[darren_]

You can still backup iPhones to your desktop instead of iCloud. At least for now.

[r00fus]

Unless you simply don't trust Apple's security promises (in which case why are you using Apple devices), iCloud backup is now E2EE encrypted [1]. A bit of wringing to turn it on, but totally worthwhile.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

[brantonb]

There are differences between iCloud and local backup. For example, iCloud backup doesn’t backup your Notes or Health data but local backup can. Sync != backup — without a backup, if you sync a bad change you’ve lost the data.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136

[zorrotorro]

Why would one even bother with that when you have like... a cable at hand and disk space.

Though recently simple things as copying files have been a challenge.

[58028641]

It is only E2EE if advanced Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is enabled.