Does a back up via itunes effectively make a copy of phone?

[macgrl]

Hello all,

does doing a back up of the iphone via itunes back everything up - messages, settings, apps etc..is it an exact copy of the phone at that given time and so can be used to set up a new phone exactly like the old one?

 

[Small White Car]

Yes, that's the end result.

In practice, it's not all saved in the backup. During a restore the apps themselves will come from either your computer or the app store. Your media will come from your computer. (So don't erase your songs!)

So the backup itself will be smaller than what's on your phone right now. But when you restore, yes, everything should be identical.

 

[macgrl]

Cool, thanks for your reply..

so if / when i get a new phone...plug it in hit restore and everything will be a it was on my old phone..same messages, ringtones, volume settings etc ?

 

[Tyler23]

Cool, thanks for your reply..

so if / when i get a new phone...plug it in hit restore and everything will be a it was on my old phone..same messages, ringtones, volume settings etc ?

It should work just like that, yep. It has never failed for me so I hope you see the same result.

 

[macgrl]

That is wonderful to know....obviously I don't have to do it much but it takes a while for me to get the right settings etc set up on a new phone so this is great for when i do get a new one

 

[wacky4alanis]

Sometimes you have to mess around with some of the settings in iTunes to get your other stuff back - such as music or videos. Also, if you don't encrypt your backup, you will have to re-enter all of your passwords. But camera roll photos, background images, text messages, and all of your settings should be there since they are included in the backup files.

 

[macgrl]

cool..i have never had music or vids on my iphone so i should be okay..one day i might get around to using that function lol

 

[itsmemuffins]

If you tick encrypt back up it should save all your passwords and such.

Or so it says.