iPhone backup missing from Apple devices

Leoparding wrote:

And going back to my initial question, if Apple Devices made a backup folder (with the correct date and time) when I did the backup before iOS update attempt, why is it empty?

My understanding is that the backup of the iPhone to the PC is made during the iOS update process (this is also true for doing this on a Mac). However since your update was interrupted it probably started but did not complete the backup portion of the process. It created the destination folder but was interrupted before the data being backed up could be written to that folder.

at around 60% it got stuck and gave me an error (1109). Then I tried again, same error. Tried a few more times and also got error (75). At this point I was panicking I managed to brick my phone.

Error 1109 is likely an interrupted or failed connection to Apple's servers. This could cause the entire backup and iOS update to stop during the process. Error 75 is likely an interrupted connection to the PC, possibly related to the other interruption.

Not sure what you mean by "brick my phone" but any interruptions during iOS updates can result in non-functional iPhones. It sounds like your connections to the internet and possibly the PC were fragile or unreliable.

Because the backup and iOS update process were interrupted, it seems in your case that the data being backed up were never written to the PC backup folder.

This is the reason why it is recommended to MANUALLY back up the iPhone before initiating an iOS update. Or at least CHECKING that a recent iCloud backup was completed and/or a recent backup to a Mac/PC was completed. I always do both -- I use iCloud backup as well as local backups to a Mac. That way if the backup folder on the Mac is somehow damaged or corrupted (as happened to you with your PC), you have a second backup.

Before any type of OS update, one wants to check that the infrastructure (internet connection, cables between devices, etc.) is robust and reliable.

By the way, it is easy to get all your photos back to your iPhone from a Mac.

(1) Use iCloud Photos. You said you haven't used iCloud Photos because you have only 5 GB iCloud storage, well that is the free storage, but that can be penny wise and pound foolish, as you have now discovered. That said, you can activate (pay for) a larger storage for iCloud, use it to sync your iPhone Photos to a complete Photos Library on your Mac, and then after the sync is complete, you can disable the extra paid for storage, so you would only pay for that one month. A few dollars at most.

(2) There are apps that are relatively inexpensive (iMazing is one) that provide a way to copy content (including photos) from your Mac or PC to an iPhone. You can use one of those to copy photos from a computer back to your iPhone.

In the future I would suggest paying for iCloud extra storage to enable iCloud Photos and iCloud backup of your iPhone. Or set up some alternative system where you have multiple copies of important content and multiple ways to restore it in the event of a mishap.

I'm sorry about all the frustration. But if Apple Devices didn't save the backup, getting something back which doesn't exist would be impossible. Were you not backing up to iCloud on your iPhone? My phone backs up every night, when my iPhone is plugged in to charge and connected to Wifi. This means a backup is available, anywhere I may be. If you weren't backing up to iCloud, hopefully, you were at least syncing your photos, messages, files, etc. with iCloud? Assuming you were doing at least that, you can sync anything which you had synced with iCloud back to your phone. And you can redownload all of your apps from the App Store back to your iPhone as well. You'll need to set up your mailboxes in the Mail App, but they sync with your mail provider, so you'll get back your emails.

Thank you for the reply. I think most of the stuff was backed up to iCloud but not the photos or videos (I have them disabled because my iCloud is only 5 GB). I do have them backed up on external drives though, I just wish I could have then back on my phone. After resetting the phone I was able to restore from iCloud my apps and settings, so I didn't have to install anything or login, just the Photos app is empty.. Is there a difference between backing up and syncing photos to iCloud? And going back to my initial question, if Apple Devices made a backup folder (with the correct date and time) when I did the backup before iOS update attempt, why is it empty?

Yeah, wish I looked it up after the first error and not repeating the update and then trying to "restore" which I thought it would revert my iPhone with the help of the backup it just made, and not completely erasing it and probably erasing the backup as well, hence the created folder is empty. I also wish I had used a Mac computer.. maybe it would have worked without errors. But the "newest" I have runs Monterey and though that using a PC running an up to date OS would be more stable, which proved the opposite unfortunately.

P.S. You might find this thread informational iPhone 13 Pro shows error 1109 06B4.000o … - Apple Community

where someone else experienced something similar and found that doing the update on a PC did not work because the update location on the Apple server was incorrectly specified. Not sure if this was simply a bug or due to outdated software.

This is a connectivity problem.

Here is information on that error: If you see Error 3194, Error 1109, or other network connectivity errors when restoring your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support