So yes you also need to install itunes to backup on your computer, because why directly mount it as a usb drive without an apple app?
That would also need zero effort from apple, but I was talking about an online backup with since forever established protocols.
There doesn’t have to run anything special on the IPhone.
In the early days iTunes could make backups on the local pc when the iPhone was connected via usb. Later on apple extended this to wifi: so if you had an iTunes running in your wifi and the iPhone joined a backup was done at the iTunes side.
I‘m not sure if this feature is still there, but I would have found this very useful if it would have been possible with the computer that is running anyways (as in the pi).
My Palm does that, only I don't need a computer: it does it over the net onto Palm servers. The only thing that doesn't get backed up is media files. However, apps, settings, contacts, notes, etc. are all invisibly backed up daily.
Really, there's no excuse for needing iTunes. If Palm can get this right with their miniscule resources, Apple certainly has the capacity to do cloud-based backups. They just haven't made it a priority.
Backups do not require iTunes at all. You can backup and restore to iCloud automatically. I have not used iTunes for backup for a long time. Also if you want to use iTunes you do not need to have the phone plugged into anything. Having iTunes open and have the phone connected to the same network via Wifi is all you need to do to sync.
Not required. You can choose between iCloud backup, iTunes backup (even encrypt if you want) and no backup at all. iCloud is the most convenient though
You can backup your iPhone anytime you want to your own computer. iCould makes it pretty easy to do settings and config backups that will be included in their free tier.
There is no way Apple is going to let 3rd party could providers do backups directly. I doubt exposing the iPhone as a USB device over the internet with a VM running iTunes would work efficiently.
> Also, both MS and Apple nowadays make it pretty easy to keep rolling backups to an attached a USB HD.
Re Apple: this is true only for desktops or laptops. If you want to back up your iPhone you need a Mac to work with a local storage solution. And you cannot configure the Mac to use the HD to store the phone backups directly: the folder the Mac uses cannot be a symlink nor can it be configured. You have to sync all of your phone's data to the Mac, then sync the mac with time machine, which means your Mac needs to be large enough to store all of its data, plus the iPhone's.
Thanks, that is good to know. I wish there was something as easy as the iTunes backup for iPhones. There are Android apps that claim to do a more thorough job but I haven't tried them.
Every time you plug your iThing to your Mac/Windows it backs it up. And as of iOS 5 you don't even have to plug it in. They only have to be on the same network and the device automatically backs it up daily.
Oh, and if you feel nervous, you can right click on the iThing in iTunes and select backup to manually backup again.
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