Trouble Backing Up iPhone Data

[mattnotis]

Hey, yall. I'm upgrading my 11 Pro to a 13 Pro. I tried backing everything up to my iMac and restoring from the backup, but it got stuck in the process of restoration. From what it seems, my old phone was able to successfully back itself up completely to my iMac. I then decided to sign up for icloud and backup my phone using that method. However, I noticed the file size for my backup was significantly smaller than the used space on my iPhone 11 Pro. Is this normal for iCloud? It seems even with compression it seems much lower than it should be.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[now i see it]

Backup to Mac contains more stuff.
iCloud backup is always smaller because everything has to download again, so not everything is uploaded. Specifically the OS

 

[mattnotis]

Backup to Mac contains more stuff.
iCloud backup is always smaller because everything has to download again, so not everything is uploaded. Specifically the OS

What sorts of major things wouldn't transfer over via an iCloud backup?

 

[now i see it]

The OS itself gets downloaded fresh from an iCloud backup.

 

[0128672]

What sorts of major things wouldn't transfer over via an iCloud backup?

Here's what's included (and not included) in an iCloud backup:

What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support

iCloud Backup helps keep your data safe by making a copy of the information on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro that isn't already synced to iCloud.

support.apple.com

And the difference between iCloud backup and iPhone/iPad backups to your Mac:

Backup methods for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

A backup allows you to copy and save the information from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you replace your device, you can use a backup to transfer your information to a new device.

support.apple.com