Is anyone else getting this weird error in iCloud where you can delete a phantom backup but the system still shows that the backup is still there? I have a 4gb phantom backup that just won't go away and even apple support said they couldn't get rid of it. They are trying to figure out how they can do it but that they suspect that my old 4s may be to blame as I tried out a beta version of ios 8 last year. Their reason sounds fishy but iCloud is now unusable for me.
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phantom iCloud backup cannot be deleted
- Thread starter SoIsays
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Were you able to delete your backup? There's no backup showing for me when I long into iCloud from my MBA but it still says 1.2gb of 5gb remaining.
I've been in contact with them since late October and they aren't able to delete it. They blame it on an old phone of mine having been on a beta version of iOS 8 last year. Very strange why they can't just go and delete my backup off their servers.
Have you asked for Tier 2 support or a Senior Advisor? They have the ability to quickly and easily delete it.
Yeah, or at least they say they are senior advisors. I've asked each time I speak with them to please have an engineer just remove it, but they always come back with confusion on why it can't be deleted. I've resigned myself to just backing up to my laptop as that was their only solution until they come up with a plan since they claim that there are a lot of people with this problem.
That is so weird. Engineers don't even need to get involved. Advisors can see the backup and delete all backups on the account then you create new ones and start over.
I upgraded to a new iPhone 6s Plus yesterday and traded my old 5s in at Best Buy. I signed out of iCloud and they erased the phone while I was there. This morning I got an alert that the new phone couldn't be backed up because I didn't have enough iCloud storage. I upgraded to the 50gb plan since it's only $12/year and my new phone is a 128gb model.
But it's odd that I can't delete the backup from the old phone. I also tried deleting it from my MacBook Air and got the error that it was "in use". Maybe some data is still being slowly migrated to my new phone? It has been about 24 hours since I switched and the old backup is about 2.5gb. I found a thread on Apple's support forums where someone else was able to fix a similar problem by just waiting a few days and trying again.
But it's odd that I can't delete the backup from the old phone. I also tried deleting it from my MacBook Air and got the error that it was "in use". Maybe some data is still being slowly migrated to my new phone? It has been about 24 hours since I switched and the old backup is about 2.5gb. I found a thread on Apple's support forums where someone else was able to fix a similar problem by just waiting a few days and trying again.
Was your 5s on 8.x? 8.x backups are not visible to El Cap and iOS 9.
You will need to call Apple to get that taken care of.
Thanks. I never upgraded the 5s, I believe it was actually on iOS 7.x. My MBA is also still on the original, MacOSX 10.8.5. I have a lot of old software and don't want to break it upgrading at this point.
I am not very concerned about the 2gb that the old phone backup is using on iCloud now that I've upgraded to the 50gb plan. Just another strange glitch.
Just a quick update. I was able to delete the backup of the old phone just now with no problem. So I'm wondering whether data from the old backup was still being slowly transferred to the new phone for an extended period? My home internet connection is slow DSL and I use an AT&T Microcell because I can rarely get a signal inside my house.
Or maybe it just takes a couple days for the change to a new phone to become effective on Apple's servers? Regardless, everything's fine, it was just a matter of waiting a couple days, no need to call Apple.
Or maybe it just takes a couple days for the change to a new phone to become effective on Apple's servers? Regardless, everything's fine, it was just a matter of waiting a couple days, no need to call Apple.
I have figured it out, I think. You have to wait on the back up page until the backup data is fully loaded, once it is, then you can delete it with no problem. Worked for me when i did that!
Yeah, I was going to mention that as that seems to be one of the solutions that comes up in various places in relation to this and something that seems to work for many people.
Settings - iCloud - Backups ... you will have a list of backups on the right windows (EL Capitan)
This is an Apple known issue. My wife and I both had this problem and it also has the side affect of causing the iCloud backups to always fail. Apple escalated the issue and has handed it to engineering to solve. Currently the only known workaround is to check it everyday to see if the button shows. Seems to be a server related issue (big surprise).
Yeah, that does not work most of the time. The button flat out never shows up after everything loads.
I've finally gotten it to show up but it took the luck of the draw one day while on the phone with a CSR for it to show. They hadn't done anything to the server.