Can You Transfer Apps to iCloud Storage? What Apple Says
If you want to transfer apps to iCloud storage, here is the short answer from Apple’s own iCloud pages.
What does iCloud back up? states: “iCloud Backup includes app data for the apps that you’ve downloaded on your device.” Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device states: “Many apps automatically back up to iCloud after you install them.”
The two Apple pages linked at the bottom of this article never use the words transfer apps, move apps or offload.
For apps, those pages give a control described as a way to “free up space in iCloud”, and Apple prints a warning with it that is worth reading before you tap.
Transfer apps to iCloud storage: what iCloud actually keeps
What does iCloud back up? states: “iCloud helps keep your data safe in two main ways: syncing and backing up.”
The same page also states: “Any data on your device that isn’t regularly synced is stored in your iCloud Backup.”
What does iCloud back up? also states: “This includes data for third-party social media apps, games, and messaging apps, as well as apps from Apple that don’t sync with iCloud.”
The same page also states: “If the app uses iCloud Drive to store data, that information is stored in iCloud instead of your iCloud Backup.”
What does iCloud back up? also states: “When you restore from an iCloud backup, things like your device settings, your Home Screen layout, and app organization are also restored.”
So the app’s data and the app’s place on your Home Screen both appear on Apple’s page. If your backup is larger than you expected, we go through the usual causes in why is my iPhone backup so big.
Which control will you find, and what does it do?
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device says: “To decrease the size of your iCloud Backup and free up space in iCloud, you can stop backing up apps that you don’t use, or delete old iCloud backups.”
Read that once more before you tap anything. The space it frees is in iCloud.
Apple’s five steps for it, in its own words, under the heading “Choose which apps to back up on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro”:
- Open the Settings app, tap your name, then tap iCloud.
- Tap Storage or tap Manage Account Storage.
- Tap Backups, then tap the name of the device that you’re using.
- Turn off any apps that you don’t want to back up.
- Tap Turn Off to confirm.
Apple prints a warning with that last step, and it is the reason to go slowly: “When you confirm that you want to Turn Off, iCloud Backup turns off for that app and removes all of its information from iCloud.”
Turn off only an app whose backed up data you are willing to let go.
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device also states: “Some apps are always backed up and you can’t turn them off.”
Does turning an app off free space on your phone?
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device states: “To decrease the size of your iCloud Backup and free up space in iCloud, you can stop backing up apps that you don’t use, or delete old iCloud backups.”
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device also prints this: “If you’re getting low on storage on your iPhone or iPad with iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later, go to Recommended for You in iCloud settings.” Its third step on that page reads “Tap one of the options and follow the onscreen instructions to free up storage.”
That is as far as these two pages go on your phone’s own storage. Apple may cover device storage elsewhere, and one of the two pages links to a further page on it, which we did not fetch and do not cite here.
For the phone side we have written separately about how to clean iPhone caches and what website data is on an iPhone. On an iPad, start with how to get more storage on an iPad.
What happens after you turn off iCloud Backup for a device?
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device heads this part of its page “Delete backups and turn off iCloud Backup for your device”, a different heading from the per app steps above.
What does iCloud back up? says: “If you turn off iCloud Backup for a device, any backups stored in iCloud are kept for 180 days before being deleted.”
Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device says: “iCloud backups are available for 180 days after you disable or stop using iCloud Backup.”
The same page also states: “Backups that are currently being used to restore a device can’t be deleted.”
Questions readers ask
Can I move an app itself into iCloud?
Neither of the two Apple pages linked at the bottom of this article gives a way to put the app itself into iCloud. Searching both for transfer apps, transfer an app, move apps, move an app, store apps, apps to iCloud storage, offload and free up space on your iPhone returns nothing on either page.
What those pages do describe is app data in your backup, and your Home Screen layout and app organization coming back when you restore.
If I turn an app off, do I lose anything?
Apple’s words are “When you confirm that you want to Turn Off, iCloud Backup turns off for that app and removes all of its information from iCloud.” Turn off only an app whose backed up data you are willing to let go.
How long do I have to change my mind?
What does iCloud back up? says “If you turn off iCloud Backup for a device, any backups stored in iCloud are kept for 180 days before being deleted.” Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device says “iCloud backups are available for 180 days after you disable or stop using iCloud Backup.”
For a single app, Apple prints this with the last of the five steps above: “When you confirm that you want to Turn Off, iCloud Backup turns off for that app and removes all of its information from iCloud.”
Neither page prints a number of days for a single app you have turned off.
Every “days” line on the two pages is about a device backup, photos, or files. Read the 180 days as Apple states it, for a device.
Neither page prints a way to turn iCloud Backup back on for a single app.
Searching both for undo, turn it back on and back on returns one line, on Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device, under its heading “Delete backups and turn off iCloud Backup for your device”: “When you delete a backup, it also turns off iCloud Backup for that device. You can turn iCloud Backup back on in iCloud settings on your device.”
Why is an app backing up when I never set that up?
Apple says: “Many apps automatically back up to iCloud after you install them.” The five steps above are where you change it for an app, and Apple prints this with the last of them: “When you confirm that you want to Turn Off, iCloud Backup turns off for that app and removes all of its information from iCloud.”
Apple also writes “Some apps are always backed up and you can’t turn them off.”
Do the same steps work on an iPad?
Apple heads the five steps “Choose which apps to back up on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro”. Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device also prints this: “If you’re getting low on storage on your iPhone or iPad with iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later, go to Recommended for You in iCloud settings.”
Sources
- Apple Support: What does iCloud back up?
- Apple Support: Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device
Both pages were fetched and checked on October 10, 2026. Apple’s published date on the first reads May 01, 2025, and on the second September 14, 2026.