What happens if you delete a backup

As your iCloud backups are starting to take up a great deal of space, most of you consider deleting the ones you no longer need. Therefore a reasonable question arises – What happens if you delete a backup? Will it erase everything on the iPhone?

We are here to show you what happens when you delete a backup and how to extract the important data from it before removing it. Select one of the sections below:

• What happens if I delete a backup

• Why to delete iCloud backup?

• How to delete iCloud backup?

• Delete iCloud backup from iCloud website

• I deleted backup from iCloud – Can I rescue the data?

• Restore data to PC

• Make a selective restore to iPhone

What happens when I delete iCloud backup

If you have only 5GB of free storage in your iCloud account, which doesn’t seem like enough at first, you might want to delete your old backup to free up some space.

If I delete an iCloud backup, will I lose everything? Deleting iCloud backup is not as bad as it sounds. Here are the main points you should know about:

1. It will erase the data you previously backed up to iCloud. So, in case you need to set up your iPhone from scratch, you will not be able to recover data from iCloud.

   ⚡ But good news! CopyTrans Backup Extractor can search for iTunes backups automatically and extract all types of data to PC.

   However, no recovery tool is a sort of cure-all. Therefore, we strongly recommend backing up the iPhone to your computer or external hard drive, or extracting some important data from iCloud backup, and only then deleting it.

2. When you delete iPhone backup, the data synced to iCloud.com won’t be affected. In fact, it won’t have any impact on what’s actually on your device. I guess, most of you are concerned with photos. Well, photos on the iOS device are never only stored in the backup. What would be stored in the backup are deleted pictures that you no longer have in the Camera roll/albums.

3. Deleting iCloud backups will clear your iCloud storage, whereas your iPhone storage will not be affected. Learn a few tips on how to free up space on iPhone.

Why to delete iCloud backup?

So, now we know what happens if you delete iCloud backup. Now let’s find out why should you delete it. There could be a few different reasons. Here are some of them:

• Free up storage space: Deleting old or unwanted iCloud backups can help free up space in your iCloud account. This is a great solution when you are running out of storage space.

• Manage current and unused devices: You can delete iCloud backups for devices you no longer use or have in your possession. When you delete backups of devices you no longer use, you optimize storage space.

• Increase privacy and security: If the backups store important or sensitive information, deleting them will increase security. By deleting old backups, you can rest assured that your data is no longer accessible on Apple’s servers.

• Prevent unwanted restores: If your backups contain old and unnecessary device data, then by deleting iCloud backups you will protect yourself from the situation of restoring outdated data. This can be especially useful if you want to start with a new device or prefer to selectively restore certain data instead of restoring from a backup.

Note that these reasons for deleting iCloud backups depend on individual preferences and specific situations. We recommend that you evaluate your data storage needs and think about the possible consequences.

How to delete iCloud backup?

Now that we understand that it is very important to delete iCloud backup, let’s dive into the step-by-step process. Follow these instructions and find out how to delete backups on iCloud.

1. Open the Settings app on your device and then tap on your name at the top of the screen to access your Apple ID settings.



2. Scroll down and tap on iCloud. Now tap on iCloud backup.



3. You will see a list of apps and devices that are backed up to iCloud. Tap on the device whose backup you want to delete.



4. On the next screen, tap on Delete Backup. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Tap on Delete again to proceed.

It is important to note that when you delete iCloud backup, all data associated with it will be irretrievably deleted. Therefore, before deleting a backup, make sure that all necessary data is transferred to another device or storage location.

Delete iCloud backup from iCloud website

If you don’t have a device, but you would like to remove an iCloud backup, then you can use an iCloud website.
To do so, follow these steps:

1. Visit the iCloud website and sign in with your Apple ID.

2. Click on the Settings icon, scroll down to the Advanced section, and click on Manage Storage.

3. Now you can view the backups associated with your Apple ID and delete any unnecessary backups.

Deleting iCloud backups is a simple yet effective way to manage your digital life. By removing unnecessary backups, you can free up storage space and ensure that your iCloud account is optimized for your current device. But remember to double-check and transfer any important data before deleting a backup to avoid permanent loss.

But what to do if you already deleted an iCloud backup, but now need some data from this backup? Keep reading the article and we will show you how to solve the problem.

Deleted backup from iCloud

Can I rescue the data?

Even if you accidentally deleted backup from iCloud, your precious data still can be in one of your backups in iTunes! We have an application to recover your photos, videos, contacts, messages, notes, and more from any backup to PC – CopyTrans Backup Extractor.

It is a truly versatile tool as it works both with iTunes and iCloud backups. With CopyTrans Backup Extractor you will also be able to extract the important data before deleting an iCloud backup.

Some other perks of CopyTrans Backup Extractor:

✔ free version allows you to see what a backup includes;

✔ find all the backups automatically;

✔ doesn’t require you to have your iPhone at hand;

✔ recover contacts, messages, notes, and much more to PC.

Try for free!

Let’s go through the process step by step:

1. Download and install CopyTrans Backup Extractor:

   Download CopyTrans Backup Extractor

If you need help installing the program, refer to the installation guide.

2. Run the program and log in to iCloud if you want to find more backups. Once ready, click “Find Backups”.
   

3. You will see a list of all available backups: choose the one that contains the data you’re looking for.
   If you are restoring from iTunes backup, you may be asked for a backup password. What password?

   ☁️ iCloud backups will be marked with a cloud icon, and they are never password-protected.

   

4. Click on “Messages” for example, and press “Extract”, then select the destination folder.
   

5. Wait while all your messages are being uploaded to your PC.

   

6. Once the extraction is finished, you can view the selected data from a backup on a PC.

   

But what if you need to make a selective restore of data to iPhone after you find it in a local backup using CopyTrans Backup Extractor?

Use the method below if:

• You are not the biggest fan of iTunes;

• You only need to restore a certain data type and don’t want to completely overwrite the device data to get them back.

CopyTrans Shelbee will be a great replacement for iTunes!

Advantages of CopyTrans Shelbee:

✔ restore selected data;

✔ restore apps to any iOS device with ease even if they have been removed from the App Store after ***;

✔ restore data from an iTunes backup;

✔ restore data from a corrupted iTunes backup;

✔ restore an encrypted backup.

Try for free!

***provided you made a backup with CopyTrans Shelbee v2.1 and above before they were removed from the App Store.

Here’s how to restore selected data to iPhone without iTunes:

1. Open CopyTrans Shelbee and connect your iPhone. Click on Custom restore.

2. Click on the green pencil icon to select which backup you want to restore your data from.

3. After you’ve chosen the right backup file, click “Next”.

4. Wait until the loading process finishes.

5. Select the data you wish to restore. For example, it is possible to only restore photos from an iPhone backup. Just select Photos, then click on Next.
   For contacts, the process is the same: select Contacts, then click on Next. You can select as many items as you want. Restore calendars, WhatsApp, Notes – in any combination you want!
   

💡 While restoring, CopyTrans Shelbee may ask you to enter the iOS backup password to decrypt the data in the backup. What is an iOS backup password?

6. Please note that the data you selected will be overwritten. So, if you want to restore contacts, the device contacts will be replaced with the ones from the backup.
   
   Click “Next”.

7. CopyTrans Shelbee will ask you to choose where you want to save the backup of your device in case something goes wrong during Custom restore. Select the destination and click “Start”.
   

8. Wait until the restore process finishes.

   💡 If the restore fails for some unknown reason, see the troubleshooting steps for when the backup is corrupt.

9. That’s it! Your device will now restart.

YouTube guide

If you prefer video to text, here is our YouTube tutorial on how to restore selected data on iPhone.

To sum up, deleting iCloud backup will not affect the data stored on your iPhone. However, we highly recommend that you extract some important data from it before erasing it.