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What is the typical size of an iOS backup stored to iCloud?

I currently backup my iPhone and iPad to iTunes. I'm considering switching the backups to iCloud, but I am not ready to purchase one of the additional storage plans. If my iPhone is a 32gb with 3gb free space remaining, does the backup to iCloud only backup settings, phone data, etc. that would require far less space? Most of the space used on my phone is my music collection; surely it doesn't backup all of the music as well, right?

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You are looking at about 100-150 MB and of course this varies depending on what kind and how many apps you have installed. Of course you can always selectively turn off various app data from being backed up to control the overall size. – cksum Apr 21 '12 at 6:18

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Here is a list of things that iCloud stores in your iOS Backup:

  • Purchased music, TV shows, apps, and books
  • Photos and video in the Camera Roll
  • Device settings
  • App data
  • Home screen and app organization
  • Messages (iMessage, SMS, and MMS)
  • Ringtones

iCloud does not back up the songs that you have NOT purchased from iTunes. iTunes purchases should not reflect in the size of your backup. iCloud stores your purchase history and then re-downloads the files at restore.

Depending on the amount of data stored in your apps, I would estimate that the file size would be roughly 1Gb-2Gb. Of course that all depends on the number of applications, photos and videos you have.

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Media is not stored in your backup (music, videos, etc.) – cksum Apr 21 '12 at 6:16
apple.com/icloud/features/apps-books-backup.html It backs up your camera roll. Any media purchases can be downloaded again, as it shows in your purchased list. This wasn't the case before iCloud. You were forced to back all purchases up locally and reinstall. – Silent Radar Apr 21 '12 at 23:40

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