Why is my iCloud backup size so large?

[macrlz9]

I use iCloud for everything. Photos, Messages, Files (iCloud Drive), Music (Apple Music) but my iPad backup size is nearly 87GB! My iPhone for comparison is only 4.4GB.

I tried deleting the backup and making a new one but it’s the same.
When I view the details of the backup in iCloud settings > Manage Storage > Backups, the items listed there don’t come anywhere near to that size.

Screenshots attached showing iCloud Backup details as well as iPad Storage details. (Music Messages & Photos aren’t included in backup)

Thoughts?

 

[0128672]

Hey, another Aura user 😀. They're great, aren't they?

If I was troubleshooting my iPad, I would back it up to my Mac, and then turn off everything except maybe one app to see what the next backup size would be. You don't have to delete the existing backup to do this. If it seems closer to what you expect, enable other apps one at a time to see if that reveals the culprit.

Added: actually I just tried this with a few apps on my iPad and the estimates don't seem accurate, and in fact, turning some apps off made the estimate higher, so go figure. The next backup size is displayed as +64.9MB. I don't know what the + means. Also I'm on the iPadOS beta. Maybe deleting the backup first is a cleaner way to go.

 

[macrlz9]

I did something similar. I turned off the larger apps like Plex, iMovie, Aura. Deleted the backup and made a fresh one. Didn’t really make a difference.

I’m hoping something changes with iPadOS 16 like the update clears out cache files or something and will delete/backup again. If that doesn’t help, I’ll try the restore route.

 

[1288261]

seems like just your messages and photos with the iMovie project as well

you have to go through your messages and find something that's massive. there must be some 20gb files in there. you can check from your storage on your iPad and in messages see if there's any large files. on your iCloud page, you may need to turn off photos. there's no free lunch so if you want your photos backed up convieniently, there's always a cost and a risk that your photos/vids disappear. storing them on apple google photos or locally on a device like sinology would be my suggestion. if all your photos can fit into a usb drive, buy one new every 3 year, put all your photos and videos on it and then copy it. I would start with at least 3 usb drives and make sure you give one to someone across the world/country in case of fire/robbery

 

[macrlz9]

Both messages and photos are enabled in iCloud and from my understanding would not be included in the devices iCloud backup.

 

[1288261]

no its definitely included, anything that's personal to you that you want backed up will be in the back up sadly

 

[macrlz9]

no its definitely included, anything that's personal to you that you want backed up will be in the back up sadly

Well, unless there’s a bug, that’s definitely not the case.

“2. When you use Messages in iCloud or turn on iCloud Photos, your content is automatically stored in iCloud. That means that they're not included in your 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

 

[macrlz9]

I'm thinking this might have something to do with it. This particular device shows Zero KB of storage taken up by System Data under Settings > General > iPad Storage.

I'm betting that there is some sort of corruption there as it's impossible to be 0k and there is 'phantom data' on the system which is being backed up.

If it doesn't resolve itself with the iPadOS 16.1 update, I'll try erase and restore.

 

[raldi]

I've been plagued with this problem for years; even if I turn off every single app in the backup options, it still says I'm using multiple gigabytes. One thing that seems to help is to go into the Message settings and delete every single photo and video, even though my phone is configured to store messages in iCloud. It seems that, despite this setting, a whole lot of message data leaks over into the general backup category.

 

[macrlz9]

Just to update, it seems iPadOS 16.1 resolved this issue for me. After updating, I deleted the 86GB backup and created a new one which is now at a more reasonable 7.7GB.

 

[Patrickwobbly]

So I have a similar issue for less than a year now. I have an iPhone 12 Pro. My last backup did photos and screwed everything up by filing all my icloud data. I'm on the 5GB free plan. I turned everything off for icloud (photos, messages, apps, etc) and deleted my old backup and icloud stuff. No matter what I do or turn off it wont do a backup. It just says I dont have enough icloud space.

Apple support said its cause the IOS 16 is 5GB itself.

They said I had to pay for extra icloud storage or backup to a computer. I turned everything off though just to see if it would backup without a subscription and it shows the same error regardless. Apple support keeps saying I have to upgrade to a subscription. I never had this problem before until this year.

 

[Shirasaki]

So I have a similar issue for less than a year now. I have an iPhone 12 Pro. My last backup did photos and screwed everything up by filing all my icloud data. I'm on the 5GB free plan. I turned everything off for icloud (photos, messages, apps, etc) and deleted my old backup and icloud stuff. No matter what I do or turn off it wont do a backup. It just says I dont have enough icloud space.

Apple support said its cause the IOS 16 is 5GB itself.

They said I had to pay for extra icloud storage or backup to a computer. I turned everything off though just to see if it would backup without a subscription and it shows the same error regardless. Apple support keeps saying I have to upgrade to a subscription. I never had this problem before until this year.

They should’ve stop providing free iCloud storage plan, or disable device backup entirely for free plan. 5GB is grossly insufficient for device Backup no matter how you spin it, unless you literally only backup a device that has just been factory reset.

 

[auxbuss]

They should’ve stop providing free iCloud storage plan, or disable device backup entirely for free plan. 5GB is grossly insufficient for device Backup no matter how you spin it, unless you literally only backup a device that has just been factory reset.

It depends what you use on the device, and how you use the space provided. Both these devices are in daily use.

I have two MBPs, as well, and still have 3.5Gb available (of the free 5Gb plan).

So, clearly, ymmv.

 

[Shirasaki]

It depends what you use on the device, and how you use the space provided. Both these devices are in daily use.

View attachment 2107881
I have two MBPs, as well, and still have 3.5Gb available (of the free 5Gb plan).

So, clearly, ymmv.

I mean, yes, but then at the same time most people would not bother restraining their iPhone iPad usage to such extreme intentionally anyways, leading to higher storage requirements. Thus the need for larger iCloud storage and associated costs.

 

[auxbuss]

I mean, yes, but then at the same time most people would not bother restraining their iPhone iPad usage to such extreme intentionally anyways, leading to higher storage requirements. Thus the need for larger iCloud storage and associated costs.

But I don't "intentionally restrain" my usage. I just use my devices day-to-day like anyone else.

It's odd to me how folk cannot conceive of usage so different to their own that they deny its existence or dismiss it as an edge case, when, in all probability, it is the norm.

 

[Unami]

But I don't "intentionally restrain" my usage. I just use my devices day-to-day like anyone else.

It's odd to me how folk cannot conceive of usage so different to their own that they deny its existence or dismiss it as an edge case, when, in all probability, it is the norm.

Why would you think that your use-case is, in all probability, the norm? Isn‘t that the same as assuming that it is an edge case? You could take apple making it the default size an hint that most people don‘t use more. Otoh, apple clearly wants to sell cloud space. I got a - still relative small - sample size of a few hundred devices in all sorts of trades, by all sorts of people. Probably 80% of them - at the least - reach that 5gb backup limit rather sooner than later. Most just dismiss it and don‘t backup. Based on that, I‘d wager, that you‘re rather an edge case.

 

[auxbuss]

Why would you think that your use-case is, in all probability, the norm?

Because, in all probability, it is. I was trying to be ironic.