iPhone 7 upgrade: iTunes or iCloud to backup and restore?

[dmk1974]

I've always preferred to use a wired connection to my Mac Mini for iTunes encrypted backups of my iPhones. Works perfectly. No issues. Passwords and settings all carry over. Very reliable and robust process.

On my kid's phone, recently, I tried an iCloud backup/restore. Seemed ok. Wasn't any faster in my opinion, but I did find that I needed to enter in a lot more settings and app passwords than via the iTunes method. Is that typical? From what a read here, both are encrypted backups and figured it would be exactly the same.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136

With our 7's arriving in a couple days, which method do you think is better for a backup/restore to move to the 7 (I know some like to setup from scratch, but I'm not interested in that option). Thanks!

 

[urkel]

iTunes. And make sure you click the encryption button so that it will save your passwords.

iCloud Backup is a great for when everything else goes wrong. But actually restoring from it is a bit of a mess because you have to re-download all your apps and (for me at least) something always goes wrong. Wired backups have been much more reliable (which is why its such a shame that Apple is giving so little attention to iTunes. They still kinda suck at online services).

 

[dmk1974]

iTunes. And make sure you click the encryption button so that it will save your passwords.

Yep, I always have that checked...makes it much smoother in that regard.

 

[edlex]

iTunes for sure.

 

[Steve686]

iTunes. Wirelessly.

 

[dmk1974]

iTunes. Wirelessly.

Is there a benefit connecting to iTunes wireless vs wired? Or just the convenience of more frequent backups when nearby and on the same WiFi network? The restore would be still wired though, right?

 

[Steve686]

Is there a benefit connecting to iTunes wireless vs wired? Or just the convenience of more frequent backups when nearby and on the same WiFi network? The restore would be still wired though, right?

Preference. Convenience.

 

[dmk1974]

One other question...I have never sync'd my iPhone to my MacBook Air (only to my Mac Mini) and was wondering if I can also sync to my MBA? I do not sync any music via iTunes (all Apple Music is in the cloud). I might have some ringtones though.

Main reason I ask...I'll probably pick up my iPhone 7 on Friday morning at the UPS customer counter on the way to work. I'd love to initiate the restore process via iTunes right away. Bringing the MBA to work is a lot easier than dragging my Mac Mini. Worst-case of course, I just wait til I get home from work to transfer.

 

[metsjetsfan]

iTunes. And make sure you click the encryption button so that it will save your passwords.

iCloud Backup is a great for when everything else goes wrong. But actually restoring from it is a bit of a mess because you have to re-download all your apps and (for me at least) something always goes wrong. Wired backups have been much more reliable (which is why its such a shame that Apple is giving so little attention to iTunes. They still kinda suck at online services).

itunes re downloads over wifi as well for the app. it changed after the app thinning. But it does keep all your data and logins. Not sure if icloud does know or not but it didn't a couple yrs ago