Encrypt an iPhone backup on Mac and keep its password safe
To encrypt an iPhone backup, connect the phone to your Mac, select it in Finder, and enable Encrypt local backup under General. Set and save a backup password before relying on the result, because encryption lets the backup include saved passwords and Health data, but losing that password prevents you from restoring it. If you have already forgotten the password, you can reset the phone's backup setting and make a new backup, while the old encrypted copy still needs its original password.
What encryption adds to the backup
An encrypted local backup can include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, website history, Health data and call history that an unencrypted backup does not include. Face ID, Touch ID and the iPhone's device passcode remain excluded, as Apple explains in its encrypted-backup documentation.
That changes the decision when the backup is preparation for a replacement iPhone. Encryption protects the stored files and makes more of the old phone's information available for migration, even when access to your Mac is not a concern.
It still has coverage limits. Apple lists data already synced and stored in iCloud, including iCloud Photos, among the exclusions from computer backups. Encryption does not turn a device backup into an independent download of everything in iCloud. For the broader backup workflow, see back up an iPhone to a Mac.
Turn on encryption in Finder
Finder is enough if your goal is to make and restore an encrypted local backup. You do not need another app to enable encryption.
- Connect the iPhone with a USB cable and open Finder. Select the phone in the sidebar.
- Complete any accessory permission or trust prompts, including the confirmation on the iPhone, and enter its passcode if requested.
- Open General. Select Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac if the backup should be stored on this computer.
- Under Backups, enable Encrypt local backup. Enter and confirm the password, then click Set Password.
- Let the backup finish. If a backup is not already running, click Back Up Now.
The connection, trust and password prompts follow Apple's Finder instructions, while the macOS Tahoe guide documents the local destination option.
Enabling encryption can start a backup immediately and overwrite and encrypt previous backups, so do not treat it as a harmless checkbox experiment. Once the run finishes, open Manage Backups under General and check the lock beside the intended backup, together with its date and time. A checked encryption setting and a completed backup are separate things.
Why the password follows the iPhone
The backup-encryption setting belongs to the iPhone. Yado reads that setting from the phone and sends encryption changes to it, so enabling encryption there also affects Finder backups of that phone. Moving to another Mac or switching backup apps does not give the same iPhone a separate encryption setting.
In this sense, the password is set on the phone, rather than being a preference owned by one Mac app. The encrypted backup and its protected keys are stored on the computer, and a password manager can hold a saved copy of the password. Those are different storage roles.
Apple's security guide describes a backup keybag, a collection of encryption keys protected by the backup password. Yado uses that password to unlock the keys, decrypt Manifest.db, the backup's file index, and read encrypted payloads. Renaming the backup folder or opening its index with a database tool does not remove this requirement.
Save the password before you need a restore
Keep a clearly named record for this iPhone's backup password, including enough device information to distinguish it from other phones. Save it explicitly rather than assuming the backup app has done so.
Apple explicitly suggests adding an encrypted-backup password to the Passwords app in its backup instructions for Journal. The standalone Passwords app is available on Mac from macOS Sequoia, as Apple's password lookup guide explains.
Before erasing or replacing the old phone, make sure you can retrieve the saved password. If somebody else originally configured its backups, ask that person for it before resetting anything. Keep any older password records that you still need for retained backups.
If you forgot the iPhone backup password
First look for a password you previously saved. If you can still use the original iPhone but cannot recover its backup password, Apple's forgotten-password procedure lets you remove that setting and create a new encrypted backup.
- On the iPhone, open Settings, then General.
- Open Transfer or Reset iPhone, then Reset.
- Choose Reset All Settings, enter the device passcode and follow the confirmations.
- Reconnect to Finder, enable encryption again with a new password and make a new backup.
This leaves photos, messages, apps and documents on the phone. It does reset settings, with consequences including Wi-Fi networks and passwords, trusted computers, Home Screen layout and Apple Pay cards, according to Apple's reset-settings reference. Allow time to reconnect and configure those items afterward.
The new password protects new backups. It cannot decrypt a backup created with the forgotten password, and resetting a replacement iPhone cannot recover the old phone's backup password. If the original phone is unavailable, preserve the encrypted copy and look for its password or another usable backup.
Enable or disable encryption in Yado
If you already manage backups in Yado, open Overview, find the Backup card and click Manage. The controls are in this panel, rather than a separate Backup tab.
When encryption is off, click Turn On Encryption beside Start Backup, enter the new backup password twice and confirm. The confirmation explains that future backups include saved passwords, Wi-Fi and Health data, and that Finder uses the same password. If the iPhone requests its device passcode, enter it on the phone.
Yado checks the phone's response before reporting the change. If you cancel the passcode request and encryption is not enabled, the setting remains unchanged. After enabling it, save the password and use Start Backup to create the backup.
To disable encryption, open Backup Password and choose Turn Off Encryption. This requires the current backup password, and later backups leave out saved passwords and Health data. Turning encryption off is therefore not a recovery route for a forgotten password.
Open the backup and prepare for a different iPhone
In Yado's Existing Backups, move the pointer over a backup and choose Browse Contents. An encrypted backup asks for its password before Unlock opens it, after which you can read supported records such as contacts, notes and messages when they are present. The backup browsing guide covers locating backups and reading individual records.
Opening records verifies that the password works for that backup. It does not prove a complete device restore will succeed.
For another iPhone, Yado's Move Here confirmation distinguishes encrypted and unencrypted backups. The encrypted route includes saved passwords and Health data, while the unencrypted warning says passwords, Health and Wi-Fi will not transfer and directs you to back up the old phone again with encryption enabled. Apple's security documentation also limits migration of some device-bound keychain items, so encryption is not a promise that every credential transfers.
A restore replaces the target phone's contents, restarts it and downloads its apps again. Check the target and backup date before proceeding, and follow the iPhone restore guide when you are ready to perform that operation.