How to Back Up Your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad to the iCloud

Apple’s iCloud feature came into prominence with the release of version five of their iOS operating system. This allows you to back up your settings and files in “the cloud,” which is a branded way of saying that you’re storing this information online instead of on your hard drive. With information stored in the iCloud, you have access to it wherever your device is capable of picking up a data or Wi-Fi signal, as opposed to just when you’re by your home computer. You can back up your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad’s contents to the iCloud at any time by following a few quick steps on your device.

Step 1

Set up your Apple iCloud account if you have not already done so. Navigate to the iCloud website at iCloud.com on your computer’s Web browser. Click the “Set it up” hyperlink to manually create your new iCloud account. You will need to create a new account with your existing Apple username and password. This enables all Apple devices to communicate with and back up content to the iCloud.

Step 2

Turn on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. Open the “Settings” icon and scroll down the screen until the “iCloud” menu option comes into view. Tap once on this option to view a list of the settings relating to the device’s iCloud functionality.

Step 3

Type your Apple username and password into the appropriately labeled boxes on screen. When finished, click “Sign In” to sign your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad into your iCloud account.

Step 4

Scroll through the list of applications on screen. These applications include ones like “Mail,” “Contacts,” “Calendars” and more. Tap “On” next to any application that contains information you want to back up to the iCloud.

Step 5

Scroll down to the bottom of the iCloud settings window and select “Storage & Backup.” From the screen that loads, select the “Back Up Now” option. Your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad will now communicate with the iCloud and back up any information you specified on the previous screen. This is similar to the backup process that happens whenever you sync your device to your computer. In that situation, the backup file is created on your PC or Mac. With the iCloud, the information is stored externally for universal access.

You can also access information stored on the iCloud at any time from a PC or Mac with Internet access. Return to the iCloud website and sign in using your Apple username and password to view all information that has been synced from your iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone.