Content Overview:
How Long Does iCloud Backup Take?
iCloud backups taking so long they never complete.
Since 17.2 DB2, iCloud backups take longer and longer after each backup. Normally they’d finish in a couple minutes. After 17.2 DB2, they’d take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Now, they’re not completing at all. The time indefinitely continues to go up. I’ve seen the longest being 1 day remaining.
iTunes backups also don’t work anymore. iPhone will ask for passcode, then iTunes forever gets stuck at backing up iPhone with no progress bar.
I looked at a network activity monitor, iPhone is using no network activity during these iCloud backups.
- Question from reddit.com
If you have problems backing up files on your iPhone with iCloud, especially when iCloud backup time keeps increasing. Today, we will explore how long does iCloud Backup take and show the main factors that have an influence on the iCloud backup time. Besides, we will show you the ways to speed up iCloud Backup. First of all, we need to know what are included in iCloud and take actions.
iCloud Backup Included Content
What iCloud Backup includes? Typically, iCloud Backup includes device settings, Home Screen layout, app organization, Apple Watch backups, photos and videos, messages, and app data, etc, that isn’t already synced to iCloud.
If you have enabled iCloud Photos and uploaded photos and videos, these items are stored in iCloud instead of iCloud Backup.
With iCloud Backup, you can restore data quickly once you have a new device without complex configurations.
Factors Affect iCloud Backup Time
Several factors can influence how long an iCloud backup takes, including:
⭕ Data Size: the more the data, the more time you will cost. Besides, if you’re running the first backup on your new iPhone, it takes much longer time because it backup everything. After that, it’s incremental backup to backup only changed part.
⭕ Device Performance: A nearly full device or one with performance issues may slow down the backup process.
⭕ Large Files (Videos/Photos): Backing up 4K videos or thousands of photos takes longer than documents or messages.
⭕ Low Power Mode: Can throttle network speeds, delaying backups.
⭕ Auto-Lock Settings: If the device locks too soon, it may pause the backup.
After getting reasons for iCloud backup takes forever, you can speed up iCloud backup according to the following ways.
How to Speed Up iCloud Backup?
To backup data to iCloud faster, you can try the following things:
- Use a fast, stable Wi-Fi connection
- Close unnecessary apps
- Delete unwanted data (e.g., old messages, unused apps) before backing up
- Disable Low Power Mode
- Back up at off-peak hours (late night/early morning)
- Reduce the size of iCloud Backup. You can stop backing up apps that you don't use anymore, or delete old iCloud backups.
Tip: If you turn off iCloud Backup for a device, any backups stored in iCloud are kept for 180 days before being deleted.
How Long Does iCloud Backup Take?
How long does it take for iCloud to backup 50GB data? Typically, if it’s on a new phone and create the first backup, it might takes 2 hours or days, or just minitues when backing up changed parts. And it’s also depends on the above factors, so, just wait patiently. And get in touch with the Apple Support if you have problems with iCloud Backup.
Further Reading: Migrate iCloud Files to Another Cloud
iCloud is a great choice to backup files on your iPhone, switching iCloud files to another cloud might be your option if iCloud can’t meet your demands. Thus, if you need to change iCloud to another cloud platform, MultCloud can do you a big favor.
- Exclusive. MultCloud is a proffessional cloud storage manager, which allows you to move files between clouds directly without manually operations.
- Flexible. MultCloud supports 40+ clouds, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, Amazon S3, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, pCloud, MEGA, MediaFire, Backblaze, etc.
- Powerful. You have different ways to move files from iCloud to another cloud, like cloud to cloud sync, transfer, backup, copy to, share, etc.
- Security. It provides strong security to safeguard your files, including 256-bit AES encryption, a standard OAuth authorization system, etc.
Thus, how to move iCloud files to another cloud easily with MultCloud, check the following simple steps to move iCloud Drive files to OneDrive for example:
1. First manage iCloud files by deleting unnecessary files if needed. Then go to the MultCloud website and log in to the MultCloud Dashboard after registering.
2. Hit Add Cloud > iCloud Drive, then grant access to MultCloud, then add OneDrive accordingly.
3. Press Cloud Transfer, and choose iCloud Drive files as the source while a location in OneDrive as the destination.
4. Configure settings and then hit Transfer Now to move iCloud Drive files to OneDrive directly and easily.
Tips:
- You can select anything in iCloud Drive to move with Filter in Options.
- To free up space for iCloud Drive automatically, select Options > Delete all source files once the transfer is finished. After the task is complete, your migrated iCloud Drive files will be immediately deleted from the source.
- With Schedule, you may take advantage of automated tasks such as running on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
- If necessary, increase data traffic and unlock all premium services. These premium features include faster speed, all sync modes, schedule, filter, and more.

- Smart Share: Share cloud files via public, private, or source mode.
- One-key Move: Quick data transfer, sync, and backup among clouds.
- Email Archive: Protect emails to other clouds or local disks.
- Remote upload: Effectively save web files to clouds via URL.
- Save Webpages as PDF/PNG: Keep them locally or online.
- Instagram Download: Archive Instagram materials locally or online.
- Easy: Access and manage all clouds in one place with one login.
- Extensive: 30+ clouds and on-premise services are supported.
The End
How long should an iCloud backup takes? From the above content, you might have an answer. If your iCloud Backup stucks, you can speed up the backup task. On the other hand, if you need to move files from iCloud to another cloud, MultCloud can be your best shot. Moreover, you can also download Instagram videos and photos with high-resolution, remote upload files to Google Drive, etc. Just explore and enjoy.
MultCloud Supports Clouds
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Google Drive
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Google Workspace
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OneDrive
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OneDrive for Business
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SharePoint
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Dropbox
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Dropbox Business
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MEGA
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Google Photos
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iCloud Photos
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FTP
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box
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box for Business
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pCloud
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Baidu
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Flickr
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HiDrive
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Yandex
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NAS
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WebDAV
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MediaFire
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iCloud Drive
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WEB.DE
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Evernote
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Amazon S3
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Wasabi
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ownCloud
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MySQL
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Egnyte
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Putio
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ADrive
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SugarSync
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Backblaze
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CloudMe
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MyDrive
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Cubby