Technologies

Be Sure to Back Up Your iPhone the Right Way Before Installing iOS 26

If you’re upgrading to a new iPhone 17 or installing the latest operating system, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by making a good backup first. Here’s how to do it.

Now that iOS 26.1 is out, you might be more comfortable updating to Apple’s latest iPhone operating system. Or maybe it’s time for a bigger upgrade to a new iPhone 17, iPhone Air or iPhone 17 Pro? Before you do, take a little time to ensure you’ve made a good backup you can fall back on just in case something goes sideways.

I’m not talking about any regular backup, though. Hopefully, you already have your Apple Account settings configured to automatically back up the phone to iCloud, which is invaluable for everyday peace of mind. I’m talking about creating an archive that can save your hide in the unlikely event something goes wrong with the iOS 26 update.

Why an archive is essential before installing a new version of iOS

You’re probably accustomed to using iCloud Backup to maintain a regular fallback for your data. It works in the background (when you’re asleep and charging your device) and involves the least amount of backup friction, as long as you have sufficient iCloud storage space available. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup and turn on Back Up This iPhone if it’s not already active.

However, when it comes to moving to a full release version of iOS, such as from iOS 18 to iOS 26, an iCloud Backup introduces a problem: You cannot restore from that cloud backup if you revert back to iOS 18. And unfortunately, iCloud keeps just the most recent backup — you can’t pick and choose from previous backup iterations. If you try to use an iOS 26 cloud backup to restore back to iOS 18, you’ll get an error. (Making an archive is also an important step when you install iOS betas.)

This is why you need to archive a backup on your computer.

Should you encrypt the local backup?

Before you create this archived backup, you should decide if you want to enable one of the options, Encrypt local backup. For security, this feature scrambles the data to prevent someone with access to your computer from accessing it. This option also preserves sensitive information in the backup such as saved passwords and personal data in the Health and Fitness apps.

The downside is that it requires you to create a separate password for the backup. If you forget or lose that password, the entire backup is useless. And so you should write this password down somewhere you can easily retrieve it. In the context of creating an iOS 18 backup as a fallback for installing iOS 26, you’ll have to decide if that’s an acceptable trade-off.

Create a local iPhone archive on your Mac

Making this type of backup requires only disk space and some patience:

Plug the iPhone into your Mac.
Open a new Finder window (choose File > New Finder Window, or press Command-N).
In the sidebar at left, select your iPhone under Locations.
If you want to encrypt the data, click the Encrypt local backup checkbox and set a password.
In the General tab, click Back Up Now.
When the backup completes, click Manage Backups.
Right-click (or Control-click) the backup you made and choose Archive.

Taking the extra step of marking the backup as an archive protects it from being overwritten by the next local backup or automatically deleted if the Mac is low on space.

Create a local iPhone archive on Windows

The iTunes app is still the main conduit for working with a connected iPhone under Windows. Open iTunes and do the following:

Plug the iPhone into your Windows computer.
Open the Apple Devices app and click the iPhone button at the top left.
Click General.
If you want to encrypt the data, click the Encrypt local backup option and set a password.
Click Back Up Now.
Click Manage Backups.
Right-click the backup you made and choose Archive. Taking this extra step protects the backup from being overwritten by the next local backup or automatically deleted if the computer is low on space.

With an archive in place, you can start using the iOS 26 beta secure in the knowledge that should anything warrant a retreat to iOS 18, you can quickly get your iPhone back into service.

For more, here is your reminder to clear your iPhone cache. And if you are moving to a new iPhone, here are the ways to transfer your data safely.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought it was a fairly easy one, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Word before «card,» flood» or «photography»
Answer: FLASH

6A clue: Joust weapon
Answer: LANCE

7A clue: Brain, heart or lungs
Answer: ORGAN

8A clue: «Frozen» reindeer
Answer: SVEN

9A clue: What can be found on frozen roads or frozen margaritas
Answer: SALT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Follow a dentist’s recommendation
Answer: FLOSS

2D clue: Baby bug
Answer: LARVA

3D clue: Shape made in the snow
Answer: ANGEL

4D clue: Very little
Answer: SCANT

5D clue: Egg layer
Answer: HEN

Technologies

Amazon Speeds Up Delivery Even More With 1- and 3-Hour Options

The retailer says the one-hour option is available in hundreds of cities, with discounted shipping for Prime members.

Same-day delivery apparently isn’t fast enough for some Amazon shoppers. The retail giant said on Tuesday it’s adding new shipping options that will get products to front doors within a one- or three-hour window.

The company said in its announcement that the one-hour option is available in hundreds of cities across the US, while the three-hour option is now live in more than 2,000 areas. Amazon’s web page at amazon.com/getitfast shows whether those options are available to shoppers for their location. More than 90,000 products will be available for those shipping windows, the company said.

For those who can’t get those services (including the author of this post, who lives between Austin and San Antonio in Texas), a message will display: «3-hour delivery is currently unavailable. Check back at a later time or shop products with Same-Day delivery below.»

Pricing for the faster delivery options is not cheap: It’ll cost you $20 for one-hour delivery and $15 for three-hour delivery for those without an Amazon Prime account, or $10 and $5 for customers who subscribe to Prime.

Last year, the company rolled out faster Amazon delivery options to 4,000 additional areas.

In a video of the podcast Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington, hosted by Amazon’s CEO of worldwide stores, Kandace Kapps, the director of the company’s same-day strategy team, spoke in more detail about the challenges of fast shipping. Kapps discussed shifts in customer buying habits over the last few years, such as more people buying household essentials like toilet paper on Amazon.

She said that Amazon can deliver so quickly by placing same-day delivery hubs close to customers in metro areas and by getting products ready to ship within 15 minutes, aided by warehouse robots.

«I think customers are going to continue to get magically surprised by how fast we can deliver to their doorstop,» Kapps said.

Herrington said fast shipping increases sales: «When we speed up the service, the probability that somebody buys a product from us goes up.»

Other retailers, including Walmart, have been adding same-day delivery options or exploring other ways to speed up shipping times to compete with Amazon.

Removing buyers’ moments of hesitation

Part of Amazon’s strategy, which has involved a massive buildout of locations, deployment of thousands of trucks, deals with other delivery services and investment in logistics software, is actually pretty simple: being there when people need last-minute items or make impulse buys.

«It’s about removing the last moment where you would’ve reconsidered the purchase,» said Stephanie Carls, retail insights expert at coupon and promotional-code website RetailMeNot, a sibling site of CNET. «It changes how you shop, not just how fast you get things.»

Carls said that Amazon’s super-fast delivery is removing the timeframe when people might change their minds about a purchase.

«There used to be a gap between deciding to buy something and actually having it. That’s when you’d price check, rethink it, or decide you didn’t need it after all,» she said. «This closes that gap.»

The retail expert said that competitors, including Walmart and Target, have been speeding up delivery times in some markets. Still, they’re not matching Amazon’s scale or product range at those speeds or levels of consistency.

«And that’s what starts to make everyone else feel slow,» Carls said. «Amazon’s advantage is how tightly connected its technology, inventory and delivery networks are, which makes this level of speed more repeatable.»