How to back up your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with your Mac

If you back up your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you’ll have a copy of your information to use in case your device is ever replaced, lost or damaged.

Back up with the Finder

1. On a Mac running macOS Catalina or later, open a Finder window.

2. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.

3. If asked for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps. Get help if you’ve forgotten your passcode.

4. Select your device on your computer. Can’t see your device?

5. If you want to save Health and Activity data from your device or Apple Watch, you’ll need to encrypt your backup. Tick the Encrypt local backup box and create a password. You can't recover your backup without this password.

6. Click Back Up Now.

   

When the process has finished, you can see if the backup has completed successfully. You’ll see the date and time of your last backup.

Learn more

• Find out how to restore your device from a backup.

• Find out how to back up your device with iTunes.

• Find out how to locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.