[Answered] Can You Backup iPhone Remotely?

We will never know when the iPhone will have problems. In order to ensure data safety, it is very necessary to back up your iPhone regularly. However, many people realize the importance of backup only after things happen. It's also possible that the backup is from a long time ago and therefore not very useful.

When your iPhone is disabled or lost, can you backup iPhone remotely? How to protect your privacy after losing your iPhone? Read this guide to get all the info you need to know.

Can you backup iPhone remotely?

There is no way to backup iPhone remotely. If your iPhone is still working and you have turned on iCloud sync or iCloud backup, there is a chance that data on your iPhone will be uploaded to iCloud. Details are as follows.

🔸 If you have auto iCloud backup turned on, it will automatically back up when your iPhone is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. You cannot check the backup files but you can restore that backup to your new device.
🔸 If you have turned on sync for specific types of data, then they will be automatically uploaded to iCloud when your iPhone is connected to device. In this case, you can open a browser and go to iCloud.com to check the photos, videos, contacts, notes, etc. that have been uploaded to iCloud. When you get your new iPhone, you can turn on the sync option to download them on your device.

How to backup iPhone remotely

As is known to all, Apple lets you backup iPhone to iCloud and iTunes. Since your iPhone is not at your hand, you only have the chance to backup iPhone to iCloud remotely. If your iPhone screen is broken, you can use VoiceOver to unlock your iPhone and run the backup on computer.

Backup lost iPhone remotely

The iPhone will be automatically backed up to iCloud when all of the following conditions are met.

✔ Your iPhone is already logged into your iCloud account.

✔ Your iPhone is still working and is locked.

✔ Your iPhone is connected to a power source.

✔ Your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi.

However, in general, you can't know if iCloud has made a backup or not, and you can't view the contents of the backup. If needed, you can use a third-party recovery tool like PhoneRescure to check your iCloud backup.

With such a tool, you can access all your iCloud backups and check the contents of the backups. When you find the data you need, you can restore them to your new iPhone or computer. However, those data recovery tools are not free to use. You can first try to see if the iCloud backup contains the data you need and then spend some money to get them back.

Backup iPhone with broken screen

If you want to backup iPhone with broken screen, you can use VoiceOver to unlock your device and trust the computer. VoiceOver lets you unlock your device with special gestures. When your iPhone is unlocked, you can connect your iPhone to computer and create a backup.

• Active Siri: press and hold the Side button or Home button/or say Hey Siri.
• Ask Siri to turn on VoiceOver.

• Press the Home button twice. On an iPhone with Face ID: Wake up your iPhone, look at it, and pull up from the bottom of the screen until you feel a vibration or hear two rising tones.
• Swipe left or right to select a number using the responsive portion of your device screen > double tap to confirm the passcode number.

Now you can connect your iPhone to computer and use VoiceOver to trust the computer. After that, you can backup iPhone with iTunes or FoneTool.

Back up iPhone with iTunes

With iTunes, you can backup all content and settings. However, you can not view the backup files. Since it will backup the entire iPhone, it will take one or two hours to complete the process.

• Go to Microsoft Store to download iTunes. If you already have iTunes installed, please update to the latest version.
• Plug in your iPhone and trust the computer.
• After iTunes detects your iPhone, click the Device tab.
• Go to Summary > In the Backups section, click This Computer > click Back Up Now to create the backup.

★Tips:

If you want to encrypt your backup, you can select Encrypt local backup and enter the passcode. Keep this password in mind, you will need to enter it again when you want to perform a restore.

The backup files are not readable. You can go to iTunes backup location to find your iTunes backups but you will not be able to open them.

When you want to restore the backup, simply plug in your iPhone and choose Restore Backup option.

Backup iPhone with FoneTool

FoneTool is one professional iPhone data management tool for Windows PC. With FoneTool, you not only can backup the entire iPhone but also can backup selected files.

The backup files can be restored to any iPhone, which means you can easily restore the backup to a new iPhone using a different Apple ID. You can click the download button to get FoneTool and backup your iPhone.

• Launch FoneTool > Connect your iPhone to computer to USB cable.
• Choose Phone Backup from the left pane > Go to Selective Backup and click Get Started.

• Click the icon to preview and select the files you want to backup > Click OK to continue.

• Select a path to save your backup > Click Start Backup.

When the process is done, you can go to Backup History to check your backup, from there you can choose to restore the backup.

FoneTool also supports data transfer between iPhone and computer. You can go to Phone Transfer and chooce iPhone to PC to transfer data to computer as a backup.

How to erase iPhone remotely

If you weren't lucky enough to backup iPhone remotely, then it’s time to erase your iPhone to protect your privacy. With the Find My feature, you can track the location of your devices. If you still can't find it, then you can choose to delete all the data on your iPhone.

• Open a browser on another phone or computer and go to iCloud.com.
• Log in to your account with Apple ID and passcode.
• Click Find My iPhone > Choose All Devices > Find and select your iPhone.
• Click Erase iPhone option.

If your iPhone is online, the erase action will start immediately. If not, the action will start when your iPhone is connected to the network next time.

Final words

Backup iPhone remotely is possible if you have turned on auto iCloud backup and meet the conditions to run the backup. If you have your iPhone at hand, you can try to connect your iPhone to computer and create a backup with iTunes or FoneTool. If you are unable to make a backup of your lost iPhone, then please go to iCloud.com to erase your iPhone to ensure that your personal data won't be stolen by others.