iCloud back says it is full when it is actually...empty

[Valkyre]

Hey guys I am having a crazy issue with my wife iphone 6s icloud backup.

iCloud says it will take 6 gigs for the next backup and there is literally nothing in there apart from the contacts. Photos are disabled, in fact I have disabled every single thing apart from the contact and the backup cannot be completed because there is no space, which prompts me for an upgrade.

Which I dont want because the only thing my wife needs to back up is her contacts and a few safari bookmarks and other little things.

It doesnt make sense at all.

Things I have tried basis my searches on the internet:

a) Delete previous icloud backup and request for new one.
b) Sign in and out of iCloud account multiple times
c) Restart the phone

Still same problem. I havent restored the phone, I really dont want to go through this thing unless I have tried everything else first. It is a big hassle, plus there is an actual problem of not having the important stuff (contacts etc) backed up since I have the issue with icloud. I could do it via itunes i guess, but I would love it if someone can help me out with this.

Thanks

 

[dsemf]

Hey guys I am having a crazy issue with my wife iphone 6s icloud backup.

iCloud says it will take 6 gigs for the next backup and there is literally nothing in there apart from the contacts. Photos are disabled, in fact I have disabled every single thing apart from the contact and the backup cannot be completed because there is no space, which prompts me for an upgrade.

Which I dont want because the only thing my wife needs to back up is her contacts and a few safari bookmarks and other little things.

It doesnt make sense at all.

Things I have tried basis my searches on the internet:

a) Delete previous icloud backup and request for new one.
b) Sign in and out of iCloud account multiple times
c) Restart the phone

Still same problem. I havent restored the phone, I really dont want to go through this thing unless I have tried everything else first. It is a big hassle, plus there is an actual problem of not having the important stuff (contacts etc) backed up since I have the issue with icloud. I could do it via itunes i guess, but I would love it if someone can help me out with this.

Thanks

Have you confirmed the storage requirements by looking at Setup >> General >> iPhone Storage? The listing shows app and data size but you can see the details to see the data size.

DS

 

[Valkyre]

Have you confirmed the storage requirements by looking at Setup >> General >> iPhone Storage? The listing shows app and data size but you can see the details to see the data size.

DS

What do you mean by that? What storage requirements are you referring to? Like I said in my original post I deactivate everything from icloud backup except from contacts which are listed as 10 MB in storage. Yet icloud says the next backup is 5.95GB and prompts me to upgrade because there is not enough storage for the backup.

There is literally nothing else on that icloud account. No other devices, no previous backups nothing. It appears completely empty.

 

[dsemf]

What do you mean by that? What storage requirements are you referring to? Like I said in my original post I deactivate everything from icloud backup except from contacts which are listed as 10 MB in storage. Yet icloud says the next backup is 5.95GB and prompts me to upgrade because there is not enough storage for the backup.

There is literally nothing else on that icloud account. No other devices, no previous backups nothing. It appears completely empty.

I might be wrong, but my understanding is that iCloud backup includes everything on the phone minus the operating system, applications and data that is already in iCloud, such as Apple Music, iCloud Photo Library, etc. If application XYZ has 5GB of data, that is included.

DS

 

[Valkyre]

I might be wrong, but my understanding is that iCloud backup includes everything on the phone minus the operating system, applications and data that is already in iCloud, such as Apple Music, iCloud Photo Library, etc. If application XYZ has 5GB of data, that is included.

DS

But you are able to choose what you icloud to update and what you dont. For example, like I said, this issue is with my wife's iphone. My devices, which include an iphone and an ipad in the same account, are both backup in icloud with a ton of stuff (not photos and music apparently) and I still have 2 GB left to spare!

In my wife I disable literally everything and only ask icloud to backup her contacts and yet it says the backup is 6 GB big. And it doesnt matter if I choose contacts or something else as trivial as this, for example an app that says it requires 10MB of space for icloud backup. The backup size will still be 6GB.

It really drives me crazy and I cant seem to find a solution for this.

 

[dsemf]

But you are able to choose what you icloud to update and what you dont. For example, like I said, this issue is with my wife's iphone. My devices, which include an iphone and an ipad in the same account, are both backup in icloud with a ton of stuff (not photos and music apparently) and I still have 2 GB left to spare!

In my wife I disable literally everything and only ask icloud to backup her contacts and yet it says the backup is 6 GB big. And it doesnt matter if I choose contacts or something else as trivial as this, for example an app that says it requires 10MB of space for icloud backup. The backup size will still be 6GB.

It really drives me crazy and I cant seem to find a solution for this.

I am curious, where are you de-selecting non-Apple app data from an IOS backup?

DS

 

[Valkyre]

I am curious, where are you de-selecting non-Apple app data from an IOS backup?

DS

When you go to icloud settings, choose your backup, manage, then you get to choose what kind of data you want icloud to back up.

 

[dsemf]

When you go to icloud settings, choose your backup, manage, then you get to choose what kind of data you want icloud to back up.

If you go to Settings >> (name) >> iCloud >> Manage Storage, select Backups, select the phone, Show All Apps under CHOOSE DATA TO BACKUP you can see what will be included in a backup. Is this the screen you have been talking about?

DS

 

[Valkyre]

If you go to Settings >> (name) >> iCloud >> Manage Storage, select Backups, select the phone, Show All Apps under CHOOSE DATA TO BACKUP you can see what will be included in a backup. Is this the screen you have been talking about?

DS

Precisely. And that is where I disable everything except for something trivial like contacts. And still the calculated backup appears as 6gb.

 

[Ledgem]

Does your wife assign photos to each contact? I'd think that the system should intelligently crop and/or resize images so that you couldn't have massive space taken by contact photos, but I wonder...

 

[Valkyre]

Does your wife assign photos to each contact? I'd think that the system should intelligently crop and/or resize images so that you couldn't have massive space taken by contact photos, but I wonder...

No she does not. It really doesnt make sense.

 

[dsemf]

Precisely. And that is where I disable everything except for something trivial like contacts. And still the calculated backup appears as 6gb.

One last shot and then I am out of ideas.

Settings >> Passwords & Accounts >> iCloud. Everything is off except Contacts and iCloud Backup.

DS

 

[Valkyre]

^^ correct.... I think the only thing left to try is resetting the phone. But I hate this hassle... I really really hate it. I guess I have to book an appointment with genius at an apple store.

Problem is there are no apple stores in my country therefore there are no apple geniuses...lol