By Allyson Kazmucha
Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone and iPad with iCloud!
With iCloud, you no longer need to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to set it up for the first time, to keep it backed up, or to upgrade to the newest version of iOS. Now you can do all of that and more, faster and more easily, over-the-air (OTA) on your local wifi network.
How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)
How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup
How to create an Apple ID
How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
How to delete an iCloud backup
How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud
How to buy more iCloud storage
How to downgrade your iCloud storage
How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)
How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
Note: Originally published April 2012. Updated June 2014.
How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)
When you turn on your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you’ll be greeted with a Lock screen that simply says “Hello” in many different languages. This is where we start the setup process.
After your iPhone or iPad powers on, you’ll see a welcome screen, Slide your finger across the bottom where it says slide to set up.
Now choose your language from the choices presented to you.
Select the country or region you are in.
Now choose your wifi network and enter the password for it if there is one. If you don’t have access to WiFi or no networks are found, you can choose Use Cellular instead or wait until you’re within range of an accessible wifi network.
Now on the Location Services screen, choose whether you’d like to have location services on by default. Make sure you read the description of what location services are before deciding whether or not you’d like to enable or disable them. Keep in mind that certain apps like Maps need location services to operate properly.
On the next screen, tap on Set up as New iPhone.
Now choose to either sign in with an existing Apple ID or create a new, free one. If you don’t want to do either right now or you don’t have an Apple ID yet — we’ll cover how to get one in a minute, you can tap on Skip This Step.
If you didn’t choose to skip signing into an Apple ID, do so on the next screen. If you use two separate IDs for iCloud and iTunes, you can choose that option as well under the login by tapping on Use different Apple IDs for iCloud and iTunes.
Agree to Apple’s Terms and Conditions on the next screen. The following screen will ask you to confirm that you agree one more time.
On the next screen, choose whether or not you want to use iCloud to access data on other iOS devices and to store your photos, contacts, and calendars.
Now choose whether or not you’d like to enable Find My iPhone. We highly suggest that you do.
The next screen lets you choose what phone numbers and emails associated with your Apple ID that you’d like to use on your new iPhone on conjunction with iMessage. Simply tap on them to enable or disable them. You can always change these choices later in Settings.
Next you can Create a Passcode for your iPhone if you’d like. If not, just tap on Don’t Add Passcode above the keypad.
Now choose whether or not you’d like to activate Siri. We recommend enabling Siri unless you really have a reason not to.
Lastly, choose whether or not you’d like your iPhone to send diagnostic information to Apple. Read the description before making your choice.
On the Welcome to iPhone screen, just tap on Get Started and your iPhone Home screen will be displayed for the first time.
How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup
After your iPhone or iPad powers on, you’ll see a welcome screen, Slide your finger across the bottom where it says slide to set up.
Now choose your language from the choices presented to you.
Select the country or region you are in.
Now choose your WiFi network and enter the password for it if there is one. If you don’t have access to WiFi, you can choose Use Cellular but keep in mind, only some things in your iCloud backup will be restored without WiFi. Others won’t be triggered until you’re on WiFi. Or you can choose to restore from an iTunes backup if you have access to one.
Now on the Location Services screen, choose whether you’d like to have location services on by default. Make sure you read the description of what location services are before deciding whether or not you’d like to enable or disable them. Keep in mind that certain apps like Maps need location services to operate properly.
On the next screen, tap on Restore from iCloud backup and enter your credentials when asked.
Now agree to the Terms and Conditions. You will be asked to verify that you agree to them a second time.
If you have iCloud backups, your iPhone will now show them. Tap on the backup name that you’d like to restore from.
That’s all there is to it. Your iPhone will begin restoring from your iCloud backup. Keep in mind that the more data you have, the longer it will take. iCloud will start by just restoring your system settings so you can start using your iPhone as soon as possible but apps, photos, videos, and other types of media may take a while to finish coming down from iCloud. Just be patient and if you have to jump off of wifi, no worries, iCloud will pick up right where it left off next time you are connected to WiFi.
How to create an Apple ID
In order to use iCloud, you need to have an Apple ID. An Apple ID is also needed to buy media from iTunes and apps and games from the App Store. You’ll also need an Apple ID if you plan on using services such as FaceTime or iMessage.
If you already have one of those, skip ahead to the next section. You had the option of choosing to set up an Apple ID during the setup process above. If you did that already, skip this step. If not, here’s how to create one right on your iPhone or iPad:
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Get a Free Apple ID.
Enter your birthday and tap Next in the upper right hand corner.
On the next screen you can choose whether you want to use your current email or set up a brand new iCloud email. That choice is yours. So choose and then tap Next again.
If you chose to set up a new ID, choose what you’d like your new iCloud email to be on the next screen. Once you’re done, tap Next.
Tap Create on the next screen.
If you choose to use an existing email, you’ll be asked to check your email and tap on a link to confirm you own the email. Once you do, you can move on.
For both methods, you’ll be asked to choose a password. We recommend choosing a strong password that has small and capital letters along with numbers and symbols.
You now have a new iCloud account and Apple ID all set up and ready to go!
How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
iCloud will automatically back up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad when the following two conditions are met -
Your iPhone or iPad must be charging.
Your iPhone or iPad must be connected to a wifi network.
iCloud backup requires power so it doesn’t run the battery down while backing up, and it requires Wi-Fi because of the potentially large amount of data it will transfer. As long as you charge your device every night and have wifi at home, you should be good to go. Normally iCloud backups take place every 24 hours or so.
How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Storage & Backup — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Back Up Now.
How to delete an iCloud backup
If you get a new iPhone, iCloud typically saves the backup from your old iPhone. In order to re-capture extra storage space, you can delete old or unused backups easily.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Storage & Backup — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Manage Storage.
Tap on the backup you’d like to delete under the Backups section.
Tap on Delete Backup.
Tap on Turn Off & Delete in order to confirm you’d like to delete the backup and stop that device from backing up ever again.
The backup should now be gone and the space in iCloud should now be free again.
How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud
If you don’t want to, or simply can’t delete an entire iCloud backup in order to save space, you can still control what gets backed up. For example, backing up the Camera Roll can use up a large amount of your iCloud storage. Since Photo Stream captures a lot of that data anyway, and isn’t counted against your total storage usage, turning off Camera Roll backup can save you considerable space.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Storage & Backup — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Manage Storage.
Turn Off specific apps that you don’t want to back up to iCloud anymore under the Backup Options section.
Tap on Turn Off & Delete to confirm you don’t want to use iCloud to back up the selected app any longer.
How to buy more iCloud storage
If you run out of free space, and there aren’t any backups you want to delete or apps you want to stop backing up, you can choose to buy more iCloud storage, for an additional fee each year.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Storage & Backup — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Change Storage Plan.
Tap on the new storage plan you’d like and tap Buy in the upper right hand corner.
Type in your iCloud ID and password to confirm the purchase.
If you change your mind, you have 15 days to contact Apple and cancel the storage increase. If you’re happy with it, you’ll be billed the same amount, once a year, for as long as you keep the selected storage tier.
How to downgrade your iCloud storage
If you eventually change your mind and decide you no longer need extra iCloud storage, and don’t want to be billed for it again when it comes time for renewal, you can downgrade to a lower tier, or back to the free version. The downgrade will take effect at your next billing cycle (one year after you bought the additional storage).
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Storage & Backup — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Change Storage Plan.
Tap on Downgrade Options.
Type in your iCloud ID and password in order to proceed.
Simply choose the plan you’d like to downgrade to.
How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)
Whether you’ve bought a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and an update is already available, or one comes along months later, applying them over-the-air (OTA) via iCloud is faster and more efficient than the old-school iTunes method.
If a software update is available for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on General.
Tap on Software Update.
Your iPhone or iPad should now check for new software. If there is nothing available, you’ll be told so. If there is, you’ll have the option to install it.
Tap on the Download and Install option towards the bottom. You need to be on wifi in order to download the update or this option will be greyed out.
Wait for your iPhone or iPad to download the update. This can take some time depending on your internet connection speed.
Tap on Install once the update has finished downloading to begin the installation procedure.
How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
You can remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad at any time. When you remove the iCloud account, all the associated data will also be removed from your device. It’s not deleted, however, and if you add the iCloud account back, it will restore the data to your device.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Delete Account — it’s all the way at the bottom.
Tap on Delete in the popup menu to confirm.
Tap on Keep on My iPhone or Delete from My iPhone in the next step in regards to what you want to do with any contacts on that specific iPhone or iPad.
Tap in your iCloud password to turn off Find My iPhone if prompted.
If you change your mind, you can always log back into that iCloud account again by going to Settings > iCloud.
How to change the device name of your iPhone or iPad over-the-air (OTA)
Your iPhone or iPad’s name is how you identify it both in iTunes and when using services such as Personal Hotspot. If you pair your iPhone with your car, the name is what you typically see when pairing as well. If you have multiple iPhones and iPads in your home, it may be a good idea to give them names to distinguish them from other people’s devices.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on General.
Tap on About.
Tap on Name at the top and change the name of your device. Tap Done on the keyboard when you’re finished.
Tap the Home button or back of out the Settings app. You’re done.
That’s it. From now on when you go to Personal Hotspot, iCloud backups, etc. you’ll see your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad listed under its brand new name.
Read more here: iMore