From what I can tell reading the EULA, once one opts to backup to the cloud, backups stop being automatically made by iTunes, and need to be manually started if one wants a non-cloud backup.

I guess that if one opts not to backup to the cloud, then syncing and backup happens the way it always used to (automatically when the device is plugged into the computer). I also guess that a wifi sync will entail a backup as well in this case. I have not tested this, sorry.

My apologies for the incomplete information earlier.

@Matt

Great comment, thanks for stopping by. I really did think that backups worked with iTunes over Wi-Fi b/c I’m pretty sure I saw the progress bar say as much, but I didn’t test as heavily as you did. Updated post with arrow to your comment.

Just a word of warning regarding your advice on backup and sy nc up to iTunes. I’ve been looking into this a bit, and it seems very much that syncing to iTunes and backing up your device to iTunes are different things. The sync seems to transfer iTunes and iPhoto information that isn’t stored in the cloud already (songs, photos, videos, etc), but doesn’t (as best as I can tell) back up 3rd party application data (such as files I read in Good Reader). Furthermore, what happens wirelessly seems to be a sync, not a backup.

With iTunes, when the device is plugged into the USB connector, iTunes will do an automatic sync, but to do a backup, the use must right click on the device in iTunes (in the list on the left hand of the window) and choose “Back Up”.

When I tested this earlier, I went into the folder I happen to know the device backups are stored in (/Users//Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/) and looked at the datestamp of the folders in there. One was the 18th October. I then plugged my iPad in and let iTunes sync, and noticed that the timestamp had not changed on any of those folders in the backup folder. However, when I right clicked and choose “Back Up”, I noticed that the folder that used to be marked the 18th (which hadn’t changed after the sync) had now changed to the 20th (the current date at the time). Furthermore, when I went and added a 100Mb file to Good Reader, it uploaded just fine to the device, but the backup folders remained unchanged. When I forced another backup through iTunes, the aforementioned folder had updated timestamp, and the was 100Mb larger than it had been previously.

It looks very much to me like some app data is not being backed up in an iTunes sync. So users who don’t fully trust the cloud, and who want to keep local backups with iTunes as well as the cloud, will need to plug their devices into their computer periodically, and manually tell iTunes to back up the device. It’s a pain, but I’m pretty sure that’s just how it is at the moment ;(

Now, what I’ve put above might be a little too technical for your intended audience, but if I’m correct, you might want to modify the information in your post a little, otherwise some users might think they’re locally backing up their device, when they are actually not (in full).

@V Yes you can. You choose to back up to one or the other, but using iCloud will NOT delete your iTunes backup either, so you can keep that around just in case you don’t fully trust the cloud (I don’t).

@Leroy
Yeah, I mistakenly instructed to go one level too deep. It’s in the Storage & Backup section, scroll down.

When you turn iCloud backup ON.. An option comes under it that says “Backup now” 🙂