8 Tips: iPhone Backup Failed for Not Enough Space in iCloud

Why won't iPhone backup to iCloud even though there is space?

iCloud is a built-in tool on iPhone. You could easily find it in iPhone Settings to backup iPhone data or the whole iPhone to the cloud. You could sync iPhone data on another Apple device with iCloud or restore iPhone when you set up it. However, there are chances that you are notified that your iCloud backup failed or encounter such issue "This iPhone cannot be backed up because there is not enough iCloud storage available." 

There are two possibilities for receiving this message, one is that you have run out of your iCloud storage, and the other is that there is a mismatch in how Apple accounts for and reports on what is stored in your iCloud account. No matter what situation you are in, here in this guide, you can find a way out.

Part 1. Fix "iPhone backup failed for not enough space in iCloud"

Every user could have 5GB of free iCloud storage. How can you solve the problem when iCloud storage is not enough? You should delete unneeded data on iCloud or reduce iPhone backup size.

#1 Deleting iCloud photos: iPhone photos could eat much iCloud storage for their high quality. You could not view iCloud photos on iPhone but there’s another way to view or delete them.

Go to the site of iCloud and sign in with your Apple ID > Click the icon of Photos > Press Ctrl and select pictures as many as you want to delete them.

The best way to clear iCloud storage is backing up iPhone photos to computer and then delete all the iCloud photos.

#2 Deleting other iCloud data: Even though you could not view the specific files in the cloud, you could view and delete the whole folder on iPhone.

Step 1. Go to iPhone Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage.

Step 2. Delete the files you want, especially the old backup to release iCloud storage. You could see all the iCloud data and how much storage they have occupied.

#3 Check iCloud backup size: Except for clear iCloud storage, you could also reduce the content of iPhone backup.

Step 1. Go to Manage Storage > Backups > Tap the name of your device. You could find the device name there even though you haven’t backed up your iPhone with iCloud.

Step 2. Uncheck the apps you don’t want to backup

You could see when you backup iPhone with iCloud last time and the estimated backup size this time. How much storage that the app data is going to take is shown.

Part 2. Fix "iPhone Won't Backup to iCloud not Enough Storage but There Is"

In most cases, even if you receive the notice that iPhone cannot be backed up because there is not enough storage, you still have space available in your iCloud account. If you are confident with your available iCloud storage space, try solutions in this part to troubleshoot the issue.

#1 Check iOS System Status: Sometimes Apple is maintaining or upgrading iOS service, so iCloud might give you wrong clue. You could check iOS System Status to see whether the issue is being temporarily open. You could wait until the issue is closed or contact Apple support to consult.

#2 Check for iOS update: Make sure your device is running the most recent version of iOS. Apple will repair some problems in your system and iCloud with each new release. Just go to Settings > General > Software Update to update to the newest version.

#3 Check iCloud sync settings: Ensure that any iCloud-enabled apps and services are correctly synced and are not taking up unnecessary space. If you do not want certain apps or data to be synchronized to iCloud and use up iCloud storage, you can disable backup for these apps in the iCloud storage management window shown in the first method.

#4 Sign out and in iCloud: Signing out and then logging in iCloud again on your iPhone can refresh the iCloud backup service, which can occasionally help with syncing issues and storage errors. To achieve this, go to Settings > your profile > Scroll down to the bottom and tap Sign Out.

#5 Contact Apple Support: If none of the above steps resolve the issue, you may need to contact Apple support for further assistance. They can help you troubleshoot the issue and may be able to offer additional solutions. Optionally, you can head to the next part to look for an iCloud alternative to manually backup iPhone to iCloud or computer.

Part 3. How to Keep iPhone Data Safe with/without iCloud

If the above solutions still can't fix your problem of "iPhone backup failed for not enough storage in iCloud", you can consider backing up your iPhone in other ways. And the best destination would be your computer. Because any cloud service carries the risk of a data leakage. Here, we'd like to recommend you FoneTool to assist you.

FoneTool is free professional iOS data management software. You could backup photos, videos, music, messages, and contacts to computer and view them any time you want. Beside its backup function, it also can help you manually free up iCloud storage and upload data to your iCloud account if you still insist using iCloud to backup your iPhone.

Download FoneTool for free by clicking the icon below, and backup your iPhone data to PC or manage your iCloud storage as per your need by following the steps below.

Option 1. Backup iPhone data to PC

Unlike iCloud, FoneTool allows you to backup all iPhone data or preview and select the files you want to backup. When restoring, you could also select the data you want.

Step 1. Connect iPhone to computer with USB cable and tap “Trust” on it.

Step 2. Click Phone Backup and choose Selective Backup (or Full Backup if you'd like to get full iPhone backup). Click an icon to preview and select what you want, and click OK to confirm.

Step 3. Click Start Backup and your backup will be saved to computer in seconds.

Option 2. Manually free up/upload iCloud data 

If you are sure you have enough iCloud storage when this issue occurs, you can try FoneTool to manually upload iPhone data to your iCloud account. FoneTool also allows you to delete selective iCloud data to get more iCloud storage. Here are the steps you can follow. 

Step 1. Launch FoneTool on your computer > Click My iCloud and sign in with your iCloud account > Click Manage iCloud.

Step 2. From here, you are able to click each icon to choose to delete data from iCloud, and upload data to your iCloud account.

💡 To upload iPhone data to iCloud using FoneTool, you can firstly utilize FoneTool's Phone Transfer function to complete iPhone to Windows file transfer.

Conclusion

Your iPhone backup failed for not enough space in iCloud, you could clear photos, old backups, or other data in the iCloud setting or the website of iCloud. If you think there is enough iCloud storage, you should go to iCloud setting to check whether it is eaten by another device signed in the same Apple ID or check whether Apple is maintaining iCloud backup service.

The most convenient way to permanently solve your problem is using FoneTool to backup iPhone to computer so that you don’t have to worry about insufficient storage. If this passage solves your problem, you could share it to help more people.