Does an iCloud backup only backs up what's on the phone at the time of the backup?

[iMore Question]

If I haven't done an icloud backup in 3 or 4 months and I only do it now does it only save what is currently on my phone? If I deleted messages within the non backup period does the backup automatically find these or not?

 

[dcharleyultra]

Re: iCloud backup info

Correct and no, an iCloud backup only backs up what's on your phone.

 

[John Yester]

Re: iCloud backup info

Here’s what iCloud backs up:

• Purchase history for music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
  Your iCloud backup includes information about the content you have purchased, but not the purchased content itself. When you restore from an iCloud backup, your purchased content is automatically downloaded from the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store. Some types of content aren’t downloaded automatically in all countries, and previous purchases may be unavailable if they have been refunded or are no longer available in the store. For more information, see the Apple Support article iTunes in the Cloud availability by country. Some types of content aren’t available in all countries. For more information, see the Apple Support article What can I buy from the iTunes Store in my country?.
  
• Photos and videos on your iOS devices
  
• Device settings
  
• App data
  
• Home screen and app organization
  
• iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages
  
• Ringtones
  
• Visual Voicemail

Your iOS device backup only includes data and settings stored on your device.
It doesn’t include data already stored in iCloud, for example contacts, calendars, bookmarks, mail messages, notes, shared photo albums, iCloud Photo Library beta, My Photo Stream, and documents you save in iCloud using iOS apps and Mac apps.