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An Apple fan says they lost '20 years of digital life' after using an Apple gift card
(www.techradar.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2025
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If you do store your data, like me, in iCloud and Apple Photos then you should still take a backup.
The easiest way to do this to request a data export of all your Apple data. It’s then prepared into zip files you can download onto a local storage device.
I do it about once a year, which for me is a reasonable balance between risk and impact.
Here’s a guide: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/get-a-copy-of-your-apple-account-data/
You're not wrong about anything you're saying, but I'm learning that a LOT of people are either / or with phones and computers; I know fewer and fewer people who have both. Making a local backup is ideal, but many can't or don't have that option.
My knee jerk reaction was to say something smart ass like "well they should get a computer" but you're absolutely right.
The customer service woman I talked to was surprised I could talk to her and browse the internet (on a laptop). She told me most people use their phone for everything. I met college kids who were typing their papers on their phones. My mom never owned a computer until I gave her one, and she leaves it in the corner "for emergencies".
I have no answer. People will continue uploading their lives into Google photos, Facebook galleries, whatever - with no backup, and hope those companies store their data. I think the average person is fucked.
My mom do bussiness and manage financial assets on a smartphone...
Phone literally old, laggy, half-dying, charging port is filled with dust... and also no backups...
lmfao
Of course, actual word documents and stuff and printing were done by me or my older brother
Agreed, but if the data is important, you need to pay another third party for backups. If something is important and you only have it stored once, that's on you, no tech is infallable.