itunes force my iphone to backup locally

If you wish to back up to iCloud, that does not involve iTunes in any way. iTunes does have an indicator showing that you are using iCloud as a backup, but it doesn't initiate it or have any effect on it. Even if you are using iCloud Backups, you can still perform an iTunes backup by simply tapping the Back Up Now option in iTunes when your device is connected.

For an iCloud backup, you would go to Settings>your name>iCloud on your iOS device, and then scroll down to Backups and make sure it it turned on. On that same screen, you can initiate a manual backup by tapping on Back Up Now.

If you simply leave that option on, then iCloud will automatically back up your device up to once every 24 hours, when your device is plugged into a power source, has Wifi, and is on the Lock screen.

Best,

GB

Do you have Automatic iCloud Backups set up on your iOS device. If you set them up there, then iTunes will not attempt to perform a backup when you plug in. When you do plug in, you should see the iCloud option already selected.

Best,

GB

cirho wrote:

Thank you for your response.

It looks exactly the image you posted, except

1. I have "sync with this iPhone over wifi" chosen

2. iTunes forces me to use "This computer" under "Automatically back up". I can click and choose "iCloud". But whenever I clicked the apply button, it just went back to "This computer" automatically. Very frustrating 😟

That's the problem in a nutshell. You are trying to make two different things happen at the same time. If you have "Sync with this Phone over Wifi" selected, you are not syncing with iCloud, you are syncing OTA with iTunes:

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes using Wi-Fi - Apple Support\

If you would prefer to use automatic iCloud backups, then you need to turn off Wifi Sync with iTunes, and then turn on iCloud backups on your device: Settings>your name>iCloud, then scroll down to Backups and turn it on.

That will then cause your device to be backed up to iCloud automatically once every 24 hours when the device is plugged into a power source, connected to Wifi, and on the Lock Screen.

You can still make manual backups to iTunes by simply selecting the "Backup Now" on the iTunes screen when you hook your device up to iTunes.

But not even sure why you are hooking up to iTunes if you have iTunes Sync via Wifi turned on?

Best,

GB

cirho wrote:

Every time I choose "iCloud" and hit the apply button, it would automatically goes back to "This computer". This is very annoying.

I have an iPhone 5S and it does not have the same problem.

Again, if you have iCloud backups set up on your device, then you wouldn't have to "choose" iCloud in iTunes. It should look like this:

There is no "Apple" button, and iCloud is already selected. If you wish to manually back up, you can by simply clicking on the Back Up Now button under the "Manually Back Up and Restore" section. This will back your device up to iTunes without turning off your Automatic iCloud backups.

So, I'm just not clear on what it is you are describing.

Best,

GB

Perhaps iTunes cannot update its own preference files properly. Try right-clicking the iTunes shortcut and use Run as administrator, then see if the preference for iCloud backup will hold.

If not, press the Windows Logo Key on your keyboard and tap the letter E to open a File Explorer window.

Click in the address bar (selecting what is already there) and type %appdata% then press return.

This will open the folder C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming.

From there you can check for the existence or otherwise of the folders:

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\Cookies

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Preferences

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Preferences\ByHost

You can make new folders if needed by using the New folder item in File Explorer's tool bar and typing the name as shown. If they already exist then with iTunes closed move them elsewhere to force iTunes to rebuild them. You may need to update some of your preferences in iTunes, but you might find you can now avoid the local backup.

tt2