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Do you choose to encrypt your iPhone backups?

  • Yes

    Votes: 29 78.4%
  • No

    Votes: 8 21.6%

  • Total voters
    37

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,135
I keep getting this message when I plug my phone into the Mac, the (no longer existent iTunes) replacement App pops up and asks if I want to encrypt my backups. Is there anyone that does or doesn't? Why or why not?
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors regular
Dec 8, 2019
244
134
Yes I do, but I am paranoid. Especially since I guarantee that absolutely no one is interested in my health data.

I'm convinced Apple jacks the passwords for these backups though. I've saved several with the same password that I of course stored in my encrypted APP and some of the backups refused the password, but others did. Always do a few backups just in case.
 

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,135
Do encrypted backups affect the ability to get data out like iMazing or any of those other external apps?
 

one more

macrumors 68040
Aug 6, 2015
3,402
3,857
Earth
I normally backup to iCloud, backing up to the computer only before I need to do a completely fresh installation (a new device or flushing previous beta leftovers). So on a computer I always do an encrypted backup, as it saves most of the passwords, etc., making it much faster to restore. Besides, I cannot think of any advantages of doing an unencrypted backup vs encrypted?
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
13,807
11,606
Besides, I cannot think of any advantages of doing an unencrypted backup vs encrypted?
One less password to remember. :p

It's also possible to recover app data from unencrypted backups in case of abandoned apps that have been removed from the App Store.
 

Ifti

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2010
3,549
1,964
UK
I normally backup to iCloud, backing up to the computer only before I need to do a completely fresh installation (a new device or flushing previous beta leftovers). So on a computer I always do an encrypted backup, as it saves most of the passwords, etc., making it much faster to restore. Besides, I cannot think of any advantages of doing an unencrypted backup vs encrypted?


Im exactly the same
 

Elitegate

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2014
533
429
I keep getting this message when I plug my phone into the Mac, the (no longer existent iTunes) replacement App pops up and asks if I want to encrypt my backups. Is there anyone that does or doesn't? Why or why not?

Yes, it uses my standard Apple ID password and that way the backup also includes saved passwords from Safari and also login data from third-party apps.
 

CTHarrryH

macrumors 68030
Jul 4, 2012
2,829
1,286
Yes to get more backed up I do iCloud backup daily and iTunes (now finder) occasionally and before I do a major OS upgrade or phone change
 

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,135
So it sounds like unencrypted backup is a must to use non-itunes software to be able to extract information from the backups?

Thinking of software like the examples below (not trying to promote them, but am just trying to understand the implication):

I prefer not to rely on iCloud just in case things get wiped out there.
 

Bandaman

Cancelled
Aug 28, 2019
2,005
4,081
So it sounds like unencrypted backup is a must to use non-itunes software to be able to extract information from the backups?

Thinking of software like the examples below (not trying to promote them, but am just trying to understand the implication):

I prefer not to rely on iCloud just in case things get wiped out there.
iMazing lets you do full encrypted backups without iTunes.
 
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google

macrumors 6502
Sep 13, 2007
255
70
I can't get it to stop encrypting when backing up. Even tried a reset of settings.
 
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