Why is backing up the iPhone SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

[Hephaestus]

it doesn't, but I was responding to warzhee to let him/her know that it is still possible to backup with iTunes if iCloud is enabled.

Oh okay. It's been a day now and nobody seems to have a solution, so I think I'm just going to do a full restore. Thanks for the responses anyway.

 

[Hephaestus]

Ok so I just restored my phone and I selected "restore from iCloud backup" as I thought this would give me my contacts and messages, but I've discovered that it restored the settings so "other" is still fairly chunky.

Does anyone know if you can set up from new and then later restore specific things from iCloud? Like only restore the contacts and messages without restoring everything like settings? I see no way to do this, if you can't that is pretty silly.

 

[Hephaestus]

Okay so I just did another restore, this time without restoring from any back up. Turns out that your contacts get restored anyway, even if you don't select a restore from back up option. Now that's what I want to see!

 

[Night Spring]

Does anyone know if you can set up from new and then later restore specific things from iCloud? Like only restore the contacts and messages without restoring everything like settings? I see no way to do this, if you can't that is pretty silly.

Well... Contacts, calendar, bookmarks, notes, reminders, docs, pictures in photo stream... Anything that you can turn on/off in iClouds settings can be restored individually, provided they were synced to iCloud in the first place. Text messages, unfortunately, are part of the general backup, so they can't be restored if you set up your phone as new. If you have a backup on your computer through iTunes, I've heard there are third-party programs that can extract specific info from the backup, including the text messages. I haven't used them myself, so I don't know how well they work.

And iCloud backup does replace iTunes backup. I've restored from iCloud backup, and it does pull down all apps you had installed on your phone from the App store. Of course, it takes a long time to download everything, so if you have the apps on your computer, it's faster to restore from your computer.

As for "other" -- there are several things that can cause them. If you have a substantial amount of "other" left over after a restore, then it's probably one or more apps that are saving their data in a weird way so it gets registered as "other" rather than as part of the apps. Only way to weed them out would be to delete apps one by one, or alternately, delete all apps and install them one by one. Or just accept that there would be some amount of "other" on your phone, and live with it.

And btw, when installing a new app, you need double the amount of space the app normally takes. ie, when installing a 500MB app, you need 1G free. This is because the app is first downloaded as an install file, then it installs, then it deletes the install file.

 

[wharzhee]

ive never really encountered this "other"

but what about this:
under general>usage>storage.

there will be a huge stack of applications that you installed or previiously installed.
it specifically tells you how much is being used.
and you can click on the icon(the apps) and then delete it from there.

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Okay so I just did another restore, this time without restoring from any back up. Turns out that your contacts get restored anyway, even if you don't select a restore from back up option. Now that's what I want to see!

this is because under icloud, there is a on/off switch for contacts,calendar,mails.etc.

the backup is meant for your other account settings, and sms messages, datas for the other application.

and yes you can specifically state what to save in your backup.
under general>usage>icloud>manage storage>(click on your iphone/ipad/idevice)>backup options

over at the backup options, you will see an entire stack of applications you can turn on or off to backup

 

[Hephaestus]

And btw, when installing a new app, you need double the amount of space the app normally takes. ie, when installing a 500MB app, you need 1G free. This is because the app is first downloaded as an install file, then it installs, then it deletes the install file.

Ah! I was wondering what the reason was, thanks for the explanation.

Also, I just did a restore from new and I'm transferring my apps manually from my MacBook now.

You're right about messages, I have unfortunately lost them but everything else seems to be here. It's also worth noting that without restoring from a back up, App data isn't sent back to the phone so I assume I've lost my gamesaves.

Thanks for all the responses guys, including you Wharzhee. Again I apologise if I sounded rude last night, this episode occurred at 2AM and I was very annoyed.

 

[scaredpoet]

In iTunes when I do a back up, I'm actually literally backing up my applications so they are actually stored on my computer. So I can simply transfer them back to my phone.

The same is essentially true on iCloud as well. App data is stored, including what was purchased and installed on your phone, and where. All you need is to be on Wifi, and your apps all reload onto your iPhone as you restore from an iCloud backup.

 

[Hephaestus]

The same is essentially true on iCloud as well. App data is stored, including what was purchased and installed on your phone, and where. All you need is to be on Wifi, and your apps all reload onto your iPhone as you restore from an iCloud backup.

Yeah but with iCloud you have to re-download. Downloading a 1.5GB app takes a while but transferring it is a lot quicker. This is why I like to properly back up my apps on my Mac, its much quicker.

Anyway, I've finished my restore and the phone is definitely much snappier now and "other" only takes up 0.4GB as opposed to 1.5GB.

My springboard has crashed once however since the restore which isn't very encouraging, hopefully it was just an isolated incident and won't occur again.

 

[r.j.s]

If crashes or other glitches keep happening, I'd take it to Apple, as it points to a hardware problem.

 

[iSayuSay]

Speaking of iPhone being frustating. I also that being true to some degree.

1. Why cant I send photos taken from iPhone camera by me to not be able to sent by Bluetooth? What copyright would I violate by doing that to MY own photos?

2. It's also so hard to import photos from iPhone camera to my Mac!! Sync only copy pictures from Mac to iPhone. Not the other way around. Apple said iTunes is the only thing needed as a hub from iOS to Mac. Well they dont, obviously!

3. Why is it has to be so hard for iPhone to create a custom ringtone? Because Apple wants me to "Buy more tones"? Well, fine .. Another phone also sell tones but they dont prevent its phone to use a simple full track mp3 as a ringtone!! No need for 30secs limit and m4r converts! Again it cant send ringtones via bluetooth or WiFi.

This simplicity and closed ecosystem getting ridiculous for me at times. Not that I hate iPhone, but Apple can do it better, come on!

And sure. Some people would vote me down. Some cant stand if anyone speak something bad about Apple, even if it was for Apple's own good.

 

[Stealthipad]

I just deleted the Tin Tin game since and now it sync'd the rest fine. For some reason when that was backing up Tin Tin the stupid thing was adding stuff onto the phone, for some bizarre reason. Since I'm on the topic of Tin Tin thats another thing that pisses me off.

Apple, is it so hard to accurately describe an application? On the App Store it says the game is 800MB large, when I bought it I discover that its 1.5GB. The real information could result in me wasting my money. IS IT SO DAMN HARD to write an accurate description?!

Damn you people are really challenging my loyalty to this brand that is turning to a piece of ****.

You need to get over it. If you want this slick phone you must put up with the crap that Apple does. Who do you think YOU are! Sounds like you got too much crap on your phone! Clean it out and let Apple do as it wishes!

 

[Hephaestus]

You need to get over it. If you want this slick phone you must put up with the crap that Apple does. Who do you think YOU are! Sounds like you got too much crap on your phone! Clean it out and let Apple do as it wishes!

I'm detecting sarcasm in this post, I really hope it is a sarcastic post. If it isn't, I suggest you get your head examined.

 

[YMark]

Seriously Apple, considering all the genius software engineers you have, iTunes is CRAP.

I'm only commenting on the above. You are 100% correct. iTunes is one of the most archaic, convoluted, user unfriendly pieces of software that I've used in a long time. Way over due for a complete architectural rebuild.