How to reduce the size of your iCloud backup to avoid putting your data at risk
Apple provides each iCloud user with 5 GB of free storage space, which can be used to back up an iPhone or iPad. As you accumulate data on your device, the total size of your iCloud backup may exceed the 5 GB storage limit. The chances of reaching the 5GB storage limit increase if you back up multiple iOS devices to iCloud.
When the storage limit is reached, you’ll get a notification on your device that iCloud storage is full. At this point, no additional backups can be made to iCloud. Without a recent backup, you risk losing some data if your device is lost or broken.
Once you reach the iCloud storage limit, there are basically three options for backing up your device:
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Turn off iCloud backup and back up to your computer using iTunes
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Pay for additional iCloud storage
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Delete some data on your device to reduce the amount of data backed up to iCloud.
Check if you are using iCloud backup
If you’re not sure if iCloud backup is enabled on your device, open the Settings app, select iCloud, then select Storage & Backup. If the iCloud Backup slider is turned on, then your device will back up to iCloud. To prevent your device from backing up to iCloud, turn the slider to the off position. Turning off iCloud Backup will mean that the data on your device will no longer be backed up automatically. To back up your data, you will need to connect your device to your computer and back it up using iTunes.
Also, at the top of the window you’ll see your total iCloud storage capacity and how much storage is left available for use. At the bottom of the window, you’ll find the date the last iCloud backup was taken.
Optimize iCloud backup by deleting unnecessary data
To see what information is being backed up to iCloud, open the Settings app, select iCloud, select Storage & Backup, then tap Manage Storage. At the top of the window is a list of all the devices that have backups stored in iCloud. If you see an old device listed that you no longer use, you can save some space by completely deleting that backup. To remove a backup from the list, touch the device name and select Remove backup in the window that appears.
To change the backup data for the device you are currently using, touch the device name in the backup list. A screen will appear showing the size of the backup along with the date the last backup was made. There is also a list of apps that are backed up to iCloud. Apps are sorted by the amount of iCloud storage space they use. The apps that use the most iCloud storage space are listed near the top. However, normally the Camera Roll appears first, regardless of its size. For most people, Camera Roll usually requires the most iCloud storage space because photos and videos have large file sizes.
To prevent an app from backing up to iCloud, simply toggle that app’s slider to the off position. When you do this, your device will ask you to confirm the action by asking if you really want to stop iCloud backup and delete all iCloud app data.
Deleting iCloud data shouldn’t delete it from your device. The data associated with that app is removed from iCloud, and with the slider in the off position, the app’s data won’t be included in future iCloud backups.
Review the list of apps and turn off the slider for those apps you don’t want to include in iCloud backup. Just remember, if an app isn’t backed up and something happens to your device, you won’t be able to get that data back. So make sure you don’t really need to back up an app before removing it from iCloud backup.
Save photos to your computer
Maybe you have a lot of storage in use for Camera Roll, but you don’t want to stop backing up your photos to iCloud. You can copy the photos from your device to your computer and then delete some of the photos from the device. Deleting photos from your device will reduce the amount of space needed for iCloud backup.
Additional storage options
If you can’t seem to part with any of those photos on your device and still want to use iCloud to back up all your data, there’s always the option of purchasing additional iCloud storage space from Apple. To see prices for additional storage plans, open the Settings app, select iCloud, select Storage & Backup, then tap Buy More Storage. You can purchase additional storage directly from your device.