How To View, Manage & Delete iCloud Backups.
If you’re backing up your Apple devices to iCloud, you’ll be interested to know exactly where your backups are stored, how much space they take up, and how you can manage and delete your iCloud backups. It’s actually very easy to view iCloud backups on both iOS and Mac.
You’ll want to do this, especially if you’re running out of space on your iCloud account. By knowing the size of your backups and their importance, you can decide if you want to get rid of them to free up space on your account memory.
Whether you manage your iCloud backups from your Mac or an iOS device like iPhone or iPad, you’ll see the same information. This means you can follow these steps on any of your Apple devices.
Offer iCloud Backups on Mac
If you want to view your iCloud backups on your Mac, you can do it quite easily.
You don’t need to download or install anything on your computer to be able to view backups. Your Mac has a built-in option that allows you to manage your iCloud account, which also includes an iCloud backup option.
Make sure you’re signed in to the same iCloud account you backed up with.
–
- Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner. corner of the screen and select the option labeled “System Preferences”. Your Mac’s main preferences menu will open.
- On the next screen, you will find almost all the settings that you can configure for your computer. The option you want to choose is called iCloud. Find it in the list and click to open it.
- The next screen lists all the services you can use with iCloud on your Mac. You will find that your backups are not here because they are in a different menu. At the bottom of the panel, next to the storage graph, you will find the “Manage” button. Click on it and a new menu will open.
- You will see how much storage each service is using in your iCloud account. Scroll down the list and you’ll find an option that says Backups. Click it to view iCloud backups. Your backups will appear in the right pane. You will see the name and amount of storage your backup is occupying.
Click Finish when you’re done browsing your iCloud backups.
Offer iCloud Backups to iOS
Just like your Mac, your iOS devices also let you view and manage your iCloud backups without installing any apps or the like. You can use the Settings app to access iCloud backups on your device.
- From the home screen of your iOS device, tap Settings to open the settings menu for your iPhone or iPad.
- As soon as the application opens, you will see a banner at the top with your name. Click on the banner to view your iCloud account settings.
- The next screen has several options to choose from. Click on the one that says iCloud to access iCloud settings.
- At the top of the screen, you’ll find a storage diagram showing the amount of used and available storage in your account. Click on the graph and a menu will open.
- You will now see your iCloud storage information. Click on the “Manage Storage” option to explore the storage deeper.
- The next screen shows all the services that store their data in your iCloud account. You want to click on your device under “Backups” to view your backups.
- You can now see your iCloud backups on screen. It shows when the last backup was made, how big it was, etc.
While you can view the apps and services that store their data in your account, you cannot see the contents of your backups. Apple forbids you from doing this, and the only way to access the contents of an iCloud backup is to restore the backups to your device.
Manage iCloud backups on your devices
You can also learn how to manage iCloud backups. Managing backups basically means specifying app data to include in backups and disabling backups when you no longer need them.
Specify what data to include in backups
- Launch In the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, go to [your-name] iCloud [storage-graph] Manage storage and click on backup.
- You will find a list of apps that use your iCloud storage. Each app has a toggle next to it that lets you enable or disable the app for your account. To prevent the app from being included in your backups, flip the switch to the OFF position.
Disable iCloud Backup
If you no longer want to back up your device to iCloud, you can turn off the backup feature on your device.
- Open the Settings app, click on your name banner, select iCloud, and click on the iCloud backup option.
- Set the iCloud backup switch to OFF. on the next screen.
Your device will no longer back up to iCloud.
Delete iCloud backups from your account
Deleting iCloud backups is one of the easiest ways to free up space on your iCloud account. Keep in mind that once you delete a backup, you can no longer restore it to your devices.
- Launch Settings, click on the banner with your name, select iCloud, click on the storage graph and select your backup.
- Scroll to the bottom of the backup screen and you will find the Delete Backup button. Click on it to delete the iCloud backup.
Your iCloud backup, along with its contents, must be removed from your account.
–