iPhone 4 no longer automatically backs up via USB/WiFi in iTunes?

[Mazda 3s]

OK, I upgraded to iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 and the latest version of iTunes, but I noticed last night that iTunes hasn't been automatically backing up my iPhone whenever I sync. It said that my last backup was on October 13.

The previous behavior before iOS 5 was that whenever I would plug in my iPhone via USB, it would automatically backup, then start syncing my apps. Now, it will just start syncing my apps and that's it (USB and WiFi).

The only way I can initialize a backup now is manually backing up by selecting my iPhone from iTunes.

I tried deleting all of my backups from iTunes, then starting anew, but still have the same problem. Is there any way to get my automatic backups back? I don't have iCloud backup enabled.

 

[CK1Czar]

I've been trying to figure out the same thing. I just "right-click" my phone and hit "back up"

 

[Simon86]

I think it's just the new default behaviour. A lot of iOS 5 users will have their device backing up automatically, so iTune backup is now a manual function. For instance my device is set to backup to iCloud automatically, so I'd be annoyed if iTunes backed up every time I synced.

 

[DefBref]

If you have setup iCloud backup, then it will no longer automatically perform backups to iTunes. Switch iCloud backup off and it will start backup to iTunes, even over wifi.

 

[Mazda 3s]

If you have setup iCloud backup, then it will no longer automatically perform backups to iTunes. Switch iCloud backup off and it will start backup to iTunes, even over wifi.

As I stated in my OP, I don't have iCloud backup enabled.

 

[Mr.C]

I don't have iCloud backup set up either. Mine works fine though. Everytime I sync either my iPhone 4S or iPad 2 iTunes does a back up first as a matter of course.

 

[flashflooder]

In my experience, this feature is still a little buggy (I'm running iTunes on Windows 7, if that matters).

I often get a little '!' notification next to the phone, with a message saying the phone couldn't be found (even though they're on the same network). I also occasionally get pop-ups saying the same thing (which sucks because they lock me out from using Remote to stream music... I have to go click 'OK' on the notification to use iTunes again.) And then sometimes, my phone will not recognize that my PC is ready to sync when I go to Settings ->General->Wifi Sync and try to manually sync.

Hopefully these issues get ironed out, because I LOVE the feature.

 

[kaplanfx]

I'm having this same issue. I didn't enable iCloud backup on either my iPhone 4 or my iPad 1. The iPad 1 seems to backup fine on each sync, but the iPhone 4 will only backup manually (manual backups DO work fine). I even tried switching iCloud backup to "on", got a message about how this would stop local backups. Then I switched iClound backup to off, I got a specific message saying that local backups would now be performed on sync, but the local backups do not occur unless I specifically select backup manually, separate from the sync. Definitely a bug and looks like it might be Iphone 4 specific.

-kap