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Why won’t iCloud backup automatically?

I do not have the problem of no backups occuring, but having said that, they only occur after a 24hr period from the last backup and when the requirements of wi-fi, plugged in and locked are met. My new XS though after it completed the full restore, backed up successfully after the 24hrs, and it keeps backing up every day. Sorry I'm no help.
 
@RickCMC, you need some patience.

Here's how I fix my iCloud backups when it gets stuck:
1. Delete the backup for your device on iCloud
2. Force a manual backup
3. It will not backup again within 24 hours of the manual backup. By the second day morning, check it and it should have made a backup while you were sleeping.
 
gwang73 said:
@RickCMC, you need some patience.

Here's how I fix my iCloud backups when it gets stuck:
1. Delete the backup for your device on iCloud
2. Force a manual backup
3. It will not backup again within 24 hours of the manual backup. By the second day morning, check it and it should have made a backup while you were sleeping.
Click to expand...
Already tried all that a few days ago. Manually backed up after deleting last back up and 24 hours came and went without an auto backup.
 
Still hasn’t backed up and it’s been plugged in, WiFi and locked practically the entire morning, day, and night. Now when I go to check and see if it backs up it says “Some files were unavailable during the last backup”
 
RickCMC said:
Still hasn’t backed up and it’s been plugged in, WiFi and locked practically the entire morning, day, and night. Now when I go to check and see if it backs up it says “Some files were unavailable during the last backup”
Click to expand...

There you go then. Like I said, disable everything and work from there. You’ve got an app that’s screwing things up.

You might find if you grab another device that you do actually have backups from these times, it’s just that it hasn’t completed the last 0.1% so it won’t tell you that you have backups. That was my wife’s experience.
 
Apple support will be able to help you, but if you go in with the attitude that you’ve tried everything and that you know more than they do and don’t listen to them or try what they ask, then you’re just going to get frustrated with them and give up and get nowhere.

It’s quite possible that you do know more than them and it’s quite possible that you’ve already tried everything that they have suggested, but they don’t know that and they need you to try again before they can escalate the issue. They can’t escalate based on your statement “I already tried all that and it didn’t work”

What I would suggest is calling apple back and explaining the problem to them. They’ll have you try everything you’ve already done, but that’s OK. Lose the attitude and walk through the settings with them over the phone. That way they will know that everything is configured correctly. Then leave it plugged in, locked, and connected to WiFi overnight. The next day, when it didn’t work call back and let them know that it’s still not working. They may have a few other things for you to try (that you may or may not have tried before). Humor them and try those things as well and let it go another night, then call back and tell them that it didn’t work again.

Eventually when the front line of support runs out of options they will have no choice but to escalate this case to the engineers who can actually look at the logs and see what’s happening and why it’s failing. It will probably take several days to get to that point (because you’ll need to wait overnight to see if it starts backing up after each iteration of changes) but as long as you keep working with apple you will get there. If you just shut them down and keep the attitude that you’ve already tried everything and they are useless then you’re just shooting yourself in the foot here.

I get that it’s frustrating when you do know what you’re talking about and have to go back to the basics with support, but along the same lines, more often that not issues like this are caused when someone who does know what they’re doing misses a step or overlooks a setting, so it’s important for the support person to go back to step one and go over all the settings that you’ve already checked 30 times. There are certainly cases where everything is configured correctly and it’s still not working, but they need to start at the beginning and be absolutely certain that is what’s happening before it gets escalated.
 
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For as many prior releases as I can remember - sometimes it backups in approx 24 hours - sometimes 36 hours sometimes 48. I've just gotten to the point where I tell it to back up manually when I plug it in and go to bed at night. This is on my X, my iPad, (and old iPad) and my wife's 8+
 
It worked once yesterday but now it’s back to not working again. Deleted backup and manually backed up then yesterday at 3 am it automatically backed up. Had it plugged in all last night into this morning and now no backup. Isn’t it supposed to backup every 24 hours? It’s been over 30 now. What’s the point of this if it won’t back up when I have it plugged in overnight?Worthless Apple support keeps suggesting things I’ve already tried or things that don’t work. My iPad backs up just fine so I really don’t know why this isn’t working.
 
RickCMC said:
It worked once yesterday but now it’s back to not working again. Deleted backup and manually backed up then yesterday at 3 am it automatically backed up. Had it plugged in all last night into this morning and now no backup. Isn’t it supposed to backup every 24 hours? It’s been over 30 now. What’s the point of this if it won’t back up when I have it plugged in overnight?Worthless Apple support keeps suggesting things I’ve already tried or things that don’t work. My iPad backs up just fine so I really don’t know why this isn’t working.
Click to expand...
there are iCloud issues in general right now. just sit tight and let apple release a couple of updates before panicking. In the meantime continue to do manual back ups every other day
 
atlchamp said:
there are iCloud issues in general right now. just sit tight and let apple release a couple of updates before panicking. In the meantime continue to do manual back ups every other day
Click to expand...
If there are issues then why are all my other devices backing up flawlessly? It’s just my phone. I don’t get it.
[doublepost=1538144533][/doublepost]I’m on my iPad looking at the Apple ID section under Settings where it lists all my devices and I tapped into my iPhone and it says backup is OFF even though it’s clearly turned on when I look at my phone.
 
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RickCMC said:
If there are issues then why are all my other devices backing up flawlessly? It’s just my phone. I don’t get it.
[doublepost=1538144533][/doublepost]I’m on my iPad looking at the Apple ID section under Settings where it lists all my devices and I tapped into my iPhone and it says backup is OFF even though it’s clearly turned on when I look at my phone.
Click to expand...
it could be an iOS 12/icloud issue.
 
RickCMC said:
There’s not one person on this forum who is experiencing this? I’ve had it plugged in ALL DAY, locked and on a strong WiFi connection and it hasn’t done a thing. I’ve tried every possible “fix” and nothing works. Apple support offers no solution. What a joke. Yes i could simply tap the backup now button and do it manually but that’s not the point. I want it to backup automatically. This feature should work properly and there’s nothing on my end preventing that.
Click to expand...
No sir, I am not experiencing the same issues as you.
I do not use iCloud Backup: Settings > Account(top of the column, probably with your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup = OFF

I have not used iCloud backup on any of my devices in several years. What is there to gain from using this? I purchase several new iPhones / iPads every year. To get my information on the new devices, I just log in with my AppleID. All documents, movies, images, app purchases become available. I do have to add Wifi, email accounts and currently used apps ( less than ten ). I have determined the inconvenience of sorting out my WiFi, ect is small compared to using backup iCloud storage space for ALL of my iDevices. Basically the same workflow when I purchase new computers ( every three years - I have six OS X Mojave computers ).

Many years ago, I remember waiting several hours for an iCloud back to complete in order to use a setup from iCloud backup on a new computer. This wasted time was frustrating enough, that I have never used it again. Documents are immediately stored on the cloud as saved, images, purchases, ect. Basically anything I need is readily available without having use iCloud backup.

As an aside, I prefer NOT to restore from iCloud backup, I would like a 'fresh' install. Deprecated files ( mostly hidden config files ) and applications need not to be reinstalled automatically. I would prefer to start anew.
 
Can anyone tell me how to check when the last iCloud backup was made on iOS 12/iPhone Xs?

I have iCloud backups turned on for everything and I can see that I’ve used 18/50Gb of storage, but I cannot see any option to manually back up to iCloud (like you used to previously), not can I see any data stating when my last iCloud backup happened.

For all I know my last iCloud backup may have been days/week ago!

I tried searching in these forums and nothing coming up, tried google search too but get a lot of old ios information even though including ‘iOS 12’ in search words....
 
atlchamp said:
Did you take it into apple?
Click to expand...
No but I’ve been in a direct message chat with Apple Support on Twitter for 3 days now and every suggestion they give me is something I’ve already tried or something that doesn’t work at all. Not sure what bringing it to the Apple store would accomplish. They’ll tell me the same things online support has been telling me. Sorry I’m just not a patient person and this was a feature I relied on because I don’t want to have to remember to back up my phone manually. It was nice just plugging it in, going to sleep and waking up to a backed up phone.
 
RickCMC said:
No but I’ve been in a direct message chat with Apple Support on Twitter for 3 days now and every suggestion they give me is something I’ve already tried or something that doesn’t work at all. Not sure what bringing it to the Apple store would accomplish. They’ll tell me the same things online support has been telling me. Sorry I’m just not a patient person and this was a feature I relied on because I don’t want to have to remember to back up my phone manually. It was nice just plugging it in, going to sleep and waking up to a backed up phone.
Click to expand...
I’d recommend wiping your phone. Restoring and then seeing if that helps
 
Krayzkat said:
Can anyone tell me how to check when the last iCloud backup was made on iOS 12/iPhone Xs?

I have iCloud backups turned on for everything and I can see that I’ve used 18/50Gb of storage, but I cannot see any option to manually back up to iCloud (like you used to previously), not can I see any data stating when my last iCloud backup happened.

For all I know my last iCloud backup may have been days/week ago!

I tried searching in these forums and nothing coming up, tried google search too but get a lot of old ios information even though including ‘iOS 12’ in search words....
Click to expand...
Ok, i've found out how to do it....

Click on Settings/your account as you would have before but don't click 'iCloud' this time. Instead, scroll down to the bottom of that screen and you will see a list of all your Apple devices. Clicking on each specific Apple device will load up another screen that tells you when that device's last iCloud back up was. It also lists each serial number, IMEI, and software version too.
 
I just checked my iCloud backup (I do at least a couple times a month because Apple).

Even though I put my phone on charge ever night, it says my last back up was 4 days ago. The hell?
 
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