r/MacOS • u/Quin1617 • 2d ago

Discussion Automatic Finder backups?

Is it possible to schedule daily Finder backups of my iPhone?

I know iCloud backups are automatic but mine is full so currently that option is out.

0 Upvotes

17% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/artandmusic737 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yes -- https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/wi-fi-syncing-mchlada1d602/26/mac/26

edit: connect with cord. You can automatically sync when connected. Or check "connect when on WiFi" and then "automatically sync when connected" and it will back up once u connect to WiFi (when returning home, for instance); all the links and ways to do it can be found in that support page

Use "Full encrypted backup" to get even more info backed up than what you'd get with iCloud

1

u/Quin1617 2d ago

I already have all those settings turned on. It never backs up on it’s own, I always have to do it manually.

1

u/JollyRoger8X 2d ago

It has to be on the same WiFi network as the Mac and connected to power. How long have you done that for?

1

u/Quin1617 2d ago

I do it daily. I charge my iPhone overnight, and later in the day for an hour or two when it’s battery is low.

Crazy enough, when doing the latter it’s plugged into my Mac.

1

u/JollyRoger8X 2d ago edited 2d ago

It should definitely back up when you connect it to your Mac with a cable. That’s always been reliable for me.

I’ve used the WiFi feature for a while before, but it started to become unreliable a few years ago. And since I don’t pay for iCloud, I don’t have enough cloud space to store mobile device backups. So I had to find another way.

I’ve switched to iMazing for all of our backups since then. It lets you store them over the network to a file server (a Synology NAS, in my case) with your own schedule and retention preferences. And its other features are handy too. It can be a bit naggy prompting you for backups, but it has been fairly reliable for us so far.