Local iOS Backups Without a Mac

Kickstarter (via 9to5Mac):

AnyBackup is capable of reading, backing up, transferring, and restoring your documents, contacts, photos, videos, and data from all the popular social media channels.

Shawna:

The Maktar Qubii Pro is an automatic flash drive that backs up your photos, files and contacts while charging your iPhone or iPad.

Both of these let you back up your iPhone or iPad to a Micro SD Card or USB storage device. However, as far as I can tell, these aren’t “real” iOS backups. The description makes it sound like you plug the device into the Lightning port and it starts backing up like when you plug an iPhone into a Mac or PC. But it’s a third-party app, not iOS, that does the backup. It only has access to copy certain types of data. You don’t end up with an iTunes-style backup that iOS can auto-restore everything from. iOS is still too locked down to support real third-party backups, and Apple’s own backup tools are still very limited.

Previously:

• iCloud Backups Deleted After 180 Days
• Use iTunes, Not iCloud, to Back Up Your iPhone
• Unencrypted iTunes Backups Don’t Include Health Data
• There’s No iOS Backup Feature