If you make use of iCloud backups on older Apple hardware, you’ll want to pay attention. The Fruit Company has begun notifying users that iCloud backups will require iOS 9 or later from 18 December 2024.
When that day rolls around, backups on devices still running iOS 5 through iOS 8 will cease to function and the data will be deleted. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Floating on iCloud 9
“Starting December 18, 2024, device backups will require iOS 9 or later. This is to align more closely with our published minimum software requirements. Until this date, you’ll be able to use the service as normal. Afterward, your backup data will be deleted unless you update to iOS 9 or later,” reads Apple’s new support document.
Before you drop to your knees and curse the heavens, there’s still hope for your decrepit backups. Owners of the iPhone 4S or later; iPad 2 or later; and the iPod touch (5th generation) or later still running iOS 8, can update their device to iOS 9 (or a later version) to keep using iCloud Backup.
If, for some reason, you’re against this kind of change, the only other recourse you have is to perform a manual backup via Mac or PC. By connecting your iPhone to a Mac running macOS Catalina or newer, users can back up their device through Finder. Alternatively, users on PC or older macOS versions can run a backup through the Apple Devices or iTunes apps. For a step-by-step guide on how to do either backup, head here.
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iOS 8 is now ten years old, so maybe this news shouldn’t come as a surprise. Kudos to anyone who takes good enough care of their iPhones and iPads that they still be functional a decade later. Unfortunately, the only way Apple sees fit to reward those people is to make them update or risk losing their backups. T-28 days and counting.
