4 Proven Ways to Backup iPhone Onto Mac Computers

4 Proven Ways to Backup iPhone Onto Mac Computers

The iPhone is a marvel of modern technology, but it has its downsides. One of them, for instance, is how difficult it is to transfer files from your phone to PC. The standard for transferring files to and from your iPhone is the now-defunct iTunes, which was and still is very frustrating.

Syncing your iPhone to your Mac automatically backs up to your Mac. This backup is stored on your Mac in a folder called MobileSync. Every time your iPhone makes another backup, your Mac overwrites the current backup file with the new one.

That means every time you backup iPhone, you’ll have to get rid of your previous backup. It also makes it difficult if you want to transfer your backup to an external drive. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. There are plenty of other alternatives to backup your iPhone on Mac without using MobileSync or iTunes.

In this post, we’ll be looking at a couple of ways on how to back up your iPhone to your Mac. First, using the standard procedure and then other alternatives besides the usual. 

1. Backup Using iTunes

Backing up data from your iPhone to your Mac using iTunes is the standard option for macOS Mojave or earlier. iTunes will back up most of your phone data, including settings. The app won’t, however, allow you to back up any content you bought from the App Store or iTunes.

You also won’t be able to back up files synced from iCloud, a few settings, and other data. Backing up to your Mac using iTunes is relatively easy. All you have to do is:-

• Plug your iPhone to your Mac, and iTunes will open automatically
• At the top left of the iTunes window, find the “Device” button and click it
• Find “Summary,” on the left bar, then click “Back up now.” For your iPhone to start backing up to Mac

Itunes is the official way of backing up your iPhone on Mac. You can go there for an elaborate explanation on how to backup iPhone on macOS Catalina and later. If Itunes isn’t more of your drift, then consider backing up your iPhone data to iCloud.

2. Backing up to iCloud

iCloud is Apple’s official cloud service for anyone with an Apple account. Apple gives you 5 GB for free when you first sign up for iCloud. If 5 GB doesn’t suffice, you can upgrade to a larger storage plan for dirt cheap.

If you want to backup your iPhone on iCloud, here’s how you do it.

• On your iPhone, go to “settings,” tap where you see your name, then tap “iCloud,” and finally select “iCloud Backup”
• You’ll see the “iCloud Backup” slider, toggle it on, and voila! You’re done

By doing so, your iPhone will back up all your data to the cloud automatically. However, first, make sure you have enough storage space on your iCloud before you can begin backing up your iPhone. Remember, if you don’t have enough space, you could always upgrade to a larger storage plan.

3. Backing up to an External Hard Drive

Backing up your iPhone to an external drive is harder than you’d think. However, backing up to your hard drive gives you unmatched flexibility and allows you to transfer your backup to another computer.

Backing up to an external hard drive takes quite a bit of time. In fact, you might want to make yourself a cup of coffee before you get to it. Otherwise, here’s how you backup your iPhone data to an external drive.

1. Go to Finder, and on your left, click on your device.
2. Click on the General tab, find “manage backups,” and click on “select a specific device.”
3. Once you see your device, hold down the ctrl button, then click your device. From the dropdown list, select “Show in Finder.”
4. Now you want to plug your external drive to the Mac, but don’t unplug your phone.
5. Open your external drive, then go back to the Finder window where you have your backups. Click on the device backup folder. If you can’t see it, then it’s the folder with a combination of letters and numbers.
6. Drag and drop the folder onto your external hard drive. After that, rename the folder on your external hard drive to “iOS backup” then rename the other backup folder to whatever you want. Just make sure it doesn’t have the same name as the folder in your external hard drive.
7. Before you start celebrating, you’ll have to create a symbolic link between the drive and your Mac. If you don’t, your Mac stops automatically creating backups of your iPhone. That means you have to move your files to your Mac manually.

Once you create a symlink, you’ll have successfully moved your backup from your iPhone to your Mac to an external drive. You might need some help creating the symlink, but there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to show you how to do exactly that.

4. Backup iPhone Using Third-Party Apps

If the first three alternatives don’t work for you, then you can always turn to third-party apps. Third-party backup and restore apps offer a convenient and straightforward way to backup iPhone to Mac.

Syncios is arguably the most popular backup and restore app for both iOS and Android. Here’s how you backup your iPhone to Mac using Syncios. This will act as an example of how to backup using third-party apps.

• The first step is to download the app from the App Store
• Once you download it, launch the app, then connect your iPhone to your Mac
• Click the “Backup” option, then check all the folders you want to backup
• Click “next,” and the app will back up your iPhone files to your Mac

Third-party backup apps are simple and very convenient when transferring data from iPhone to Mac. Plus, the best part is that most of them are free.

Backing Up Your iPhone to Mac Is a Breeze

 You don’t have to be a computer guru to backup iPhone to Mac. The above ways are simple and doable for any iPhone and Mac owner. Of course, you can always ask for help from your friends and family if you get stuck.

That said, backing up your iPhone to Mac should be a walk in the park for you. If you want to treat yourself to more informative reads, be sure to check out the other pieces on the site.