Can I backup a device to a Mac iTunes and iCloud

I want to back up my iPad and iPhone to iTunes on my Mac. I also want them to back up to iCloud in case anything goes wrong with the Mac. Is this possible and how?

Solution 1:

I have accomplished this by plugging it into iTunes, selecting "Back up to this computer" and hitting Apply. It performs a backup to my computer and then I change it back to Back up to iCloud. As far as backing up automatically, I'm not aware of a way to do that.

’Course, I mostly rely on iCloud, but should get in the habit of doing this a little more often just to keep a copy on my computer.

Solution 2:

There is no automatic way to switch back and forth or have both backup destinations be active at the same time, but you can easily set a daily or weekly alarm to switch things up.

I've been in the practice of making sure my local backup is updated once every other week and haven't seen any issues from this. I do the same thing with time machine backups but on a longer scale - swapping a pair (or three with offsite rotation) on a monthly basis. The first backup can take a bit longer, but I've got a few copies of my data in several places for that extra level of protection in case my most recent backup has problems or gets broken in some unexpected manner.