Do you need to learn how to restore an iPhone from a back up – easily and without the tech jargon hurting your brain? LOL – I feel your pain. This guide is designed to help anyone get the job done without any great tech skills.
Let’s have a look …
One of the most common reasons why people suggest that you should back up your iPhone regularly is because there will eventually come a time when you need to restore your iPhone from that backup.
Maybe you realized that the information you needed was on a previous backup.
Maybe you have other reasons for needing to restore your iPhone from a backup. On this site we cover a lot of information about spy apps – how to use them properly and how to defend against them. Find out if your phone has been hacked – see this in depth guide to learn if you are a victim.
Check is your iPhone hacked using this guide.
As part of the security section I cover – how to uninstall hidden spy apps from your device if you think someone is spying on your phone – part of this process involves :
How to Backup an iPhone – I have a guide for that!
How to Factory Reset an iPhone
No matter what your reasons are, it is important for you to understand the process that comes with restoring your iPhone from a backup that you have made.
However, before you can begin restoring your phone, you will first need to determine if you are restoring it from iCloud or iTunes. Both of these methods achieve the same results but there are benefits and drawbacks to each method.
What Is the Difference Between iOS Restoring Methods?
The biggest difference between these two methods is that iCloud backups have to be restored from the Internet whereas backups from iTunes can be restored when you plug your phone into your computer. Another major difference is that if you want to restore from an iCloud backup, you will first have to reset your iPhone to its factory settings, which has a few risks to it.
However, since iTunes backups are almost always stored on your Mac computer, you will have to be wary about how much space those backups are taking up as they are not small.
The ways to access these backups are also different. To ensure that you are backing up your phone’s information to iCloud, you will first have to go into settings, then into your profile, then to iCloud, and you will begin to see options regarding iCloud there.
If your phone is plugged in, connected to WiFi, and on standby mode, the backup to iCloud will commence when this is enabled. Backing up to iTunes is a little bit different.
You will simply have to connect your iPhone to iTunes on a PC or Mac, click the “Summary” tab on iTunes, and then click on the “Backup Now” option to begin the backup process.
How Long Do iPhone Restores Take?
To put it simply, the amount of time that it takes to restore your iPhone from a backup depends on exactly how much information and data is in the backup. A new phone that doesn’t have a lot of saved data and settings is going to be significantly quicker to restore from a backup than a phone that you have years’ worth of data on.
Another factor that controls the amount of time it takes to restore a phone is your Internet speed. Slow Internet speeds are going to mean that restores are slower. Quicker Internet speeds are going to mean that your restore happens more quickly.
The amount of time that it takes for your phone to restore can range anywhere from 20 or 30 minutes to well over an hour.
If you are restoring your phone through iTunes, you will still have to download and install the apps that you had previously. Unfortunately, iTunes restorations do not include apps themselves but rather a list of apps that you had previously.
While this does mean that the restoration time will be closer to 30 minutes instead of an hour, it will also mean that you will have to spend some extra time redownloading all the apps you had previously.
Depending on your Internet connection, this can take a fair bit of time.
However, if you are restoring from iCloud, you should prepare to wait a good deal longer. In fact, some people with slower Internet connections have had to wait closer to 12 hours for the restore to be completed.
Even after the restore is done, there is other iCloud information that needs to be downloaded, such as apps, bookmarks, notes, and your photo library.
If you are planning to rely on a restore from iCloud, you should set aside the better part of the day where you won’t need your phone, such as while you sleep at night.
To ensure that things go as smoothly as possible for both restoring from iTunes and iCloud, you will want to make sure that all the phone’s software is updated first.
How Do You Restore Your iPhone From iTunes?
If you plan to restore from iTunes, then you won’t have anything to worry about. Restoring an iPhone backup through iTunes is incredibly easy. First, you will need to open up iTunes on your Mac or Windows computer. Once it is up and running, you will want to plug your phone into the computer through the lightning cable that comes with your iPhone.
After that is connected, you will want to select the device icon and choose which device you are restoring from backup. This should open up a summary tab of that device with quite a bit of information, including a button that says “Restore Backup”.
Clicking on this button should provide you with a list of backups and you should select the backup that you want to restore from. You shouldn’t unplug your phone until the restore is complete.
This will complete your restore from iTunes and you will be able to go about your life as you otherwise would be able to.
How Do You Restore an iPhone From iCloud?
Restoring your device from iCloud is a little bit different, as you might be able to imagine. First, you will want to make sure that you don’t have any data on your phone that you will not regret losing and that your phone is connected to a power source because restoring from iCloud takes some time.
Once you have done this, you will want to go to the settings of your device and then to the general tab of those settings. After you have clicked that, you will want to head to the “Reset” button and there should be an option to “Erase All Content and Settings”.
You will be prompted to enter your AppleID and password; you should do so. From here, you will wait for the device to restart itself. If you are planning to restore a backup on a new device, you should follow the steps from here.
Once the device is on, you will want to begin setting it up as you would any other new device until you get to the option where you can decide whether or not you want to restore from an iCloud backup.
You should select this option and then all that you will have to do is wait until the process is complete.
For Android users please see the articles below:
How to Backup an Android Phone
How to Restore an Android from a Backup
How to Factory Reset Android Phone
All designed to get you your answers quickly and easily.
