How To Back Up Your iPhone

Why Should I Back Up My Phone?

Because we are constantly using our iPhones, we will all inevitably either break it or the software might mess up to the point we need to completely wipe it and start over. It isn’t really a case of if one of these scenarios will happen, as much as when will one happen.

• The good news: If you back up your phone regularly, we can get you a new device and you can just restore your settings, apps, files, etc and be up and running in minutes … like it never happened.
• The bad news: If you don’t back up your phone we can get you a new device, but you will have to set up all your content from scratch and you will likely lose some of your data (see list under What Gets Backed Up section below) … which can be a painful and frustrating process.
• The takeaway: You must proactively back up your iPhone on a regular basis (at least monthly) to avoid the “starting from scratch” scenario and potential data loss.

A few people have been frustrated when we told them we couldn’t recover the stuff from their old phone. Ultimately it is your responsibility to make sure your phone is backed up. Although it would be great if we could recover stuff after something has happened to the phone, in reality it is too late at that point … if you don’t already have a recent backup there is nothing we can do.

Creating a Backup

1. Decide which computer you want to sync your iPhone with. iTunes can only sync with one computer. A lot of people choose to do this on their home computer, so it can sync with the music they have saved on that computer. You cannot do this from a WYSE terminal. If you primarily use a WYSE terminal you can use a shared workstation (like the one in the conference room), or use your home computer.
2. Plug your iPhone into the computer (using the USB cable that came with your phone), and open iTunes
3. After your phone is plugged in, it should automatically start syncing your phone. If you have never connected the iPhone to that computer before it will walk you through a couple of simple steps before it syncs the phone for the first time. Once iTunes starts the sync, it will automatically back up the phone. You should see a status message at the top that says Backing up:
   
   
   Note: If you have changed the settings so your iPhone doesn’t sync automatically when you plug it in or the Backing up message just never appears, you will need to manually force a back up to run. To do that, right-click on the phone under the Devices section, and choose Back Up. Most people can ignore this step, because it should happen automatically by default.
   

Restoring from Backup

1. Plug your iPhone into the computer, and open iTunes.
2. Right-click on the phone under the Devices section, and choose Restore from Backup…
   

What Gets Backed Up?

Here is a list of the some of the things stored on your iPhone you could potentially lose if you don't create regular backups:

• Photos & Videos
• SMS and MMS (pictures and video) messages
• Notes
• Google Maps bookmarks & recent searches
• Safari bookmarks, cookies, history, auto-fill information, and offline data
• Email, Calendar, & Contact account configuration (to connect to our Exchange server)
• Contact Favorites & Contacts stored locally on the phone
• Call history
• Apps (including most settings, preferences, and data)
• In-app purchases
• Home screen layout (how you have organized the apps on different screens)
• Google Maps bookmarks & recent searches
• Network settings (saved wireless hotspots, VPN settings, network preferences)
• Paired Bluetooth devices (e.g. hands-free headsets)
• YouTube bookmarks and history
• Location service preferences for apps and websites you have allowed to use your location
• Nike + iPod saved workouts & settings
• Saved suggestion corrections (these are saved automatically as you reject suggested corrections)
• Voice memos
• Voicemail token (so you don’t have to remember your voicemail password)
• Wallpapers