Medium5 minSafety & Security

How to Back Up Your Phone on Mac / MacBook

Follow these simple steps to back up your phone on your Mac / MacBook. Each step is one action — nice and easy.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Connect an external hard drive to your Mac.
2
Click the Apple menu and choose "System Settings".
3
Click "General" then "Time Machine".
4
Click "Add Backup Disk" and select your drive.
5
Time Machine begins backing up automatically.

Helpful Tip

Time Machine backs up everything on your Mac and lets you go back in time to recover files.

Try on a Different Device

Same task, different device. Pick yours below:

📱iPhone 16 / 16 Plus 📱iPhone 15 / 14 📱iPhone SE 📲iPad / iPad Air 📱Samsung Galaxy S25 / S24 📱Samsung Galaxy A16 / A36 📱Google Pixel 9 / 8 📱Motorola Moto G / Edge 🤖Android Phone (Any)🍎iPhone (Any)💻Windows Computer 📲Samsung Galaxy Tab 🔥Amazon Fire Tablet 💻Chromebook

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