Restoring a Backup to iPhone: How and When to Do it

What copies can be made on the iPhone

Before knowing how to restore a copy in iOS, it is important to know what type of copies exist. Below we show you the most common ones and that in the end they will be more useful to you so as not to lose any important data from your mobile.

iCloud

The most common copy of data is made through Apple‘s own service. This can include all the data and settings of the phone. Be it your notes, calendar events, photos and even settings of the home screen with its corresponding screensaver or the different settings made in Settings.

In order to make a copy in iCloud you can use the iPhone itself and follow these steps:

• Open Settings.
• Click on your name.
• Now tap on iCloud.
• Select those apps and services that you want added to the copy of your data.
• Go to iCloud Copy .
• Click on “Back up now” .

iTunes and Finder

If you have a computer , be it a Mac or a Windows PC, you can make a copy of your iPhone data by connecting it to it via cable. These copies may remain stored on your computer or also be made on the iCloud server.

If you have a Mac with macOS Catalina or later you must follow these steps:

• Connect iPhone to Mac via cable.
• Open a Finder window and click on the name of the iPhone in the left bar.
• Go to the General tab and choose one of the following options:
  • “Save your iPhone’s most important data security in iCloud” if you want to use Apple’s service for copying.
  • “Keep a backup of all iPhone data on this Mac” if you want the copy to be stored on the Mac.
• Tap “Back up now” and wait for the process to finish without disconnecting iPhone from Mac.

The steps to follow for macOS with macOS Mojave and earlier and Windows PCs are as follows:

• Connect iPhone to computer via cable.
• Open iTunes . If you are in Windows you must download and install it if you did not already have it.
• Go to the Summary tab.
• In the part for backups choose one of the following options:
  • “iCloud” if you want to use this Apple service for copying.
  • “This computer” if you want the copy to be stored on it.
• Press “Copy now” and wait for the process to finish without disconnecting the iPhone from the computer.

Other tools and manual copies

There are also some tools on the market to make copies of your data, which have their own restoration methods that you should consult on the official websites of each developer. There are also ways to make manual copies by transferring files and documents to cloud storage managers like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or the iCloud Drive itself, although in all these cases they are copies of files only and not others settings and data. In these cases you can restore these files by downloading the corresponding apps on your restored iPhone.

How to restore an iPhone

It should be noted that in order to restore a backup, regardless of whether it is done with a computer or with the device itself, it must be done with the iPhone without configuring it . In other words, if you have started the phone, you will not be able to load the complete copy of your data, so you will have to format it. To do this, again, there are two methods.

Format iPhone from the phone itself

• Go to Settings .
• Go to General .
• Now go to Reset .
• Click on “Delete content and settings” .

Format iPhone with a computer

If you have a Mac with macOS Catalina or later :

• Connect iPhone to Mac via cable.
• Open a Finder window and click on the name of the iPhone in the left bar.
• Go to the General tab and click on “Restore iPhone” .
• Follow the steps on the screen and do not disconnect the iPhone from the Mac until the entire process is complete.

If you have a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier or a Windows PC :

• Connect iPhone to computer via cable.
• Open iTunes . If you are in Windows you must download and install it if you did not already have it.
• Go to the Summary tab and click on “Restore iPhone”.
• Follow the steps shown on the screen and do not disconnect the iPhone from the computer until the entire process is complete.

Restore copy on iPhone

Regardless of whether the backup was made with iCloud or with a computer, once the iPhone is formatted, the initial configuration will appear on the screen with the classic “Hello” in several languages. After that, you must follow these steps:

• Choose the language of the phone.
• Select the region you are in.
• Choose whether you want to configure quick start or configure manually. If you have another Apple device nearby, it can be configured with the data of this one.
• Select the WiFi network you want to connect to.
• If activation lock is activated, you may be asked to enter the Apple ID and password associated with your iPhone.
• Accept the terms related to privacy.
• Set up Touch ID or Face ID if you want.
• Create the security code of your iPhone.

• Now comes the part where you can choose how to restore data:
  • Restore with iCloud copy .
  • Restore from Mac or PC. If you choose this option, you must connect the iPhone to the computer via cable.
  • Transfer directly from another iPhone.
  • Transfer data from Android.
  • Do not transfer apps and data.
• Once you have chosen the option to restore the copy, you will have to enter your credentials, that is, the Apple ID you want to use. Also if you have two-step verification enabled it will appear here.
• Activate or not the iPhone localization.
• Set up Apple Pay if you want.
• Activate or not Siri functions.
• Choose whether or not you want to share iPhone scan data with Apple.
• Choose if you want to share aspects of its use with developers.

Once this is done, the iPhone will begin to load the backup. This process will take several minutes depending on the weight of the copy and the internet connection in case you are downloading it from iCloud. Once finished you will have the device just as you left it before making the backup.