How to Back Up iPhone to Laptop
Your iPhone carries your precious photos, important contacts, and many other types of content that you can't afford to lose. Thus, it's quite necessary for you to back up your iPhone (or iPad/iPod touch) regularly to keep your data safe. Given that, I'd like to show you how to back up an iPhone to a laptop with a few simple clicks.
Method 1. How to Back Up iPhone to Laptop Using iTunes
When it comes to backing up iPhone to computer, the default solution could be using iTunes. Indeed, iTunes is developed by Apple and is used to perform device backups and data syncing. When you need to back up an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a PC or laptop, iTunes will come to help.
iTunes backs up almost all data and settings on your device. When necessary, you can restore lost data from the iTunes backup to retrieve your precious files.
To back up iPhone to laptop using iTunes:
Step 1. Connect your device to your laptop with a USB cable and wait for iTunes to launch automatically.
Step 2. Unlock your iPhone and trust the computer.
Step 3. In iTunes, click the "Device" tab and tap "Back Up Now" to back up your iPhone to the computer.
Although you can access the iPhone backup location on your computer, the files in the backup are not readable. Besides, you should not relocate or edit the iTunes backup or it may get corrupted.
Method 2. How to Back Up iPhone to Mac Laptop Using Finder
If you are using a Mac laptop, be it MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, the way to back up your iPhone may be different. If you are using a laptop running macOS Mojave and earlier, you can back up your iPhone to computer using iTunes. While if your laptop is running macOS Catalina and later, you should use Finder instead of iTunes, since iTunes is no longer available on your computer.
To back up iPhone to Mac laptop using Finder:
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to your laptop with a USB cable and open Finder.
Step 2. Unlock your iOS device and trust the computer.
Step 3. In Finder, select your iPhone's name under "Locations" and click "Back Up Now" to start backing up your iPhone to the Mac laptop.
Method 3. How to Back Up iPhone to Laptop with iPhone Transfer Software
The two methods above will back up all your iPhone data and settings at once and you won't be able to read the files in the backups. If you need to back up specific items from your iPhone to a laptop, you should use the iPhone transfer software - Qiling MobiMover.
Such a tool enables you to transfer photos, videos, contacts, music, messages, and more from your iPhone or iPad to a computer to make a backup. Whether you want to back up iPhone data all at once or selectively, it will do it as you want.
To back up iPhone to laptop, PC, or Mac:
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to your PC running Windows 7/8/10 with a USB cable. Tap "Trust" on your iPhone screen if asked. Run Qiling MobiMover and navigate to "Backup Manager" > "Back up".
Step 2. All the supported categories are selected by default. Click "One-Click" backup to start backing up your iPhone to PC.
Step 3. Wait patiently until the backup process completes.
Method 4. How to Back Up iPhone Photos to Laptop via File Explorer
If what you want to back up on your iPhone is photos, you don't need any third-party software or iTunes to get things done. With the help of a USB cable, you can import all of your iPhone photos and videos to your laptop to make a backup. For more details, go to the guide on how to transfer photos from iPhone to laptop.
Bonus Tip: How to Back Up iPhone to iCloud
In addition to backing up an iPhone to a computer, another popular choice to make an iPhone backup is to back up iPhone to iCloud. iCloud allows you to back up either a specific category, like photos or contacts, or all your iPhone data and settings.
Unlike iTunes, iCloud needs a Wi-Fi network to work. Thus, make sure there is a stable and reliable Wi-Fi network connection on your device and there is enough iCloud storage to save the iPhone data, then follow the steps below to back up your iPhone.
To back up iPhone to iCloud:
Step 1. On your iPhone, go to "Settings" > [your name] > "iCloud".
Step 2. Tap "iCloud Backup" and enable the "iCloud Backup" option.
Step 3. Tap "Back Up Now" to start backing up the iPhone to iCloud.
The Bottom Line
Whether you want to back up your iPhone to a laptop or iCloud, you now know how to get it done. With the backup you made, you don't need to worry about accident data loss anymore. What's more, if you want to switch to a new device, you can set up the new iOS device and restore data from the backup you made. By doing so, you can migrate your previous data and settings from your old device to the new one easily and fastly.
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