How to Back Up Your iPad for Your Point of Sale Data

Written by our very own Donna Knight, One Step Retail Solutions Implementation Specialist

In this day and age, you are probably using mobile devices in certain aspects of your business in addition to using a computer. Most people know they need to back up their computers to keep their data safe but you may not be aware that you also need to make sure your mobile device is backing up. iPads have the ability to backup automatically but you have to take steps to make sure they are set up to do so.

Here’s how you can verify that your iPad is set up to backup regularly:

1. Click the Settings app on the iPad.
2. Click on iCloud (on the left side of the screen).
3. Click Backup on the right side of the screen.
4. To the right of where it says “iCloud Backup”, click the toggle so that it is green. If it is green, it is already turned on. When the iCloud Backup is turned off, it means you are required to connect the iPad to a computer that has iTunes installed to back it up. This is not ideal. It is better to back up to the cloud instead, so that backing up is automatic.

Now you are set to back up automatically any time your iPad is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. You will notice a link that says “Back Up Now”. If for some reason you have not backed up automatically, (for instance, if you haven’t had a connection to Wi-Fi in a while), you can click “Back Up Now” to initiate a backup.

I’ve owned an iPad since iPad 1.0 and have found backing it up to be much easier than backing up a computer. The ability to backup up to the cloud was added in more recent years, and it has worked flawlessly for me since it became available. While most point of sale-related data saved on an iPad is usually being synced to a database elsewhere, there is some data that will sit on the iPad until it syncs. For that reason, it’s very important to take these few simple steps to ensure you never lose data that is saved only on the iPad.