Our lives are quickly moving in the mobile direction. Everything that used to be managed on your iMac can now be done on your iPhone. Have you ever thought what would happen if you lost your phone, or worse, broke it beyond repair? Think of what you would lose, all your photos, contacts, apps, and more. That's why you should always back up your data.

https://youtu.be/-58FEUIJbrc

When backing up your data you're creating another copy of your device. If you somehow lose your device you have nothing to fear because another copy is safely held in a different location.

Previously you would use your desktop or laptop with iTunes (may it rest in peace) to back up your phone. If something would happen to your phone, you can buy a new one, plug it into your computer, open iTunes, and restore from your previous backup. However, if you no longer have a computer you need somewhere else to keep a second copy of your data.

If you're looking for a second-place to store all of your data, look no further than your iCloud account. iCloud is Apple's cloud suite that can sync your Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari bookmarks, Notes, usernames, and passwords with iCloud Keychain, and track your Apple products with Find My. iCloud is a great place to start when looking to sync and back up your data.

Finding Your Calendars, Notes, Contacts, and Reminders

However, iCloud is not the only place you can save your data. If you have added any other email accounts there's a chance that some of your information may be saved on those accounts. First, you need to know where your information is saved.

In Account settings I have Yahoo enabled for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, and Notes. Do I have anything saved to my Yahoo account?

If you open Settings then Accounts and Passwords you can see all of the email accounts that you have set up on your iPhone. Under each account, you can see which services are enabled. If you know which account is syncing your contacts, calendars, etc. then disable the other accounts that have those services enabled. For instance, since I use my iCloud account to sync my contacts and calendars, I am going to disable those services from Yahoo. It would be even better if you configure this when you originally add the account to your phone.

If you know which account is syncing your contacts, calendars, notes, and reminders you can skip to the next part getting some ideas of how to back up your photos. If not keep reading to learn how to find which account is doing the work.

In Calendar I see two active calendars in my Yahoo account. However, neither have any calendar dates added to them.

Start by opening the Calendar app then clicking "Calendars" at the bottom. Scroll through the list and see which accounts are active and which calendars are linked to them. In the top left of each section is the name of the account such as iCloud or Gmail. Look at the calendars you have set up under each account. Do you have an account enabled with no calendars or events? If so go to Settings, then go to Accounts and passwords. Select the account of which you want the calendar disabled. Then toggle the calendar off. Now let's move on to the next!

I open Notes and see Yahoo is not a source, so I move on to the next.

Open the Notes app then clicking the back button to go to your folders. Scroll through the list and see which accounts are active. In the top left of each section is the name of the account such as iCloud or Yahoo. Do you have an account enabled with no notes saved? If so go back into Accounts and Passwords in Settings...