A Step-wise Guideline on How to Back Up iPhone to Mac

It's always a good habit to have your iPhone files and folders like photos, videos, audio, documents, excels, etc. fully backed up as data loss can happen anytime for any reason. 

Unlike so often in the past, however, you cannot simply unplug the mini SD card with files stored from a smartphone as a backup because the smartphone and storage are integrated now. As a result, the method for backing up your iPhone differs significantly. 

This post concentrates on how to back up an iPhone onto a Mac specially. And you can perform the backup operation as easily as ABC if you follow its step-wise guides.

How to back up an iPhone to a Mac:

Why should you back up an iPhone to a Mac?

Here are lots of reasons urging you to back up your iPhone on a full scale, while the ultimate purpose is avoiding data loss.

As we mentioned earlier, the storage module is soldered with the smartphone motherboard, cutting off the use of any inserted storage drive (including the mini SD card) on a smartphone. Therefore, you have to back up your iPhone to a Mac or other destination drive for data security.

Moreover, the storage size of the iPhone is determined by the moment you purchase it. With the accumulation of files and folders, its available storage space gets more and more less. Under this condition, backing up the iPhone fully and freeing up your iPhone for more space to run is indispensable.

This post gives you three options to back up an iPhone, and you can try one you like to set a protection cover for your data. If you find this article helpful, please share it with your followers on your social platform!

How to back up your iPhone onto a Mac with iTunes?

iTunes is an out-of-date yet effective solution for iPhone users to back up files like music, photos, videos, ringtones, user settings of associated apps, and so on. On top of that, it has the capability to restore the firmware of Apple mobile devices. Nevertheless, this option is not available for all users, it depends on what macOS you're running.

What macOS version can apply to iTunes?

Apple dropped the use of iTunes on macOS Catalina in 2019, so only those who run macOS released before 2019 can use it for app file backup. 

Here is a list gathering all macOS versions that can use iTunes to back up associated app files in one go, and you can check if the macOS you run is involved by clicking the Apple menu > System Preferences > About This Mac: 

For those users running macOS Catalina and later macOS versions, you can back up each app file/set separately from an iPhone to a Mac or go down for further solutions.

How to back up your iPhone onto a Mac with iTunes?

As usual, iTunes will automatically back up your iPhone once you connect it to your Mac. But we also offer you a guide to do that manually.

If you want to encrypt the backups, go to select the Encrypt (device) backup option > type a password > then click Set Password. You can access the encrypted backups by clicking Edit > Preferences > selecting the devices, then the encrypted backups will appear in the list of backups with a lock icon.

How to restore your iPhone from the backups?

Once you reset an iPhone, a way to restore it may be needed. Here is how to restore your iPhone from the backup you have created:

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How to back up your iPhone onto a Mac with Finder?

Finder is such a powerful utility for its excellence in accessing files from both the built-in Macintosh HD and external hard drive, involving the iPhone. It offers the people who run macOS Catalina and later macOS versions a way to back up the iPhone with ease.

How to back up iPhone to Mac with Finder? (Physical connection)

You can follow the steps below to perform the backup work without a hitch:

I bet you can carry on this task with ease under the guidelines of this post, even though you're a newbie to this work. Besides, you can click the “Encrypt local backup” option if you'd like to secure it for data security.

How to back up your iPhone to Mac via Finder? (Wi-Fi internet)

If you have enabled Wi-Fi synchronization between your Mac and the iPhone, you can use it to complete the backup task. This way only works fine on the iPhone with IOS 5 or later installed and the Mac with macOS 10.15 Catalina or later installed.

If it's the first time you use this method, you have to change some settings beforehand:

Whenever your device connects to your Mac over Wi-Fi, you can select it in the Finder sidebar and start to sync it. If anything goes wrong, check if two devices connect to the same Wi-Fi, or test if the Wi-Fi keeps good with the macOS networkQuality command.

How to restore your iPhone backups on Mac with Finder?

How to back up your iPhone to a Mac with iCloud?

iCloud is one last way to back up your iPhone to a Mac offered by this article. It is a cloud storage and cloud computing service designed by Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables you to securely store data such as documents, photos, videos, and music on all your Apple devices. 

After these actions are done, you can access all iPhone files on your Mac with the same Apple ID. For the backup, you can download them all and store them well on your Mac.

If you wanna keep your iPhone data more secure, moving them to an external hard drive is a feasible solution.

Conclusion

if you are looking for practical solutions to the "How do I back up my iPhone to my Mac" question, you're in the right place. This article offers you three ways to back up the iPhone to your Mac, including iTunes, Finder, and iCloud. You can try one or more according to your conditions.