Icloud back up - confused!

[Purley194]

I have an iPhone 5C with 16 gb memory.

I have an iPad 4 with 32 gb memory.

I bought 20 gb iCloud memory. I thought that would give me a total of 25 with the 5 gb I got free - apparently not.

When I look at my usage - on the Phone it says - Used 9.6gb -- Available - 2.7 gb. On the iPad it says - Used 16.8 gb - Available 10.1 gb.

So - the total I have used is 26.4. I use the same apple ID and password for both devices.

Then it says Total storage 20 GB - available 16 GB. How can I back up 26.4 GB on both devices - and still have 16 GB left???

I thought I was backing up all my information to iCloud. But I assume that isn't the case because it's more storage than I own. So what IS being backed up?

Of course, some of the apps - like calendar and photos - are synced together. My phone tells me I have 513 photos. I can't find that information on the iPad. I often delete photos off my phone when I get really short of space.

I am scared to back up to iTunes because years ago, my son told me he had all his music on his PC and his iPod. He deleted songs from the iPod and when he plugged it into his computer - it deleted songs off the computer! Whether he did something wrong, I don't know. I just prefer to back up to iCloud.

So when I get a new bigger memory phone at the end of the month - will I have to get 100 gb of memory in order to back up both devices?

Sorry it's so long -- thanks!!

 

[IAmSixNine]

I believe when you perform a back up its not backing up the entire phone. All the apps you have installed wont get backed up because they are always available for download from the app store. Its only backing up user data which is very small.

 

[Ledsteplin]

It doesn't work that way. The iCloud storage is back up. Not actual storage. It backs up what is currently on your phone. Photos and videos, app data (not apps), Notes, messages, etc.
You could give your devices separate Apple ID's. That would give them each their own free 5 gb of iCloud storage space. Otherwise they share whatever you have.
I've had an iPhone for 4+ years. I have 273 downloaded apps. I have 3.7 gb of my free 5 gb available in iCloud storage.

 

[Purley194]

Thanks for your answers, but I am still a bit confused - sorry!

I thought if I backed up to icloud and lost my phone, I could get everything back. Is this incorrect?

If I back up to iCloud and buy a new iPhone - and set up the phone from iCloud, will my new phone have EVERYTHING that the old phone had? All the photos. All the calendar dates. All the apps that I had downloaded on my old phone??

 

[Rob Phillips]

Perhaps this will clear things up for you: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12519?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

 

[Ledsteplin]

Thanks for your answers, but I am still a bit confused - sorry!

I thought if I backed up to icloud and lost my phone, I could get everything back. Is this incorrect?

If I back up to iCloud and buy a new iPhone - and set up the phone from iCloud, will my new phone have EVERYTHING that the old phone had? All the photos. All the calendar dates. All the apps that I had downloaded on my old phone??

Yes. As long as you have a back up, if need be you can set up a new phone with it or restore a phone with it. But it's not like storage in Dropbox you can access. If you do another back up, it over rides the previous back up. It's only what is currently on your phone at the time of the back up.

 

[Purley194]

OK. Thanks a lot.