Warning - lost lots of data after restoring from iCloud backup (iOS 9)

[MasterHowl]

After my Touch ID wasn't working properly on my ~3 week old iPhone 6S, I was advised by Apple to reset my phone to factory settings and then restore my iCloud backup.

Everything worked fine, except there's a lot of data missing from my backup:

• Health data - all completely gone
• App data - login information all gone (not so much of an issue), app data all gone (big issue e.g. sleep analyses from Sleep Cycle)
• Apps crashing (~80% of my apps crash instantly upon opening)

Been on and off the phone to Apple support for 6 hours now, and no luck. Seriously not impressed.

So be warned before you trust iCloud backup with lots of Health data.

 

[dk001]

iCloud backup looks to be the new iTunes restore.
Now if only Apple could build a decent cloud ecosystem ....

iCloud helped bork my Apple Music experience
iCloud photo borked my photo experience

Why should I trust iCloud for my backup?

 

[Goatllama]

After my Touch ID wasn't working properly on my ~3 week old iPhone 6S, I was advised by Apple to reset my phone to factory settings and then restore my iCloud backup.

Everything worked fine, except there's a lot of data missing from my backup:

• Health data - all completely gone
• App data - login information all gone (not so much of an issue), app data all gone (big issue e.g. sleep analyses from Sleep Cycle)
• Apps crashing (~80% of my apps crash instantly upon opening)

Been on and off the phone to Apple support for 6 hours now, and no luck. Seriously not impressed.

So be warned before you trust iCloud backup with lots of Health data.

Why restore a backup after wiping the phone clean? You'll probably start having trouble with the Touch ID as well.

According to https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519, that health data shouldn't be gone. Did you change the backup settings in iCloud at some point?

And have you already deleted and redownloaded the (crashing) apps? Or updated if applicable?

I would always do an iTunes backup if possible rather than iCloud. Much more thorough and safe. Was it the most recent backup?

 

[cale508]

The only way to retain data from Health is having an encrypted backup on iTunes.

 

[sunking101]

After my Touch ID wasn't working properly on my ~3 week old iPhone 6S, I was advised by Apple to reset my phone to factory settings and then restore my iCloud backup.

Everything worked fine, except there's a lot of data missing from my backup:

• Health data - all completely gone
• App data - login information all gone (not so much of an issue), app data all gone (big issue e.g. sleep analyses from Sleep Cycle)
• Apps crashing (~80% of my apps crash instantly upon opening)

Been on and off the phone to Apple support for 6 hours now, and no luck. Seriously not impressed.

So be warned before you trust iCloud backup with lots of Health data.

I experienced all of that, plus none of my photos & videos came over either. It was a fresh backup from a clean install too. I had deleted my old backups, this one was created in iOS9 and still failed. No point ringing Apple, you'll just have to start again like I did. Delete the apps and reinstall them, the crashing thing is due to them not installing correctly.
Backups are FUBAR at the moment.

 

[whodatrr]

Had this issue a while back with my 6. Problem is that data connectivity was interrupted during the backup, which caused the snap to be corrupted. Much like you, there was limited data loss (some things were there and others were not). To fix this, restore your phone and go back to an earlier snap. if you log into iCloud from your browser you can get some idea by looking at the size of the snaps. You need to get back too the last full snap, which was before you migrated to your newer phone.

It took a few levels of escalation to find a tech who knew about this issue.

 

[viperGTS]

I lost my photos after an iCloud backup from my 5s going onto my now returned 6s+. Not sure why the photos never restored. :/

 

[bucksaddle]

The only way to retain data from Health is having an encrypted backup on iTunes.

Wrong: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?locale=en_GB

I've restored from an iCloud backup and had my health data restored.

 

[cale508]

Wrong: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?locale=en_GB

I've restored from an iCloud backup and had my health data restored.

Are you sure?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205220

 

[bucksaddle]

Yep, especially in the line in the article that you point to that says "You can also make a backup in iCloud, which automatically encrypts your information every time."

 

[whodatrr]

Just to be clear, since some of you seem to be having this problem, it's a known issue with iOS backup/restore on iCloud. though it may take a few escalation to get to a tech that knows about it. Here's what happens:

1. You initiate a backup over wifi, or a recovery over wifi, and lose that connection. Let's say you start recovering your new system in the Apple store, when you pick up your new iPhone. Then, you drive home, thereby losing your wifi connection and moving to cell.
2. Cloud restore loses some data, during the recovery, but doesn't always know that the data is missing. So, you get your photos, but not your messages. Or, you get about half your photos> Either way, some data is missing.
3. Problem is, iOS does not know that this data is missing. So, you do another backup of the incomplete data, eventually writing over your last good backup.

Point is - You need to restore from your last verified good backup, and you need to do the ASAP! Otherwise, you'll keep overwriting your good backups with bad ones.

In my case, I went back to a backup that was made the day before I got my new iPhone. So I wound up losing a day's worth of text and photos, which was better than the several years of texts that I thought I would lose.

Again, this is a known issue!

Had this issue a while back with my 6. Problem is that data connectivity was interrupted during the backup, which caused the snap to be corrupted. Much like you, there was limited data loss (some things were there and others were not). To fix this, restore your phone and go back to an earlier snap. if you log into iCloud from your browser you can get some idea by looking at the size of the snaps. You need to get back too the last full snap, which was before you migrated to your newer phone.

It took a few levels of escalation to find a tech who knew about this issue.

 

[MasterHowl]

Why restore a backup after wiping the phone clean? You'll probably start having trouble with the Touch ID as well.

According to https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519, that health data shouldn't be gone. Did you change the backup settings in iCloud at some point?

And have you already deleted and redownloaded the (crashing) apps? Or updated if applicable?

I would always do an iTunes backup if possible rather than iCloud. Much more thorough and safe. Was it the most recent backup?

Apple Support recommended it. Didn't see any harm in trying.

I didn't change any settings - everything was left as default. It was the most recent backup too (backed it up 10 minutes before I did the restore to factory settings. I'm definitely sticking with iTunes backups from now on.

Just to be clear, since some of you seem to be having this problem, it's a known issue with iOS backup/restore on iCloud. though it may take a few escalation to get to a tech that knows about it. Here's what happens:

1. You initiate a backup over wifi, or a recovery over wifi, and lose that connection. Let's say you start recovering your new system in the Apple store, when you pick up your new iPhone. Then, you drive home, thereby losing your wifi connection and moving to cell.
2. Cloud restore loses some data, during the recovery, but doesn't always know that the data is missing. So, you get your photos, but not your messages. Or, you get about half your photos> Either way, some data is missing.
3. Problem is, iOS does not know that this data is missing. So, you do another backup of the incomplete data, eventually writing over your last good backup.

Point is - You need to restore from your last verified good backup, and you need to do the ASAP! Otherwise, you'll keep overwriting your good backups with bad ones.

In my case, I went back to a backup that was made the day before I got my new iPhone. So I wound up losing a day's worth of text and photos, which was better than the several years of texts that I thought I would lose.

Again, this is a known issue!

"It just works" yeah right.