All iPads: iPad backup is way too large? Why?

[WhySoSerious]

My parents got an iPad a few months ago and it's still all stock apps. However, when they backup to iCloud, the backup is using 3.6 GB of there allotted 5 GB.

Any idea why? They only have 38 photos on the camera roll, no videos, no App Store apps, no music.....it's really just a bare bone ipad with 38 photos. They don't even have that many emails.

When I look at the settings/general/usage/manage backups, it even shows that the largest item is the camera roll at 178kb.

Why the hell is it backing up 3.6 GB?? Any ideas how to fix this?

They don't own a computer, so if I wipe their ipad I can't really restore from a backup because it'll restore from that same 3.6 GB file.

Help?

[syd430]

There's definitely something else not related to the backup taking up all that space. There's no way that can be right

[temna]

Do they have another iDevice backing up to iCloud?

[Rodster]

I agree with syd430, something else is taking up space. Go into settings then iCloud and check what's enabled for iCloud backup.

[WhySoSerious]

Originally Posted by Rodster

I agree with syd430, something else is taking up space. Go into settings then iCloud and check what's enabled for iCloud backup.

There literally nothing else backing up besides camera roll and stock apps.

Damn, I was hoping someone in this community would have had an idea/solution. Guess I'll have to make an Apple appointment.

[Rodster]

Originally Posted by WhySoSerious

There literally nothing else backing up besides camera roll and stock apps.

Damn, I was hoping someone in this community would have had an idea/solution. Guess I'll have to make an Apple appointment.

A couple of things things you could try is:

1) Do a hardware reset, then check iCloud usage.

2) Delete your iCloud account from the iPad, then create it again.

[WhySoSerious]

Originally Posted by Rodster

A couple of things things you could try is:

1) Do a hardware reset, then check iCloud usage.

2) Delete your iCloud account from the iPad, then create it again.

Hardware reset didn't work. Ill give a try with the deleting of the iCloud account.

Thank you for offering some suggestions. It's greatly appreciated.

[The Game 161]

Very odd, think deleting and then seeing why is the best option. Genius appointment seems likely though.

[Rodster]

I forgot to mention, why not hookup your mom's iPad to iTunes? It should give you a breakdown of what's taking up so much space.

[brudog68]

Originally Posted by temna

Do they have another iDevice backing up to iCloud?

This...

Do they have another ipad or iPhone with the same apple ID/iCloud account?

[kappaknight]

Ultimately, they do want you to pay for iCloud. 5GB is just a taste.

[WhySoSerious]

Originally Posted by brudog68

This...

Do they have another ipad or iPhone with the same apple ID/iCloud account?

No, this their only I-device.

I think the poster before you suggested I sync it with my iTunes, so I will try that as well.

Thank you both!

[Shadowbech]

Originally Posted by WhySoSerious

There literally nothing else backing up besides camera roll and stock apps.

Damn, I was hoping someone in this community would have had an idea/solution. Guess I'll have to make an Apple appointment.

Do they take pictures on their ipad? If so the camera roll may be the problem here. My wife takes pictures on her iphone and at one point we got a message that her icloud storage is full and that it couldn't perform back up. We then went into her icloud on her phone, tapped on her back up file, turned off the Camera roll. This definitely freed up lots of space in her icloud storage and the back up file was without the camera roll thus resulting less than 100 mb back up file. I find that this is true if you take pictures on the device. If you import pictures then that is not the case.

If they take pictures from their ipad then this could be the reason. I would suggest synching them to your computer and save the picture files into the computer.

[gforce216]

I would just delete the iPad backup that's in iCloud and do a fresh backup. Should clear up that problem.

[Jord5i]

Originally Posted by WhySoSerious

My parents got an iPad a few months ago and it's still all stock apps. However, when they backup to iCloud, the backup is using 3.6 GB of there allotted 5 GB.

Any idea why? They only have 38 photos on the camera roll, no videos, no App Store apps, no music.....it's really just a bare bone ipad with 38 photos. They don't even have that many emails.

When I look at the settings/general/usage/manage backups, it even shows that the largest item is the camera roll at 178kb.

Why the hell is it backing up 3.6 GB?? Any ideas how to fix this?

They don't own a computer, so if I wipe their ipad I can't really restore from a backup because it'll restore from that same 3.6 GB file.

Help?

Ok, this isn't really a solution to your problem, and it definitely should be fixed. But do your parents need the back-up? Back-ups are for when you have a lot of stuff on the thing you don't want to have to manually put back on it, if things go bad. In your case it doesn't look like it's needed at all...?

[AlecEdworthy]

Originally Posted by WhySoSerious

My parents got an iPad a few months ago and it's still all stock apps. However, when they backup to iCloud, the backup is using 3.6 GB of there allotted 5 GB.

Do they use iMessages and if so have they sent or received many photos or videos? That was what was taking up masses of space on my iPhone. If you have a computer available then you can do a one off backup via iTunes and then use a tool to expand the backup and see what is the largest item(s) in there. If you have a Mac then try http://supercrazyawesome.com/.

Alec

[swordfish5736]

if you go to settings -> iCloud -> storage & backup -> Manage Storage -> select the device(it should say this iPad) then look at backup options. It should list any app data that is getting backed up to iCloud

[AppleDApp]

I've had the same issue and I wasn't doing any backups I had to get Apple's engineers to work it out for me. Doing every mentioned did not work so try giving Apple a shot.

[blast87]

Did anyone find a solution for this?
My ipad says the backup is 2.1 when it really should be at 600 mb.
Bump

[AppleDApp]

In my case the issue was with iCloud I had to go back and forth with Apple for a few months finally engineering fixed the issue.

[adam044]

Originally Posted by swordfish5736

if you go to settings -> iCloud -> storage & backup -> Manage Storage -> select the device(it should say this iPad) then look at backup options. It should list any app data that is getting backed up to iCloud

do this/ screen shot for us

[Fattytail]

Had the exact same problem and it went away after I deleted a bunch of text messages (which had loads of pics and short video clips), deleted my device's iCloud backup and then restarted my device and turned iCloud backup back on.

[blast87]

I deleted texts and that shaved about 500mb. But it's still a GB over what it should be! This is frustrating because I don't have enough room for my iPhone backup now. Tried turning off backup, then restarting.

Not sure how to upload the image.. Its asking for a link. I have to upload it to a hosting site first?

[darngooddesign]

Originally Posted by WhySoSerious

Damn, I was hoping someone in this community would have had an idea/solution. Guess I'll have to make an Apple appointment.

Before you do, delete the existing backup and do a fresh one. Then see how large the fresh backup is.

[blast87]

Did that, its still way too big.
And now looking at my iphone 5. It looks about 2gb too big as well.
Would love to solve this so I don't have to upgrade to the 20gb plan a year.