Despite the rise of platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, Facebook still remains one of the most popular social media apps in today’s world.
Thoughts, pictures, videos, and indeed our lives are shared on our profiles.
With all that valuable information and nostalgia stored on your account, have you ever wondered whether you needed to back up this data elsewhere just in case?
Namely, have you ever thought to yourself amidst a browsing session:
“Do I need to backup Facebook on iCloud?”
While there’s undoubtedly a lot of photos and videos that you’d like to save on the platform, you don’t actually have to back up the data yourself. Instead, Facebook has its own database that stores all of your information for you!
So even though iPhones allow you to store app information on iCloud, there’s no need to back up Facebook manually.
The most that you have to do is to make sure that you remember your login credentials so that you don’t end up locked out of your account!
And even if you do forget your password, you can always contact the Facebook support team to help you out.
Backing up Facebook will only take up your iCloud Drive storage space, so all in all it really is an unnecessary endeavor.
What Happens If I Turn Off iCloud Backup For Facebook?
Apple offers a free 5GB of cloud storage space to every Apple device owner. If that’s not enough, users can always subscribe to premium storage plans to access more capacity.
iPhone users are able to decide whether or not they want to back up their files and device information onto iCloud. In fact, they can choose exactly which app data they want to save to the cloud!
When you turn off iCloud Backup for Facebook, the data will subsequently not be saved to your iCloud account.
However, all your data will still be automatically conserved by Facebook. Every photo, video, post like, comment, and share is recorded by the social media company.
When you do turn on iCloud Backup for Facebook, you’ll notice that all of your cached information is then saved to the cloud.
Unfortunately, all this really achieves is a waste of a lot of storage space as it serves little to no purpose.
You can always access the information from Facebook itself, and storing it onto the cloud won’t make the app run any faster.
Therefore, we can safely say that nothing of significance will happen if you turn off iCloud Backup for Facebook except for more cloud storage space becoming available for more important files (which is a good thing, if you didn’t catch my drift).
In fact, iPhone users who have turned off iCloud backup for Facebook have reported that it actually cleared out a lot of valuable storage space!
This just goes to show that backing up Facebook to iCloud is more of a disadvantage rather than any distinct advantage.
Do You Need To Backup Facebook?
No, you don’t need to separately backup Facebook anywhere. Social media platforms already keep a backup copy of your information on their servers- that’s why you can log into your Facebook account from any device!
All you need to use the platform is an internet connection and your login credentials. Your account will then automatically load on the device that you are using, and can be continually accessed as long as you are logged in.
If you are using an app, the specific data is stored in the local memory of your device. This is known as cache data, which exists to allow the app to load faster.
The cache can be cleared periodically to free up memory space on the iPhone (and Android, for that matter).
iCloud backup is helpful when you want to restore app data in case the app or device crashes.
Device backups in particular prevent you from losing valuable information such as photos, video clips, songs, documents, and games.
The same advantage however does not apply to Facebook as your account information is already stored on Facebook servers.
Therefore, there really is no need to backup your Facebook data on iCloud or any other cloud platform!
However, what if you want a copy of your Facebook data?
You can download this directly from your Facebook account. Do this from your computer or laptop, as the downloaded file is typically quite large and will occupy a substantial amount of memory space.
To do this:
- Log in to Facebook and click on your profile picture then Settings & privacy
- Then click Settings
- On the left side click Your Facebook information, you should seethe “Download your information” option then click “View”
- In here you can select the data you want to download.
You can add and remove categories, select the media quality, and the format/extension of the backup file.
You can also choose if you want to download the data in its entirety, or only information from the specified categories or dates.
Finally, click on Request a download.
Facebook takes a few days to process the request and to provide you with the information. Once the file is available, click on Download and reenter your password to start the process.
What Apps Should I Backup To iCloud?
If you want to limit your iCloud usage to just the 5 gigabytes of free storage offered by Apple, you will need to be quite cautious of the data you choose to back up.
Helpfully, it’s completely possible to turn on or off backup for individual apps on your iPhone and iPad.
Turning off backup for an app doesn’t mean the app will not be restored on your device. It only means that you won’t be able to restore the app data from iCloud in case it is deleted from your iPhone.
So, unless the data for a specific app is not stored anywhere else, you won’t really need to back it up on your iCloud either.
That’s why we recommend turning off backup for apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Maps.
The social media companies already have backup copies of your account information; so, as we’ve mentioned above, you can automatically access your data if you log in to your account.
Great! Now, which apps should you backup to iCloud?
That depends totally on the apps that you use and why. The following questions will help you determine whether the app data needs backing up on the cloud or not:
- Is there another copy of the data available (excluding your iPhone memory)?
- Can you start playing the same game from the last level even if you access it from another device?
- Did you download the music/movie files to your computer? Can you access them from the vendor without paying for the same files again?
- Are you working on a document/presentation that is shared with others?
If your answer to any of the above questions is No, it would be best to turn backup on for those apps.
How To Turn Off App Backup On The iPhone?
To turn off app backup on your phone:
- Go to Settings and tap your Apple ID username
- Tap on iCloud
- Then Manage Storage
- Tap on Backups
- Select your iPhone then Show all Apps
Then, slide the toggle to green for apps you want to backup on iCloud. Conversely, slide the toggle from green to gray to turn off backup for app data you don’t want to save to iCloud.
What Happens If I Don’t Backup An App?
Technically, you cannot back up an app; only app data.
However, if you don’t back up an app, the data will also not be saved to the cloud storage.
Your iPhone will continue to have a copy of this app data, but if there is a glitch or you delete the app from the phone (or carry out a factory reset), the app data will be lost permanently.
You won’t be able to retrieve your past information in this case, but you will still be able to use the app.
It’s not a big deal if you don’t back up social media apps.
Most users use their iCloud storage for documents, ebooks, movies, music, pictures, videos, and other personal data.
When you don’t back up apps like Camera, the pictures on the phone will be saved only into the phone’s memory.
This can be a concern if you have to perform a factory reset (or your phone otherwise malfunctions) and you don’t have a copy of those files on other devices such as a computer or laptop.
When you turn on Backup for the Camera app, a copy of every picture you take will be saved onto the cloud and can subsequently be restored.
In Summary
Do I need to backup Facebook on iCloud?
This is a question that we have been asked by many users.
The answer is No. You don’t need to backup Facebook on iCloud, as the only thing this will really accomplish is taking up a lot of storage space and preventing other more important files from being saved.
Facebook already stores a copy of all your information on their own servers, so backing up the app on iCloud achieves- well- nothing.
Remember that you need to use your iCloud storage wisely, especially if you’re opting for the free plan.
Since Facebook already takes care of your account data and has a backup copy on its servers, you really don’t need to waste your valuable memory space here.
Be sure to turn off iCloud backup for Facebook in your Settings menu!