Wondering how long an iCloud backup restore to an iPhone or iPad will take to complete? Restoring an iPhone or iPad from an iCloud Backup can take a while, depending on the size of the iCloud backup, and the speed of the internet connection the iOS device is connected to.
If you want to check on the progress of an active iCloud Restore, you can do so in modern versions of iOS.
How to Check Progress of iCloud Restore from Backup on iPhone or iPad
Open the “Settings” app in iOS
Tap on “Your Name” at the top of the Settings
Tap on “iCloud”
Tap on “iCloud Backup”
Locate the data remaining information on the iCloud backup restore process under the ‘Stop’ button to get a rough idea of how much longer the restore will take
The data remaining information will be shown in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB).
It’s best to let the iCloud Restore process complete, however long it may take. Failure to let the iCloud restore from backup process complete can lead to permanent data loss.
Optionally, but not recommended, you can stop an iCloud Restore from backup to an iOS device. Stopping an iCloud Restore can result in data loss and is therefore not recommended unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
While the iCloud Restore process is ongoing, you may notice notably poor battery life on the iPador iPhone as the devices “Ongoing Restore” background activity and downloading of data uses more energy than usual. Letting the iCloud Restore process complete will return the device to normal expected battery performance.
Note that much earlier versions of iOS do not support this feature.
By comparison, checking the restore progress of an iTunes backup restore is much more obvious because the iTunes window has a progress indicator showing the current progress and how long it will take to complete.
Knowing how to put an iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 7 into Recovery Mode can be valuable knowledge, as it is sometimes necessary for troubleshooting purposes.
Typically the need to use Recovery Mode is limited to troubleshooting some more unusual scenarios like when a device is completely stuck on an Apple logo, or if the screen shows a “Connect to iTunes” screen, but it can be used sometimes for downgrading of iOS versions too.
This tutorial will demonstrate you how to enter Recovery Mode on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. This guide also applies to putting iPod touch (7th generation) into Recovery Mode too.
How to Enter Recovery Mode on iPhone 7 Plus & iPhone 7
Be sure you have a backup of iPhone before entering recovery mode, failure to do so may result in permanent data loss.
Press and hold the Side Power button on the iPhone until you see the slide-to-power off screen
Drag the slider to turn off the iPhone
Hold down the Volume Down button while connecting the iPhone to the computer with a USB cable
Continue holding Volume Down button until you see the Recovery Mode screen as you open iTunes on the computer (Mac or Windows, or in macOS Catalina open Finder)
iTunes (or Finder) will detect the iPhone in Recovery Mode
After the iPhone is successfully detected and in Recovery Mode, it can be restored with iTunes (or Mac Finder in 10.15+), or updated.
You can also use IPSW files if needed after an iPhone is in recovery mode.
It’s important to note that putting the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 into recovery mode is a different process from using Recovery Mode on prior iPhone models, and also from using Recovery Mode on later models. So if you’re accustomed to one method, recall that it can be a unique procedure depending on the actual iPhone model itself.
iCloud backup restores can be stopped at any time on newer iOS devices. This means that if you have chosen to restore an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from an iCloud backup, either when setting up a device with a prior iOS backup, or to restore a problematic device as a troubleshooting method, you can stop the iCloud Restore process at anytime. This article will explain how to stop an iCloud backup restore to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Stopping an iCloud Restore is generally not recommended and should not be taken lightly, as it may result in data loss.
Rarely, an iCloud Restore can get stuck, or the process take so long that it’s impractical to complete, thus it may need to be stopped as a troubleshooting method.
If you stop an iCloud Restore from iOS backup, any data that has not been restored will not be restored to the device in the future, nor will that missing data be backed up in the future, and therefore the unrestored data may become lost permanently if the restore is not allowed to complete.
Additionally, stopping an iCloud Restore to an iOS device offers no information as to what information was or was not restored to the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. In other words, you’ll have no idea what data was restored versus what data was not, so you could theoretically be missing photos, videos, notes, contacts, apps, app data, files, documents, or other important information by stopping the iCloud Restore.
How to Stop an iCloud Restore on iPhone or iPad
Warning: stopping an iCloud Restore may result in data loss.
Open the “Settings” app in iOS
Tap on “Your Name” at the top of the Settings list to access iCloud settings
Next tap on “iCloud”
Now tap on and choose “iCloud Backup”
Tap on “Stop Restoring iPad” (or “Stop Restoring iPhone”)
Confirm that you want to stop restoring from iCloud by tapping on “Stop”
As the final confirmation dialog message suggests, stopping an iCloud Restore to an iPhone or iPad will stop any data that has not yet been downloaded from being downloaded, and that missing data will not be restored or backed up again in the future.
Currently, iOS does not provide a list of data that has been restored, or has not yet been restored, and so if you stop the restore process from iCloud you will not have any idea as to what was restored or what wasn’t. This is one of many reasons why it is not recommended to stop an iCloud Restore, as you may permanently lose data or other important stuff.
Broadly speaking, it is recommended to let the entire iCloud Restore process complete, regardless of the scenario, or whether setting up a new iOS device from a previously made backup to iCloud, or restoring a device for troubleshooting, or whatever other purpose. iCloud Restore can take a long time depending on the size of the backup being restored, and the speed of the internet connection that the iPhone or iPad is connected to. You may notice that the “Ongoing Restore” process is causing battery drain of a newly setup iOS device, but that will stop when the backup has completed.
If you are going to stop an iCloud Restore because it’s stuck or for some other reason and thus want to start the entire iCloud Restore from a backup process over again, you may want to reset the iPhone to factory default settings or reset the iPad to factory settings, and then during the fresh device setup, choose to restore the appropriate iOS backup again, either from iCloud or from iTunes. If you’re using iCloud Restore, be sure to have a fast and reliable high speed internet connection.
If you have an iPhone or iPad with Face ID you may want to toggle the devices Attention Aware Features setting to be enabled or disabled. The Attention Aware Features uses the iPhone or iPad camera to check if you are looking at the device before dimming the display, or lowering the volume of alerts on the device.
For example, if you have Attention Aware Features enabled, then you may notice that the iPhone XS, XR, X ringer volume is low when you pick up the phone or look at it, and that happens automatically. If you don’t want that to happen, you can disable the feature. And likewise, if you had previously turned this off, you can re-enable Attention Aware Features of Face ID to turn those features back on again.
How to Turn Attention Aware Features OFF or ON on iPhone & iPad
Open the Settings app in iOS
GO to “General” and then go to “Accessibility”
Tap on “Face ID and Attention”
Toggle the setting for “Attention Aware Features” to the ON position to enable this feature, or the OFF position to disable it
The description under this particular Face ID attention setting is as follows:
“IPhone / iPad will check for attention before dimming the display and lowering the volume of alerts”
As mentioned before, one of the more common examples of users noticing this feature is if they have an iPhone with Face ID and they notice the ringer volume is lowering itself seemingly out of nowhere. Likewise, many iPad users may notice the feature if they discover their screen is not dimming or turning off automatically as expected, because they are looking at the device.
You can choose whichever setting you want for this feature, so if you like it, leave it enabled, and if you don’t, turn it off. It’s easy to change again at anytime.
The default setting on Face ID equipped iPhone and iPad models is to have Attention Aware Features enabled, and the features work even if you are not using Face ID on the device for unlocking and authentication of the iPhone or iPad.
Want to transfer photos from a digital camera to iPhone? You can easily import photos and video from a digital camera or SD card to an iPhone with the help of an appropriate adapter and the super simple iOS Photos import procedure. This tutorial will walk through the steps to copy images and media from an SD card or camera to an iOS device.
To be able to successfully transfer and import photos from a digital camera or SD card to the iPhone, you will need the following:
The digital camera and/or SD card to copy the photos from
Assuming you have those prerequisites met, you’ll be able to copy images from the digital camera or SD card to the iPhone. And in case you were wondering, yes all of this is the same on iPhone as it is on iPod touch and iPad, so long as the iOS device has a Lightning port.
How to Import All Photos from Camera / SD Card to iPhone
Ready to import and copy photos from the SD card / camera to iPhone? Here’s what you’ll want to do:
Connect the Apple Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader adapter to the iPhone lightning port at the bottom of the phone
Insert the SD Card into the Apple Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader
Wait a moment and Photos app will launch automatically on the iPhone *
Tap on “Import All” in the corner of the Import screen of Photos app **
When the “Import Complete” screen appears, choose to “Keep” the photos on the SD card / camera, otherwise choose Delete if you want to permanently remove them from the attached SD card
All photos that were copied and imported from the SD card will now appear in the Photos app on the iPhone. You can find them in the general Camera Roll section or in the Photos section, though do note that the default Photos sorting view is by date and so if the images are from different dates they may not appear at the very bottom of the Photos app screen.
You can also choose to browse the imported photos by going to the Photos app “Albums” view and then selecting the “Imports” album.
Sometimes the Photos app does not automatically open when the SD card or digital camera is connected to the iPhone, if that happens manually open the Photos app and choose the “Import” tab.
** Optionally, you can manually select specific photos to import by tapping on them individually at the Import screen so that they a green checkmark appears overplayed on them, but for most users they’ll probably want to import all photos from the SD card to the iPhone.
If you have a digital camera that uses a different sort of memory card rather than an SD card, you’ll want to either use an adapter, or use the USB adapter for the iPhone instead. Fortunately most digital cameras have standardized around the SD card and so that will apply for most users who want to import pictures from a camera or SD card to their iPhone.
This walkthrough is obviously focused on the iPhone, but everything is basically the same on iPod touch and iPad, assuming they have a Lightning port anyway. If you’re a Mac computer use than you can also transfer images from iPhone, camera, or memory card to the Photos app on Mac too.
The data contained within Health app on iPhone can be saved and exported for other uses. Perhaps you want to export Health app data to use in another health or fitness app, importing it to elsewhere, or maybe you want to use the raw Health data for your own purposes.
Exporting Health data from iPhone results in a zip archive that contains the raw data as gathered by Health app in XML format. This exported Health data will include any data stored or gathered by the Health app and any associated devices, including any Medical ID data, the native iPhone step counter and distance tracker, any data from an Apple Watch, and any data gathered from any third party devices that are syncing to Health app, like a smart scale or blood pressure monitor. Read no to learn how to export Health data from iPhone.
How to Export Health Data from iPhone
Open the Health app on iPhone
Tap on your profile icon in the corner, it looks like a human head silhouette
Scroll down to the bottom of the Health profile and tap on “Export Health Data”
Tap on “Export” to confirm that you want to export Health data and start the exporting process, it may take a bit to complete
Choose the method of how you want to save or share the exported Health data: Messages, Mail, Notes, Files app, or any other *
Optionally, extract the exported Health data from the resulting “export.zip” file
As mentioned before, the exported Health app data arrives as a zip file containing XML files. Thus if you want to dig around in the Health data or just it for something else, you’ll probably want to extract and unzip the archive and access the raw XML files for your own purposes. Some third party health and fitness oriented apps and services can import the Health data directly from the zip archive, however.
* Perhaps the simplest way to gain access to the raw Health app data is either to message or email it to yourself, or to use “Save to Files” and then access the data from iCloud Drive on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
You can also delete Health data from iPhone if you don’t want any of the stored health and fitness information to be stored on the device.
Let’s say you’re in a Messages conversation and you want to quickly send someone your current location from iPhone. In this scenario you might go to the Messages conversations Info / Details section and use the “Share Current Location” feature, but did you know there’s an even faster way to instantly share your current location from the iPhone Messages app that can be accessed by typing alone?
This is about as easy as it gets, and sending someone your current location this way is initiated entirely by typing a very short phrase on the iPhone within the Messages app.
That phrase to type is simply:
“I’m at“
Don’t hit send yet, but wait a moment and you’ll see a “Current Location” option show up in the Quick Type bar. Tapping that will immediately get the current location so that you can share it.
Here are the precise steps to see how it works if you’d like to try it yourself:
How to Share Current Location by Messages on iPhone the Fast Way
Open the Messages app and go to any conversation or start a new one with someone else who has iMessages
Type “I’m at” and then wait a moment for the QuickType keyboard to show “Current Location” and tap on that
Send the message as usual to share your current location in the Messages conversation instantly
This is probably the single fastest way to send someone else your current location from the iPhone within the Messages app. It works the same on iPad too, but for most users sharing location from iPhone is probably more relevant.
You must have Location Services enabled for Messages to have access to this feature, so if you turned off Location Services at some point you will need to turn them back on again (at least at a system level for Messages).
Likewise you’ll need to make sure the Quick Type keyboard is visible too since that’s what you’ll be tapping for quick access to the current location option.
By no means is this the only way to share your location from an iPhone, and one of the most common is to use the “Share Current Location” feature from Messages on iPhone or iPad with a specific contact. But you can also use Maps, mark a spot on Maps and share that location from iOS, use Find My Friends, use Siri to get the current location, get GPS coordinates from iPhone and send those to someone with a classic GPS device or in-car GPS unit, and many third party apps also support location services if you’re using another messenger application.
On the Mac side of things this particular “I’m at” trick does not work, though a Mac user can be a recipient of the shared location. If you’re looking to share location to and from a Mac it might better to instead use Find My Friends on Mac OS to have similar functionality.
If you use Spotify for streaming music, over time you may discover the Spotify app increases local cache storage, which can sometimes grow quite large. These audio cache files can make the Spotify app appear to take up a lot of storage space on an iPhone or iPad. But fortunately Spotify offers a simple functionality hidden within the app that allows you to easily delete all local cache from Spotify, which is a very helpful tool to free up some storage space.
You can also use this trick to simply see how much storage space the Spotify cache is taking up.
How to Delete Cache from Spotify on iPhone or iPad
Open the Spotify app then go to Spotify Settings by tapping the gear
Choose “Storage”
Select the “Delete Cache” button *
Confirm that you want to delete and clear all cache from Spotify
* Note that you can also see the total cache storage of Spotify at this Storage screen where you initiate the cache removal.
How much cache storage is taken up by Spotify depends on a variety of factors, including how often you use Spotify to stream music and audio, what audio quality settings for Spotify are in use by the app, and other factors.
While iOS does not have an empty cache functionality for either the iOS System, nor most apps (though you can clear cache in Safari for iOS), nor the “Other” storage stuff in iOS, thankfully some third party apps do have manual cache removal capabilities. Third party apps with cache clearance capabilities include the aforementioned Spotify, Google Maps, Twitter, and many more, though many others do not have that capability. You can, however, delete Documents & Data from iOS apps which can offer some relief from a storage burden if you’re running particularly tight, though that’s not an ideal mechanism.
For apps that do not have individual cache removal functionality (and most do not) you can use a silly workaround to dump cache from Instagram and other notorious storage munchers by what is effectively deleting the app and then reinstalling it again. Admittedly that is less than ideal, but until either the app developers offer built-in cache removal functionality, or until Apple adds a cache removal functionality into the System Settings of iOS, sometimes these quirky workarounds will be required.
Most users won’t really ever run into a situation where clearing cache is necessary from their devices, but if you discover storage capacity on iPhone or iPad is running tight or is full, then sometimes clearing out app caches can return a significant amount of free storage to the device, so it can be a worthwhile trick to know.
We’re obviosuly focusing on Spotify for iOS here, but it’s probably the same on Android too, though Android itself usually offers a separate built-in system cache removal functionality, something that iOS would benefit from as well.
Want to know what the air quality index is at a particular destination? The Apple Maps app on iPhone and iPad can give you this information.
Those who are concerned about air quality will find it useful to know that the Maps app on iPhone and iPad has an optional feature that allows you to see the Air Quality Index (AQI) and accompanying color code directly in the Maps app, but first you must enable the feature, and have a compatible version of iOS system software on the device. This is obviously helpful for planning trips and maps routes for groups who impacted by air quality, and offers another way to see air quality information on an iOS device.
Finding the optional Air Quality Index information in the Maps app of iOS requires iOS 12.2 or later to be installed on the iPhone or iPad, as earlier versions do not support AQI index (though they do support weather). iPhone users with earlier iOS versions can get air quality information in the Weather app on iPhone, and both iPhone and iPad users can find AQI index info from Siri, whereas iPad users with earlier iOS versions will want to use either a website or dedicated weather app for this same information. Assuming you’re on iOS 12.2or later though, here’s how you can enable and see AQI details in Apple Maps.
How to View Air Quality Index in Maps on iPhone or iPad
Open the “Settings” app on the iPhone or iPad
Go to “Maps”
Find the setting for ‘Air Quality Index’ and toggle that switch to the ON position
Exit Settings
Launch the Maps application in iOS
Search for a location or destination in Maps as usual
Note the ‘AQI’ score in the corner of Maps app as you search and use the Maps app on iPhone or iPad
You’ll also notice the weather is shown in Maps directly above the AQI index, offering further information about the destinations and locations you’re viewing in the Maps app of iOS. If you don’t see the weather in Apple Maps, then you may have it turned off in the Maps Settings, directly above the Air Quality Index information.
Any Air Quality Index rating between 0-50 is considered to be ‘Good’, while anything over 50 is of declining quality, over 100 to be considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, with increasing severity of air quality health concerns from numbers beyond that. You can refer to the below chart from AirNow.gov for reference of air quality index, color codes, and the health concerns associated with them:
While AQI information may be irrelevant to some iPhone and iPad users, others will find it to be a very helpful feature, especially if you or someone else has trouble with particulate matter, air pollutants, or even allergies, asthma, COPD, or the myriad other conditions where the quality of air matters tremendously.
Have you ever wanted to know if someone blocked your number from calling them or sending them messages? You may be familiar with the process of blocking calls, messages, and contacts on the iPhone, but have you ever wondered if YOUR number or messages have been blocked? While Apple makes the blocking feature for texts and calls fairly subtle, and blocked calls can even still leave voicemails, there are a few ways you can try to determine if someone has blocked your number on iPhone. Read on to learn more!
How to Know if Someone Blocked Your Number on iPhone
There are a few ways you can potentially determine if your phone number has been blocked by an iPhone user. We’ll show you a few ways to help figure it out.
Note that you have been blocked by the recipient iPhone, that recipient iPhone will not ring or make any notification or sound that you have called, nor sent them a message, nor left a voicemail. From the end that is doing the blocking, their iPhone stays silent and undisturbed by an inbound blocked call.
Method 1: Check for Call Block by Calling the iPhone
If you have been blocked by someone with an iPhone, then calling the iPhone results in one ring, or no ring at all, before hearing a generic message stating that the person is not available.
If the recipients iPhone has voicemail setup, the call is then directed to voicemail. (And yes, blocked callers can still leave voicemails, and you can check voicemails from blocked callers on iPhone too with these instructions).
If you hear multiple rings and eventually get to voicemail, most likely your call and number has not been blocked.
Important: getting sent to voicemail does not always mean you’re blocked!
Note that quickly getting sent to voicemail when you call someone does not necessarily mean your number or iPhone has been blocked, it can also mean a number of other things, including:
The recipient is actively on another phone call that is connecting or the line is otherwise busy
The recipient is in an area with low cell service coverage, or no cell service coverage
The recipients phone is powered off, or in the process of rebooting
The recipients iPhone does not have cellular service, or there is some other issue with the network
There is a cellular network outage or something similar
They may have their iPhone on Do Not Disturb mode (calling twice in a row sometimes gets through Do Not Disturb so you can try that too, especially if Emergency Bypass is enabled)
They may have limited inbound calls to Favorites or just Contacts or a contacts group, which is sometimes used to prevent junk calls and unknown calls
Your call was sent to voicemail manually on their iPhone
There are other reasons you may get sent to voicemail quickly too. Don’t assume getting someones voicemail is because you have been blocked by the person.
Method 2: Sending Text or iMessage to the iPhone Number to Check for Block
You can also try to check if your number has been blocked by sending the person a message.
If the iMessage never shows a “Delivered” or “Read” message, and it’s still blue, then you may have been blocked – but not always.
If the iMessage goes through and shows a “Read” receipt, then you have definitely not been blocked. Remember that Read Receipts can be disabled completely, or enabled broadly, or enabled on a per contact basis, but there is no way to determine which is the case unless you have specifically discussed it with the recipient or checked the settings on their iPhone (or iPad).
If the iMessage goes through and shows a “Delivered” message, then you have probably not been blocked.
If the iMessage fails to send and after repeated attempts at sending the message, and if the message turns green rather than blue, the person may have no cellular service, has no data connection, has a problem with their cell service, has a problem with their iPhone, has iMessage turned off, uses an Android phone (or other platform), or possibly has their iPhone turned off or is in the process of rebooting. There are many reasons why someones iMessages may not be working, and it’s no indicator of being blocked by the person.
Remember, when messages are being sent as green instead of blue, that means the phone is attempting to send a traditional SMS text message instead of an iMessage.
How can I find out exactly what happens if someone blocks my number on an iPhone?
There is no perfect solution or guaranteed way to find out if someone has blocked your iPhone without actually seeing their blocked contact list, but the next best thing is to setup a test for yourself.
A quick test is pretty easy as long as you have a friend or family member with another iPhone. Simply block the number of your iPhone from their device, then call it and send it a text message or iMessage. You’ll discover that you’re either sent to voicemail, or the messages just appear to go nowhere. Just be sure you unblock the number when you’re finished with the test so that you can actually get through to the person you tested this out with later.
