Stats don't lie: In 2018 alone, there were 1.24 million data breaches in the US. No wonder that more than 50% of Internet users are worried about their digital safety.
Photos, contacts, text messages, passwords are extremely valuable. Creating an encrypted backup helps you password-protect your files & make sure they are safe.
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What is the difference between a standard and an encrypted backup?
It’s simple: encrypted backups keep sensitive data like keychain passwords or health app data. If you create a standard backup, this information is always excluded. In short, here’s what regular backups DO NOT include:
Password & Keychain Access
Your Wi-Fi settings
Health app data
Home app data
There’s 1 more benefit. Encrypted backups are protected by the password, hence nobody else can access them. But you should be careful: choose a reliable password that you definitely will not forget.
The Gear
In this guide, we will need just one software solution. iMazing is a smart backup tool & manager. The sleek, easy-to-use UI allows you to quickly navigate and choose the desired backup option. It’s absolutely versatile too.
When it comes to encrypted backups, iMazing goes both ways, helping you create encrypted backups and extract files from them. This article will show how to do both things in a short time. Best of all, it supports iTunes backups too.
How to Extract Files from Encrypted Backups Using iMazing
iMazing is the ultimate go-to app for browsing encrypted backups of your iPhone (or iPod, or iPad – anything goes). This is a macOS & Windows tool that helps to manage your iPhone with ease.
Encrypted backups aren’t rocket science. You can browse your backup in just a few steps and a little to no effort.
Before you begin, make sure to download iMazing. You will be prompt with a free trial without any restrictions.
Step 1. Download & Install iMazing on your HDD.
After you installed iMazing on your computer, it will ask you to connect your Apple device. Rest assured – it works smoothly with just ANY Apple device ever created. Even legacy devices like iPod Classic or iPad Nano are supported.
You can download iMazing for free from the developer’s official website.
iMazing is the ultimate tool for iPhone management on the market! This tool is the culmination of 6-years development. It includes the power of 23 apps inside. Basically, it’s an all-in-1 product for iPhone lovers. It’s the most complete iPhone manager on the market right now. It works magic for creating backups, transferring data & more!
Step 2. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
Once you connect your iPhone to your computer, simply tap on “Trust this device”. Right afterward iMazing will see your gadget.
iMazing is designed to be as simple as possible: it has a quick sidebar menu for easy navigation. You will see a quick overview of the things it can do.
Step 3. Select the desired backup > click ‘View’. Enter the password.
iMazing will ask you to enter the password. Afterward, you will browse the files that you previously backed up. Select the needed folder and hit ‘Export’
Step 4. Select the needed files & Click ‘Export’
You will just need to select the desired destination and….done! Achievement unlocked.
This is pretty easy to do, and with a simple UI that iMazing has, you really don’t need any complicated guidelines. Connect your iPhone, choose the backup, hit ‘View’ or ‘Export’. This doesn’t sound hard, does it? But as a result, you can view, edit your backup files without any extra hassle.
How to Encrypt your Backup with iMazing
Encrypted backups are easier than you think! In case, you were worried that backups are ‘too complicated’ or time-consuming, I assure you – they are not. Let me make this clear:
There’s nothing complicated about creating encrypted backups.
It’s easier than you think. It also helps you protect your sensitive data. Stay focused and follow the guidelines below.
Creating encrypted backups is the breeze. In iMazing, you can enable the ‘encrypted backups’ option just once. All the future backups will be password-protected too.
How do you swing that one? Go to Preferences and enable the ‘Encrypt Backups’ option.
Step 1. Launch iMazing & Connect your iOS device to your computer.
As usual, simply connect your iPhone using a cable. iMazing will see it immediately & establish the connection.
Step 2. Select ‘Backups’
Choose the ‘Backups’ from the menu. It’s a green icon with a round arrow.
Step 3. Choose a reliable password *that you won’t forget!’
Code-Red Warning. Choose the password that you will definitely remember. Otherwise, you won’t be able to access your files…ever. This step is obvious, but you will be surprised how many people get into this trap over and over and …over again.
You will also need to select the desired location to backup your iPhone.
Step 4. Wait till iPhone is backed up.
It will take some time to create an iPhone backup (depending on its size). iMazing will show you a progress bar, to keep you updated on how much time is left.
When it’s complete, you will see a ‘Success’ message on your display.
Let’s take a quick tour of what iMazing can do:
iMazing gives you the complete picture of your device. When you open iMazing – it shows you a complete breakdown on your iPhone – its exact model, RAM, storage, even battery cycles. Furthermore, you can rename your iPhone with just 1 click or adjust other settings.
Backup your device with ease
iMazing is a smart backup tool. It helps you backup any iOS device to your computer or even an external location.
Export data from iPhone without a fuss
You can swiftly export photos, videos, music, contacts, messages from your iPhone to the computer. Connect your iPhone, choose the needed files, done!
Transfer anything into your iDevice
iMazing eats everything. An MKV movie? A ringtone? A PDF file? A FLAC high-res track? Just push them all into your device with iMazing.
Manage apps. Your Way.
This feature was removed from iTunes. But with iMazing, it’s possible to manage your iOS apps on your desktop. You can move, edit, delete or download new apps. Cool!
A robust way to Extract/View Backup files
iMazing works with the backup files that you made with iTunes or other backup managers. You can browse and edit them through the app’s interface.
Instant Recognition of Covers & Meta Data
Whenever you are dropping files to your iPhone – iMazing will add proper covers and metadata to each of them! That includes music, videos, ePub books, etc.
Best of all, there’s also no limit on how many devices you can use with iMazing. iTunes requires a device to be synced to a single iTunes library only. But there’s no such restriction with iMazing.
What if you lose your iPhone’s Backup Password?
Yikes. Losing a password is bad, but there’s something you can do. For instance, if you still have the same device with the same files, you just need to create a new encrypted backup. It will override the previous one.
But first, you will need to reset settings on your iPhone.
On your device go to Settings > General. Select ‘Reset’
Choose ‘Reset All Settings’ and enter your iPhone’s password.
Go through the steps on your iPhone to reset all settings. This will change your display, layout, wallpaper settings, but it also will change your backups password.
Connect your device to iMazing again and create a new backup file!
Psst. This will also override all backups you previously had.
What’s more, if you are using Mac, your password might be saved in the macOS keychain. In this case, use the spotlight to find Keychain Access.
Open Keychain Access on your Mac
Select ‘Passwords’ from the left sidebar
Type in ‘backup’ in the search bar in the top right corner of the window
Choose the desired entry, enter your Mac user password
You will see your password right after
What if you are on Windows? Well, the only solution left is guesswork. What password could you have possibly used? Maybe your Email password? Your Apple ID password? If you forgot them, at least you can restore these passwords with 2-factor authentication.
How to turn off backup encryption on iPhone
By now, we all know that encrypted backups contain very sensible data like biometrics and passwords. Sometimes for some reason, we don’t want that data to be stored meaning disabling automatic backup encryption is our way to go. In fact, backup encryption can be disabled also after a backup is done erasing all of the sensible data from it.
If that’s what you want you’re very welcomed to follow the following guide!
Let’s connect!
Connect your device and make sure your wired connection is reliable and strong. Open up Finder and click on your device.
There’s no device showing up? Well, there is something wrong with your connection. Check if you can find an immediate flaw, otherwise click on the link below for some more troubleshooting.
Alternatively, you can also open iTunes and select your iPhone there. The outcome will be the exact same.
Undo encryption
You’ve selected your device? Great now the following step to successfully disable iPhone encryption is simple. Just uncheck the checkbox “Encrypted Backup”, and type in your backup password.
Voila! You’re done, well that was easy, wasn’t it?
Conclusion
The 2020s in an exciting time. We have more tech advancements than ever. Anyone can access any info in the nick of a time. But this also means that our valuable information is at risk.
No wonder, people all over the world are worried about their privacy. Photos, contacts, text messages, sensitive data like passwords & more can be more valuable than physical possessions.
So why should you encrypt your backups? For a start, you will be 100% certain that your files are safe. Nobody else can access your data. What’s more, the standard, non -encrypted backup does not include your passwords, health data, Wi-Fi settings & more.
This guide proves that creating encrypted backups is simple and pain-free. You can accomplish the desired result in just a few clicks with a helper tool – iMazing. It’s an absolutely versatile tool, comprising the power of 23 apps in 1. Besides just creating or browsing your encrypted backups, it basically does everything – starting from transferring files to your iPhone and finishing with giving you a complete overview of your device.
Josh Brown
CEO at Softorino
macOS and 
Windows.
WALTR PRO
macOS &
Windows
