If I don't need to sync iMessage across multiple devices, any advantage to using Messages in iCloud vs iCloud Backup?
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Messages in iCloud vs iCloud Backup
- Thread starter acousticbiker
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It makes iCloud backups faster since they're not backing up all your messages and it makes restoring from an iCloud backup faster on a new phone since it downloads messages in the background similar to pictures. But from a functionality standpoint, if you only have one device, it's exactly the same.
Is another benefit that it frees up space on your phone? (since Messages in iCloud moves pictures, etc to cloud while iCloud backup keeps on device but just backs up in cloud - is that right?)
Messages in iCloud uses "optimize storage", freeing up storage space used by the Messages app.
Take my iPhone, for instance. On iPhone Storage page of the Settings app, Messages app is currently using 90 MB of "Documents & Data" storage space. On iCloud Storage page, however, Messages is using 1.7 GB of iCloud storage space.
And as Gyroworld pointed out earlier, iCloud Backup will omit Messages data for backup (ditto for Photos data if you enable iCloud Photo Library).
Take my iPhone, for instance. On iPhone Storage page of the Settings app, Messages app is currently using 90 MB of "Documents & Data" storage space. On iCloud Storage page, however, Messages is using 1.7 GB of iCloud storage space.
And as Gyroworld pointed out earlier, iCloud Backup will omit Messages data for backup (ditto for Photos data if you enable iCloud Photo Library).
Right and if you didn't use Messages in iCloud, my understanding is that Messages would use 1.7GB of iPhone storage
Yup. If you don't need to carry all your data on the phone locally, a paid iCloud tier goes a long way toward making 64 GB base storage option usable, even for a power user. I shoot all my videos on 4K (my Photos library is more than 1 TB) and never delete a message. And I still have more than 20 GB storage available on my dinky 64 GB iPhone.