Connecting your iPhone

Start with the cable. The first time needs it.

Plug your iPhone or iPad into your PC with a USB cable (USB-C or Lightning, whichever your phone takes). The cable is how the phone learns to trust this PC, and Wi-Fi can't do that part.

1. Plug in the cable. Connect the iPhone or iPad directly to a USB port on your PC. Prefer a port on the computer itself over a hub, and use a cable you know is good for data (not a charge-only cable).
2. Let Windows install Apple's USB driver. The first time you plug in an iPhone or iPad, Windows Update installs Apple's USB driver automatically. You don't need the Apple Devices app or iTunes.
3. Unlock and tap "Trust". Unlock the device and, when it asks whether to Trust This Computer, tap Trust and enter your passcode. This pairing is what lets ScribeHold read your messages.
4. Enter your passcode when prompted. Starting with iOS 16.1, Apple requires your device passcode on the device for every backup. That prompt comes from iOS, not from ScribeHold, and can't be skipped.

Once the device is trusted and the first read completes, ScribeHold copies and indexes your messages so you can search and browse them. The first copy is the big one, so leave the phone plugged in until it finishes.

After the first time: Wi-Fi

Once the phone has been connected by cable, ScribeHold can read it over your own Wi-Fi instead. It is off until you turn it on.

1. Connect the phone by cable once, as above, tap Trust, and let the first copy finish.
2. In ScribeHold, open Settings, then Advanced, and turn on Back up over Wi-Fi.
3. If the phone wasn't plugged in when you turned that on, plug it in once more. ScribeHold turns on the phone's own Wi-Fi sync setting over the cable, so you don't need Apple Devices or iTunes for this. That setting is the one thing ScribeHold changes on the phone. If ScribeHold turned it on and you later turn Wi-Fi off here, it turns the setting back off the next time the phone is plugged in.
4. Keep the phone on the same home network as the PC. The PC can be on a cable to the router.

Some things don't change. Apple still asks for the passcode on the phone every time, and the phone has to be unlocked when a run starts: a locked phone stays on the network but refuses to begin. Once a run has started you can usually lock the phone; if a long copy stops, unlock it and ScribeHold picks up again. Wi-Fi is slower than the cable, and a dropped connection can stop a run. The cable always works.

Over Wi-Fi, the copy goes from the phone to your PC across your own network. It doesn't go to the internet or to us. Guest networks, networks that keep devices apart from each other, a VPN on the PC, and a Windows network set to Public can all block it.

If ScribeHold shows the phone as Asleep or away, unlock it. If that doesn't help, plug it back in.

When it runs

Unless you change it, ScribeHold reads the phone once a day, from 12:00 am. Your phone is probably locked then, so the copy waits and starts soon after you next unlock it at home. That's when the passcode prompt appears. If you don't answer it, nothing breaks; ScribeHold tries again at the next scheduled time. Over the cable it works the same way: if the phone isn't plugged in when a copy is due, it runs the next time it is.

To pick another time, or every 1, 6 or 12 hours, open Settings, then Advanced, and look under Automatic backups. More often means more passcode prompts. If you'd rather choose the moment yourself, turn off Back up automatically and use Back Up Now on the phone's card.

The PC has to be on. ScribeHold keeps it awake during a copy, but it can't wake a PC that's asleep. The phone's card shows when the last backup finished, so a glance tells you whether copies are happening.

Not seeing your device?

Work through these checks.

Still stuck? Email support@scribehold.com and we'll help. See also the Support page for common questions.