Reasons Why Backup Takes So Long + How to Fix It

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Learn how long an iPhone backup can take and get tips on speeding up the process

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: February 4, 2025 Fact Checked

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How long does an iPhone backup take?

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Speed Up iPhone Backup

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Tips

Is this your first time backing up your iPhone and you're shocked by the "10 hr" progress bar? The first backup can absolutely take the longest time, but there are also ways that you can speed up that process. This wikiHow article discusses how long an iPhone backup can take, why, and how to make it faster.

Things You Should Know

An iCloud backup can take anywhere from a few minutes to even hours or days depending on your internet connection, the condition of your iPhone, and how much data you have to back up.
Turn on regular backups by going to "Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Backup > Enable iCloud Backup" to prevent longer backups.
You can also speed up the time of your backups by cleaning your iPhone and getting rid of unused apps and files as well as using iTunes to back up.

Section 1 of 2:

How long does an iPhone backup take?

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This depends. For a first-time backup, there's a lot of data included with that backup, so this could take 10+ hours! For someone who regularly backs up their iPhone, this can take only a few minutes.
- This speed also depends on your internet connection, your phone's condition (is it really old?), and the amount of data to back up.

Section 2 of 2:

Speed Up iPhone Backup

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Clean up your iPhone. iCloud offers 5G of space for free, but if you have more than that on your phone, the backup is likely going to fail.^{[1]
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Research source} You'll want to free up space on your iPhone.
- If you don't use certain apps, you can delete them to prevent them from taking up space in your backup.
- To see which apps you haven't used in a while, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. There will be a list of your apps as well as which ones you haven't used recently.
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Back up more often. Check when the last time you made a backup on your iPhone, and make sure to schedule backups frequently to prevent long backups.
- To schedule automatic backups every night when you aren't using your phone and it's connected to Wi-Fi, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Backup > Enable iCloud Backup.
- If your screen is broken, you can still back it up with VoiceOver!^{[2]
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Disable large files from your backup. If you don't want to delete the app, but also don't want your backup to take forever, disable the largest apps from being included in the backup.
- Turn these off by going to Settings > Your Name > iCloud and tapping the toggle to turn each large app off.
Your backup will pause if you're not connected to Wi-Fi unless you enable cellular data. This means that if you lose power in the middle of the night, your backup won't complete!^{[3]
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Since you're not backing up to a cloud service, the process might be faster. Plus, you don't have to worry about running out of iCloud storage if you're backing up with iTunes.^{[4]
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Your backup files can't be acessed individually, unfortunately. If you want to see specific files, you'll need to use third-party apps.

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*If you need to factory reset your iPhone or are setting up a new one for the first time, use your backup to start it like you left off previously.^{[5]
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