Every iPhone user already knows that your iPhone would automatically back up to iCloud. However, you still need to learn how to backup iPhone to iTunes because iTunes backups are complete and faster to restore compared to iCloud. Hence, backing up your phone to iTunes is recommended when you want to switch to a new iPhone or right after installing beta software on your phone.
While iCloud backups happen wirelessly, iTunes back up requires you to connect your phone to your computer via a USB cord. Irrespective, the iTunes backups are ideal and recommended for a full restore. Follow our guide below find out how to back up iPhone to iTunes easily.
How to Backup iPhone to iTunes
To begin with, launch your iTunes application. If you are using a Windows PC, then you need to download the iTunes application on your PC from Microsoft Store or the official Apple website. If you own a Mac, you would see that iTunes is already pre-installed on your system.
- Then, connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable, which is the same cable you sue in charging your mobile phone.
- Once it is connected, just click on the Continue button on your iTunes to allow your computer access to your phone.
- Then unlock your phone, and you will see a prompt that reads ‘Trust This Computer’ and click on the Trust button. You would then be asked to enter your pin. Once you do so, your computer would have access to your phone’s data.
- In case you have already synced your iPhone with iTunes, you would not see any of these prompts, just click Continue.
- Once you have allowed access, click on the small phone icon, which you will find in your toolbar, at the top left corner of the window.
- Then iTunes would automatically focus the Summary pane at the left sidebar. You should scroll down until you reach the Backup section.
- Before you continue, you need to ensure that your iPhone backups are encrypted. This will ensure that they are password protected such that any other person will need to provide the password to be able to access them.
- To do this, just enable the ‘Encrypt iPhone backup’ checkbox, which is under Backups to activate encrypted backups.
- Then, provide a password that you would not forget. If not, you would not be able to restore the iTunes backups encrypted with a password.
- In case you had set a password, and you forgot it, just click on the Change Password icon to set a new password, which iTunes would begin to use for your newly created backups. However, you still won’t be able to restore any of your old backups without the password used in creating them.
- Afterward, iTunes would begin to create backups automatically after you have provided a password. You would need to wait for the process to finish before you can disconnect your phone.
- Once it is completed, click on the ‘Latest Backups’ icon to see the most recent backups that have occurred.
- To create new iTunes backups in the future, you just need to click on the ‘Back Up Now’ icon after connecting your phone to your computer.
- iTunes would then create a backup, showing you the progress in the status display at the top of the window.
How to Restore an iTunes Backup
To be able to do this, you need to, first of all, disable Find My iPhone. To disable it, go to Settings on your iPhone, select your name at the top of the settings screen then select iCloud. Afterward, click on the ‘Find My iPhone’ slider then enter your Apple ID password to turn it off. 
Then to restore your iTunes backup, follow the steps below:
- Once again, you will need to connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable and then launch the iTunes application on your computer.
- Then select Trust when asked on you get the prompt on your iPhone.
- Afterward, select the small phone icon on your toolbar and navigate to the Backup section, which you will find under Summary.
- Select the ‘Restore Backup’ icon to restore your backup to your phone.
- You should note that the backup would restore the same computer it was created because it is stored locally on your computer.
- iTunes would then send you a prompt asking you to choose which backup you want to restore. Although it would automatically select the most recent, you can change it. Your older backups would have their date information stored in their names so that they will be easy to recognize.
- Then click on ‘Restore,’ and the selected backup would be restored to your phone. Ensure that you leave your phone connected until the entire process is complete.
You should also read on the other methods you can use to backup your iPhone here.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to backup iPhone on iTunes, you can perform the takes anytime, and it would only take you minutes. However, it is still advisable to continue to back up with iCloud. Meanwhile, if you have any challenges following this guide, let us know n the comments section below.