Backing up iphones

Hi
Recent thread prompted me to look at the whole backing up of IPhones again.

We have about 4 in regular use, all linked to my iTunes account but with separate iCloud accounts each.

My wife takes lots of pictures as she travels a lot so I got her a bigger iCloud capacity, which she’s now used up.

Was thinking of getting a Family Plan so all the phones could be backed up, but have also thought if it is possible to create a back-up on our network drive so that the phones automatically back-up when at home. Or is it worth doing both?

Normally I backup each phone manually when it’s time to change them and make an encrypted backup so that it can easily be put onto the new device. But one issue with that is that you normally have to have the latest version of iTunes and now that’s gone away in the most recent versions I don’t want to have that as a dependency.

Any thoughts/tips/ good practice?

Thanks

Family plan and iCloud.

My tip.
It's a phone. Stop worrying about it. :icon_biggrin:

(Seriously though, apart from worrying about losing photos your wife has taken, what is the big deal with constantly needing to back up the phones? Is the info on them, contacts, apps, etc that needs backing up changing that often?)

Out of curiosity...do you weed out all the rubbish pics?
Generally speaking 80%-90% of ALL pics taken are absolute tosh.
We tend to keep them...'because we can'
Getting rid clears acres of storage space.

Do people even look at old pics?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kingstepper

Do people even look at old pics?

---

This.
Which imho is why it's important to junk the rubbishy ones.
Otherwise it's trawling through mundane pics for hours, looking for that gem with meaning.

We use the family 2TB plan works well for us

Does nobody use Google Photos for free?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oldoakknives

My tip.
It's a phone. Stop worrying about it. :icon_biggrin:

(Seriously though, apart from worrying about losing photos your wife has taken, what is the big deal with constantly needing to back up the phones? Is the info on them, contacts, apps, etc that needs backing up changing that often?)

---

An iPhone is far more of a handheld computer than simply a phone and backing it up (with encryption) allows all information to be restored (including passwords) in the event of catastrophic failure or loss. If you don't use encryption you end up having to sign into every app again and that's a real pain although quicker with a Password Manager. I would guess that I add a contact or edit details for a contact at least once a week and these sync with MS Outlook.

Personally I treat the backing up of my iPhone in a similar way as I do my computers but I guess it comes down to how you use your phone. I do it after every software update and around every two weeks thereafter. I back up to my desktop, not iCloud.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Skier

An iPhone is far more of a handheld computer than simply a phone and backing it up (with encryption) allows all information to be restored (including passwords) in the event of catastrophic failure or loss. If you don't use encryption you end up having to sign into every app again and that's a real pain although quicker with a Password Manager. I would guess that I add a contact or edit details for a contact at least once a week and these sync with MS Outlook.

Personally I treat the backing up of my iPhone in a similar way as I do my computers but I guess it comes down to how you use your phone. I do it after every software update and around every two weeks thereafter. I back up to my desktop, not iCloud.

---

We both have iPhones, mine gets backed up automatically by iTunes when charging on the Mac. The missus has probably never had hers backed up as she charges from a mains/usb socket. Perhaps more tech savvy people would do more!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tifa

Out of curiosity...do you weed out all the rubbish pics?
Generally speaking 80%-90% of ALL pics taken are absolute tosh.
We tend to keep them...'because we can'
Getting rid clears acres of storage space.

---

Storage is so cheap - who cares?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alansmithee

Storage is so cheap - who cares?

---

Monetary wise, might not matter but culling photos does make it a more useful archive.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kingstepper

Monetary wise, might not matter but culling photos does make it a more useful archive.

---

It's keyword, date, location and face recognition searchable - no need with the amount of storage available.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alansmithee

Storage is so cheap - who cares?

---

Seems you take it for granted.
Things may change after the zombie apocolypse.

My Mac, iPhone and iPad are all backed up at least a couple of times each week, the Mac on to 2 external 2TB drives. A recent Mac problem entailing replacing the old HDD with an SSD and subsequent restore from said external drive proved the worth of doing regular/frequent back ups of all devices.

Our phones and pads all automatically back up to the cloud we have an extra 50gb at 79 pence pm mainly for her constant photo’s :grief:however i back up to my laptop via i tunes on a regular basis guess i am just old fashioned.