How to back up your phone
A phone backup keeps a copy of your photos, contacts and settings, so if your phone is lost, broken or stolen you can set up a new one without losing everything.
Quick fixes to try first
- Connect to Wi-Fi and plug the phone in before you start. A first backup can take a long time.
- Check how much cloud storage you have free. Free accounts offer limited space, and backups can need more.
Step by step
- iPhone, iCloud: open Settings, tap your name at the top, then iCloud, and look for iCloud Backup. Turn it on and choose Back Up Now.
- iPhone, computer: connect to a Mac or PC and use Finder (Mac) or the Apple Devices app (Windows 11) to back up. Older Windows PCs use iTunes.
- Android: open Settings and search for Backup. It is often under Google, then Backup. Turn on Back up by Google One and choose Back up now. Samsung phones may also offer Samsung Cloud. Menus differ between makes.
- Back up your photos too. Check that they are saved to iCloud Photos or Google Photos, or copied to a computer.
- Check the date and time of your last backup on the same screen.
Keep it safe
- Your backup is protected by your Apple or Google account. Keep the password safe, and turn on two-step sign-in.
- A backup is not the same as syncing. If you delete a photo from a synced album, it may be deleted everywhere.
- Check once a month that backups are still working.
When to get more help
Stop and ask for help if the backup keeps failing, says you are out of storage and you are not sure what to buy, or you are about to replace or reset your phone and have not backed it up. Please do not reset the phone until we have talked. Tell us the model and any message you see.
Did this help? If you are still stuck, email Vision Tech and tell us what you can see on the screen. Menus and button names can differ slightly between versions and makes. If something does not match, stop and ask rather than guess.