The tech giant has revealed that it will permanently delete some people’s iCloud device backups from December 18. If your iPhone or iPad is running iOS 8 or older it is at risk, the company says.
iOS 8 dates back to 2014 and the vast majority of iPhone owners are using a much more recent version of iOS. However, if you haven’t done a software update for a while and you’re unsure what version of iOS your device is using, you may be affected.
‘Starting December 18, 2024, device backups will require iOS 9 or later,’ the tech giant says on a help page on its website.
‘This is to align more closely with our published minimum software requirements.
‘Until this date, you’ll be able to use the service as normal.
Starting from 99p per month, iCloud syncs your data across all your Apple devices – whether it’s photos, videos or documents – to the cloud. Meanwhile, iCloud Backup helps keep your data safe by making a copy of the information on your iPhone or iPad that isn’t already synced to iCloud.
Apple says: ‘With Backup turned on, iCloud takes periodic snapshots of this data to make sure it’s easy to restore any time you get a new device.’
Now, Apple saying iCloud Backups will stop working on any device running iOS 8 and prior, whether it an iPhone or an iPad. The first step is checking what software version your Apple device is running, by heading to the Settings app, followed by ‘General’ and ‘About’.
If your device is already running updated software – iOS 9 or later – no action is required.
But your device is running iOS 8 or earlier, from December 18 you will no longer be able to get iCloud backups and existing backups will be deleted. The solution is to update your device, which you can do by heading to the Settings app and tapping ‘General’ followed by ‘Software Update’ and following the onscreen steps.
If you have an iPhone 4S or later, an iPad 2 or later, or a fifth generation iPod Touch or later, you should be able to update your device and keep using iCloud Backup.
For those who remember, iPod Touch replicated Apple’s smartphones, with a selection of handy apps and storage capabilities. And if you’re unable to update your device, you can manually back-up the data to a Mac or PC with iTunes or Finder.
There’s also various ways to archive or make copies of your data and a separate Apple help page outlines various options for this.
As Apple explains, all data on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch remains on the device regardless.
