Do photos and contacts actually backup to your iCloud account?

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

Okay, so since getting an actual answer to my question in this thread and when I asked in others seems impossible, guess I'll make another one based off what I have. Do photos actually sync to iCloud? No, not photo stream or an iOS backup, I mean really backup to your iCloud account. Like to where I can login to my iCloud account after setting up my iPhone 5 as new and have my existing iPhone 4 be restored and the pictures in a "camera roll" folder and not deleted. Same question for contacts, will they all show up after I've signed into my iCloud account and even after my iPhone 4 has been restored? If yes to these two, I won't mind missing my messages too much and will setup my iPhone as a new.

Thanks, iParis. :apple:

dannyhex · Sep 17, 2012

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

dannyhex said:
no

No to both of those?

LetMeBlastU · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Okay, so since getting an actual answer to my question in this thread and when I asked in others seems impossible, guess I'll make another one based off what I have. Do photos actually sync to iCloud? No, not photo stream or an iOS backup, I mean really backup to your iCloud account. Like to where I can login to my iCloud account after setting up my iPhone 5 as new and have my existing iPhone 4 be restored and the pictures in a "camera roll" folder and not deleted. Same question for contacts, will they all show up after I've signed into my iCloud account and even after my iPhone 4 has been restored? If yes to these two, I won't mind missing my messages too much and will setup my iPhone as a new.

Thanks, iParis.

No for the photos i believe. But my contacts always come back with a restore from backup from iCloud. Hope this helps

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

LetMeBlastU said:
No for the photos i believe. But my contacts always come back with a restore from backup from iCloud. Hope this helps

When I restored from backup from iCloud my contacts and pictures came up, I know that happens. Though when you're setting up an iPhone for the first time or after a restore, login to your iCloud account, but *don't* restore from an iCloud backup, does it still pull your contacts?

Stetrain · Sep 17, 2012

Settings->iCloud->Storage & Backup

iCloud Backup:

Automatically back up your camera roll, accounts, documents, and settings when this iPhone is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi.

If you go into "Manage Storage" on that page and choose your device, you can choose which things are backed up to iCloud, including the Camera Roll.

Remember that you only get 5GB for free to back up to, so if you have a lot of stuff in your Camera Roll you might have to go to a larger iCloud storage option or it won't be able to do the backup. That's why I have the Camera Roll option turned off on my phone.

youslippin · Sep 17, 2012

LetMeBlastU said:
No for the photos i believe. But my contacts always come back with a restore from backup from iCloud. Hope this helps

Not true. You can 100% backup your camera roll to iCloud.

DravenGSX · Sep 17, 2012

Photos and contacts will both be restored from an iCloud backup.

snook911 · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Okay, so since getting an actual answer to my question in this thread and when I asked in others seems impossible, guess I'll make another one based off what I have. Do photos actually sync to iCloud? No, not photo stream or an iOS backup, I mean really backup to your iCloud account. Like to where I can login to my iCloud account after setting up my iPhone 5 as new and have my existing iPhone 4 be restored and the pictures in a "camera roll" folder and not deleted. Same question for contacts, will they all show up after I've signed into my iCloud account and even after my iPhone 4 has been restored? If yes to these two, I won't mind missing my messages too much and will setup my iPhone as a new.

Thanks, iParis.

You can choose to have your Photos(including videos) backup to icloud if you want but remember you only get 5GB of free space so for me with about 10GB of pictures and videos it is not possible to backup unless you pay for more storage.

youslippin · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
When I restored from backup from iCloud my contacts and pictures came up, I know that happens. Though when you're setting up an iPhone for the first time or after a restore, login to your iCloud account, but *don't* restore from an iCloud backup, does it still pull your contacts?

Yes, it still pulls your contacts without the restore

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

Stetrain said:
Settings->iCloud->Storage & Backup

iCloud Backup:

If you go into "Manage Storage" on that page and choose your device, you can choose which things are backed up to iCloud, including the Camera Roll.

DravenGSX said:
Photos and contacts will both be restored from an iCloud backup.

Sorry, but I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I do NOT want to restore from a backup. I want to setup as new because of how long I've been using that backup and how many times it's been jailbroken. I'm wondering if when I setup my iPhone 5 for the first time and choose to setup as new, if it will pull my contacts and/or pictures from iCloud.

andyp350 · Sep 17, 2012

Contacts yes, photos no, only your photostream.

SCOfoshO · Sep 17, 2012

yeah I have been wondering this same question and have asked in other threads as well. I just got through syncing all my photos to my drop box account just in case. I believe my contacts are all synced to my RMBP so I am hoping those can be synced from there.

Also, my apps seem to all be on my computer as well, can't I just add the apps from there to my iPhone 5?

I will still have my iPhone 4, so will that make the process easier as far as syncing is concerned. I never really grasped the full concept of iCloud.

Stetrain · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Sorry, but I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I do NOT want to restore from a backup. I want to setup as new because of how long I've been using that backup and how many times it's been jailbroken. I'm wondering if when I setup my iPhone 5 for the first time and choose to setup as new, if it will pull my contacts and/or pictures from iCloud.

It will not pull your camera roll in that case. The camera roll isn't stored in iCloud as a separate entity, only as the Photostream and as part of a backup.

If you want to set up as new your best bet is probably to pull your camera roll off on to a computer and load it back onto the new phone after you set it up.

youslippin · Sep 17, 2012

andyp350 said:
Contacts yes, photos no, only your photostream.

This isn't true, why do people seem to think that the photos can't be backed up to iCloud? You can 100% backup the camera roll to iCloud

snook911 · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Sorry, but I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I do NOT want to restore from a backup. I want to setup as new because of how long I've been using that backup and how many times it's been jailbroken. I'm wondering if when I setup my iPhone 5 for the first time and choose to setup as new, if it will pull my contacts and/or pictures from iCloud.

Once you set up icloud on the new phone everything you have saved in icloud should be downloaded to the new phone. i am not 100% sure about the pictures as i don't have mine in icloud.

LetMeBlastU · Sep 17, 2012

youslippin said:
Not true. You can 100% backup your camera roll to iCloud.

Sweet. thanks for the info

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

youslippin said:
Yes, it still pulls your contacts without the restore

andyp350 said:
Contacts yes, photos no, only your photostream.

Thank you!

SCOfoshO said:
yeah I have been wondering this same question and have asked in other threads as well. I just got through syncing all my photos to my drop box account just in case. I believe my contacts are all synced to my RMBP so I am hoping those can be synced from there.

Also, my apps seem to all be on my computer as well, can't I just add the apps from there to my iPhone 5?

I will still have my iPhone 4, so will that make the process easier as far as syncing is concerned. I never really grasped the full concept of iCloud.

Another option for your apps is the "purchased" section of the App Store on your iPhone.

youslippin said:
This isn't true, why do people seem to think that the photos can't be backed up to iCloud? You can 100% backup the camera roll to iCloud

You're thinking of full iOS backups. We're talking about data in your iCloud account.

dannyhex · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
No to both of those?

no to camera roll.

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

Stetrain said:
If you want to set up as new your best bet is probably to pull your camera roll off on to a computer and load it back onto the new phone after you set it up.

So the good ol' fashion syncing of picture folders? Ahh, if I do that it'll bring me back to my iPod classic days.

swordfish5736 · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Sorry, but I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I do NOT want to restore from a backup. I want to setup as new because of how long I've been using that backup and how many times it's been jailbroken. I'm wondering if when I setup my iPhone 5 for the first time and choose to setup as new, if it will pull my contacts and/or pictures from iCloud.

It will pull contacts but not photos(not including photo stream) if you don't restore from a backup. If you've got a Mac just Mac an album with the photos you want to put back on the phone and sync that album via iTunes once you are setup. Or just let it sync all your photos with iTunes

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

swordfish5736 said:
It will pull contacts but not photos(not including photo stream) if you don't restore from a backup. If you've got a Mac just Mac an album with the photos you want to put back on the phone and sync that album via iTunes once you are setup. Or just let it sync all your photos with iTunes

Grr. I might just end up doing that. I haven't synced photos in a while, are you still not able to deleted them from the device?

LetMeBlastU said:
Sweet. thanks for the info

I think we came to the conclusion that the claim is wrong. Err, not wrong, but about a different subject.

swordfish5736 · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
Thank you!

Another option for your apps is the "purchased" section of the App Store on your iPhone.

You're thinking of full iOS backups. We're talking about data in your iCloud account.

dannyhex said:
no to camera roll.

Go to settings->icloud->storage & backup->manage storage-> pick your device backup->look at backup options and you will see your camera roll is being backed up to icloud

iParis · Sep 17, 2012

swordfish5736 said:
Go to settings->icloud->storage & backup->manage storage-> pick your device backup->look at backup options and you will see your camera roll is being backed up to icloud

I'm preeetty sure those options are for iOS backups, not what a device can pull off iCloud when not restoring from backup.

tikitommy · Sep 17, 2012

iParis said:
I'm preeetty sure those options are for iOS backups, not what a device can pull off iCloud when not restoring from backup.

Right. The pictures are there from a backup, but are not accessible via a web browser.

Setting up as new on the phone will not bring back the photos. Setting up as new and using the same icloud account will sync back your contacts, notes, calendars, etc. If you click on the settings icon in iOS and go to icloud, those are the things that will sync back to the phone. But not your photoroll.

Do photos and contacts actually backup to your iCloud account?

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