4 Efficient Ways: How to Backup iPhone to Windows 10/11🔥🔥

Do you know how to backup iPhone on Windows 11/10 PC or laptop? Luckily, here 4 effective methods to backup your iPhone data to computer to free up storage and avoid data loss.

Dylan

By Dylan / Updated on March 6, 2024

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Why Backing Up iPhone on Windows Is Important?

It is a good habit to back up your iPhone regularly, and you can choose to backup iPhone to Windows PC for the following reasons.

Protect data from loss. Back up your iPhone to computer to prevent data loss due to virus attack or factory reset. Storing iPhone data on a Windows PC ensures quick data recovery.
Free up more space. iPhones often have limited storage for saving files, photos, videos, etc. Backing up iPhone data to external drive or PC helps free up space.
Transfer data from old iPhone to new iPhone. When have a brand-new iPhone, you can backup your current iPhone data to computer, then restore to the new iPhone. 

There are many methods on how to back up an iPhone to Windows 10/11, and here are the four most commonly used by iPhone users, including the free one. You can choose the one that suits you best.

How to Backup iPhone to Windows 11/10 and Laptop

This section will provide you with the 4 effective ways to backup iPhone data to computer. You can choose one according to your needs.

🏆FoneTool

😃Pros: Selective/full backup, fast process 

😖Cons: Requires third-party software installation

📗iCloud

😃Pros: Daily backup, no PC connection

😖Cons: Limited free storage space (5 GB), unstable

📔iTunes

😃Pros: Complete backup on the PC

😖Cons: Slower, especially with large backups

📙Dropbox

😃Pros: Auto backup

😖Cons: Limited free storage space (2 GB), unstable

Method 1. Backup iPhone on Windows PC via FoneTool (Fast & Free)

We highly recommend using the more powerful free iPhone backup app - FoneTool, which offers two backup options: Full Backup and Selective Backup.

Full Backup: Backup all iPhone data to computers or external hard drives like USB, flash drive with one click, any app such as WhatsApp can be backed up from iPhone to Windows PC.
Selective Backup:  Allows users to choose specific data types (photos, videos, contacts, messages, etc.) for backup, saving your PC storage.

FoneTool
Free & Easy iOS Backup Software
  • Transfer unlimited files between iPhone and PC.
  • Restore to another Apple ID/device with ease.
  • Quickly backup iPhone to another PC or iPhone with ease.
  • Specify a backup location: NAS, USB drive and other external drives.

FoneTool provides unique advantages like faster speed (1000+ photos can be moved to a PC in about 3 minutes) and versatile backup locations. Now you follow the detailed steps to learn how to backup iPhone to PC without iTunes and iCloud.

Selectively back up iPhone to Windows 11/10 

Step 1. Connect your iPhone with a PC and Trust this computer on your iPhone.

Step 2. Open FoneTool, click Phone Backup> Selective Backup > Get Started.

custom backup

Step 3. Click an icon to select the item you want to backup,  here is an example of Photos, click the OK button to backup photos to your computer.

select files

Step 4. At the lower button, you can click Backup Storage Path to decide where to save the backup files. Then click the Start Backup button.

click on backup

Then wait for the iPhone backup to Windows 10 to be completed. You can easily find your backup files on My Backups.

restore backup

Fully back up iPhone data in Windows PC

Step 1. On the FoneTool, click Phone Backup > Full Backup > Get Started to run it.

full backup

Step 2. If you want to backup private data, like Keychain, you can enable Backup Encryption. Then click Start Backup

start backup

Method 2. Backup iPhone to Windows PC Using iCloud

iCloud is a cloud storage service provided by Apple. It can be another way to backup iPhone to PC without iTunes. Once you enable the iCloud service, your files will be synced among your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Here is how to backup iPhone to iCloud on computer:

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi or WLAN and make sure that iPhone has enough power.

Step 2. Go to Settings on your iPhone, select [Your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

backup iphone on icloud

Step 3. Click Back Up Now to start to backup iPhone on iCloud.

backup now

Step 4. When the backup process is complete, open your browser on your computer and go to: www.icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID. Then, choose data your want to backup. 

Icloud Site

Step 5. Select files you want to backup and click the Download button on the top of the site. If you are moving photos to your PC, you will be asked to choose an original or compatible format.

Download From Icloud Windows

⚠️Note:

  • It’s not totally free for you to use iCloud backup iPhone. You just have 5GB of free storage and have to pay for more iCloud storage.

  • If your iCloud backup takes forever, you can check if your Internet/Wi-Fi is working well. And you can disable some large apps in iCloud.

Method 3. Backup iPhone on Windows computer with iTunes

iTunes is another backup way. This software is free for you but supports only full backup and full recovery. That means you have to backup almost full iPhone data on Windows, and can only restore everything to your iPhone from iTunes backup without choice, which will take up too much storage space.

FoneTool and iCloud could select the data which you want to restore. Continue to learn how to backup iPhone without iCloud to laptop:

Step 1. Download, install iTunes for Windows.

Step 2. Launch iTunes on your computer and connect your iPhone to Windows computer.

Step 3. Click the icon of your iPhone in the upper left, select Summary > Back Up Now.

backup iphone on itunes

Step 4. After the backup process has finished, you can go search Apple or Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup to find and view the iPhone backup files created by iTunes.

🌟Tips:

► To restore a backup with iTunes, you can click the "Restore Backup" button on the "Summary", which is next to the Back Up Now. 

► Where are iPhone backups stored on Windows? You can go directly to your backup location by entering the following path in File Explorer: "C:\Users\[account name]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\ backup".

►If you want to backup your iPhone to an external drive, you need to open Command Prompt to run  MkLink /J: "C:\Users\UserName\Apple\MobileSync\Backup" "C:\MobileSync\Backup". 

Method 4. Backup iPhone to Windows PC with Dropbox

Dropbox is a useful cloud storage space that is more compatible than iCloud. Although Dropbox doesn't directly offer a built-in feature to back up your entire iPhone to your Windows 10 computer. However, you can manually upload and save specific files from your iPhone to your Dropbox account, and then restore them to your Windows 10 computer.

Let's learn how to backup iPhone to different drive of Windows 10:

Step 1. Download and install the Dropbox on your iPhone, sign in with your account.

Step 2. Open the app on your iPhone, select the files or folders you want to backup, tap the More icon.

Step 3. Select Export or Share > Save to Dropbox > Save.

Step 4. Go and sign in to the Dropbox website on your Windows 10 computer.

Step 5. Select the files/folders you want to download. Click on the Download button and save them to your Windows 10 PC.

Download from Dropbox

FAQs About How to Backup iPhone Data on PC

Here are some frequently asked questions about backup iPhone in Windows PC.

1. Does iTunes Backup Everything?

iTunes backup includes most data on an iPhone, but not includes everything. It will save most local data like photos, videos, contacts, music, etc. But the data synced to iCloud storage will not be included. And if you ever sync some photos from your PC to iPhone via iCloud, these synced pics via iTunes won't be included in an iTunes backup.

2. How to Make an Encrypted iPhone Backup?

To back up some private data with iTunes, like passwords, keychains, and Health data, you can perform a full iPhone backup with encryption. FoneTool and iTunes can help you.  Just enable the backup encryption on FoneToo or iTunes before you execute a backup process.

3. Where is iPhone backup located on PC?

The process of looking for and opening iPhone backups on your PC is very simple. Follow these steps:

  • Make sure your PC is running smoothly and your iPhone is disconnected from your PC > Open file explorer on your Windows PC or laptop.
  • Navigate to the specific directory where your iPhone backups are stored. The default location for iPhone backups is listed below: C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Conclusion

Here we guide you on how to backup iPhone on Windows 11/10 computer or laptop. You can use iTunes to backup iPhone to computer or iCloud to backup iPhone to the cloud.

But by contrast, we can see that FoneTool is more suitable for backup iPhone to Windows 11/10 PC. It gives you more flexible selections with simple operations. You can easily backup your iOS device to computer or external hard drive. Besides, FoneTool also offers other features like converting HEIC to JPG or wiping an iPhone without iTunes before selling.