, in a fit of extreme paranoia I (a) also backed up my phone in iTunes on my macbook and (b) I emailed myself all my saved voicemails and notes (I know, I'm nuts). Everything went fine. Took less than an hour to restore all my apps (I have way too many!) and the only things I lost were all my Touch ID fingerprints and all my keyboard shortcuts. All my "mysteriously disappeared" texts were back, all my settings were fine, all the email accounts and apps and their data restored. And, it did NOT ask my to update to the newest OS, which I kinda don't want to do (I don't love some of the changes). Yes, it was SCARY - I braced myself to be left with a bricked phone or a "like new" phone with no history. A big thanks to Gail from Maine for all your patient hand holding. Many blessings Gail! : )

Great job ThreeWildOlive!!! And thank you for posting back and confirming that what we are seeing with the 0GB business is just cosmetic! Nothing wrong with having another backup, just in case. But I'm so glad you didn't need it! 😁

Thanks again for posting back with your success story!

Best,

GB

Thanks, GB. One last note - in using my phone I've noticed that a couple apps were acting wonky (like my Bible app will launch, but there's no versions loaded), and a game or two wouldn't open. I just deleted the apps, reloaded them from the app store, logged back in and no worries.

I really have my eye on that iPhone X, so maybe then I'll move on to the new OS... : )

Yeah, when you restore your device, all of your purchases are re-downloaded from iTunes, so it is always possible that one or two got hosed up during the process. You did exactly the right thing to correct the problem 🙂

Best,

GB

After restoring my phone, and backing it up several times since, on my phone the back up size still shows as 0 kB. However when I look at my Apple iCloud ID, I can see that there's about a two gig back up up there.

After restoring my phone, and backing it up several times since, on my phone to back up size still shows as 0 kB. However when I look at my Apple iCloud ID, I can see that there's about a two gig back up up there.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I've been having this problem for forever! But now that my mom had it as well I really needed to get to the bottom of it, and you were right, and wheEn I used my phone 6s+ I saw my ipad4's backup and it had a numerical value that ws not "zero" or "0kb"! Thank you soooo much!! So I'm sure when I get her phone it'll be the same thing. You're a lifesaver!

There's nothing embarrassing about it. It's just the way it is. As has been established several times in this thread, it is merely cosmetic. Your backup is there, and you can see the backup reflected in iCloud.com.

You have an older device running an older iOS. I have an iPad 1 running iOS 5.1.1 that says the same thing. It backs up nightly, and I have restored it several times.

Cheers,

GB