You rely on your iPhone for so much more than just making phone calls. It’s your mobile office, your entertainment, your window into the news of the world, and your way to stay connected with friends and family. Carrying all that information in one little package is incredibly convenient, but it is also a recipe for disaster if your phone gets lost, stolen, or broken. These mishaps are difficult to avoid, but there’s that’s why it’s so smart to keep your iPhone backed up. This way, if you run into any problems, you won’t have to worry about losing all your precious data.

Backing Up Your iPhone

By not backing up your iPhone, you’re taking a huge risk with all the information on your device. If something unforeseen were to happen, you’d lose your contacts, photos, saved documents, app data, and all other files. Luckily, it’s easy to back up iPhone, and it won’t take very long. There are a few ways to back up your device, most notably through iCloud and iTunes.

To back up with iCloud:

1. Connect your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network
2. Go to the settings menu, choose the option with your name, and then tap iCloud. If your device is running on iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings, then just scroll down and tap iCloud.
3. Tap iCloud Backup (or just Backup if you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier). Ensure that iCloud Backup is turned on.
4. Choose Back Up Now. It’s important to stay connected to Wi-Fi until the process is complete.

In the iCloud Backup menu, you’ll be able to see when you last backed up your data. Each time after manually backing up, check here to make sure the backup finished.

To back up with iTunes:

1. Open iTunes on your computer, and connect your iPhone to your computer.
2. If a message pops up and prompts you for your device passcode or asks if you’d like to Trust This Computer, follow the steps onscreen.
3. Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes. If your device doesn’t appear in iTunes, try troubleshooting the issue.
4. Click Back Up Now to back up your iPhone.
5. After backing up your data, check to make sure that the backup finished successfully on the Summary screen in iTunes. You should see the time and date of your backup under Latest Backup.

Automatic Backup

If you find that it’s tough to remember to back up your data regularly, you can set iCloud to do it automatically:

To let iCloud automatically back up your device each day, here’s what you need to do:

• Start by ensuring that iCloud Backup is switched on. Go to the settings menu, choose the option with your name, and then tap iCloud and choose iCloud Backup. If you’re using iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings > iCloud > Backup.
• Connect your device to both a power source and a Wi-Fi network.
• Make sure that your device’s screen is locked.
• Make sure you have enough available space in iCloud for the backup. When you first sign into iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of storage for free. However, if you need more storage, you’ll have to buy it per month.

If You Didn’t Back Up…

If your phone breaks or gets damaged, and it isn’t backed up, all is not lost. Data recovery services like Gadget Fix are here to help. These pros can help to recover your lost contacts, photos, and other information for a fee. However, it’s still a smart idea to keep your iPhone backed up, following the instructions above. Always be prepared!