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A couple basic questions about upgrading an iphone

sandman42

sandman42

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 23, 2003
969
75
Seattle
I have an iPhone 5 that I'm not using and I want to hand it off to a family member whose iPhone 4S just died (wifi quit working, need to reflow the chip).

The iPhone 5 has been completely reset, by me (the original owner), with my iTunes password, etc.

The iPhone 4S is on the last version of iOS 7, and the replacement 5 is on iOS 8.

Is at simple as restoring the 5 from a backup of the 4S and activating through iTunes, or:

Will I have to update the 4S to iOS 8 first and restore the replacement phone from a backup of that, or will the phone/iTunes manage that for me?

and,

Will the SIM card that's in the replacement 5 be activated on our AT&T account when I set it up with iTunes, since I can't move the sim from the 4S to the 5, as they're different sizes?

In other words, I want to switch to a reset used phone, that's on a newer iOS and uses a different (size) SIM card, will it be as simple and magic as connecting the new phone to iTunes and restoring from a backup of the broken phone, or do I need to do more than that?

Thanks!
 
A device cannot use a backup of a device on a higher iOS version than it currently is. In other words, If the 5 is on iOS8 then the 4S must be as well.
 
It's better for both phones to be on the same iOS version for a smooth migration, otherwise it'll still work but you might lose some files or encounter glitches.

(And make sure it's exact to the last digit, i.e. 8.1.2)

I don't live in the US so I don't know about the AT&T account, but the sim cards are in different sizes so yes you have to cut them. Are those phones carrier-locked too?
 
In my case my "new" device (the 5) would be using a backup of a device on a lower iOS version, not higher. Is that what you meant?

What happens when a new phone and new iOS come out at about the same time (as they usually do), does everyone that buys a new phone first have to upgrade their old phone to the new iOS version? It turns out that's what I've always done, but just because I can't wait to try the new iOS. I've never known if you had to do it that way.
 
sandman42 said:
In my case my "new" device (the 5) would be using a backup of a device on a lower iOS version, not higher. Is that what you meant?

What happens when a new phone and new iOS come out at about the same time (as they usually do), does everyone that buys a new phone first have to upgrade their old phone to the new iOS version? It turns out that's what I've always done, but just because I can't wait to try the new iOS. I've never known if you had to do it that way.
Click to expand...

No, not what I meant. I misread :)

You should be fine. You can run a 7.x backup on an 8.x device just fine. What you cannot do is run an 8.x backup on a 7.x device.

Also, the sim card will not be activated. Your options are to cut your current sim or just go into ATT and they will give you a replacement for free. ATT can also mail you a replacement if you prefer.
 
tiartrop said:
I don't live in the US so I don't know about the AT&T account, but the sim cards are in different sizes so yes you have to cut them. Are those phones carrier-locked too?
Click to expand...

Our phones are locked (carrier), but all the phones involved here are on the same carrier and were all purchased new by me originally. I have to think that I can call AT&T and get it sorted out without having to cut the 4S's SIM card. I was just hoping it would sort itself out when I restored the from the backup of the other phone, as it does when you buy a new phone from Apple (I never have to swap SIM cards then), but I guess when you buy a new phone you tell then what account you'll be using it with, so it must get "pre-activated" in some way.

----------
lordofthereef said:
No, not what I meant. I misread :)

You should be fine. You can run a 7.x backup on an 8.x device just fine. What you cannot do is run an 8.x backup on a 7.x device.

Also, the sim card will not be activated. Your options are to cut your current sim or just go into ATT and they will give you a replacement for free. ATT can also mail you a replacement if you prefer.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying.

I have a sim in the replacement phone already, can't I just (re)activate that one? Do I really have to get a new one? Seems crazy. Oh well.
 
sandman42 said:
I have a sim in the replacement phone already, can't I just (re)activate that one? Do I really have to get a new one? Seems crazy. Oh well.
Click to expand...

If it's a new blank sim, I think you can get the number ported there, but I don't think it's possible to swap numbers between sim cards. Honestly it's easier to just cut it, if you don't want buy a sim-cutter, try to find a small shops that sells mobile phones and such, they usually have those cutters.

Btw if the 4s doesn't have a lot of files, you might want to try upload everything to iCloud and restore it to the replacement phone using iCloud backup. I moved backup from 7 to 8 just fine that way.
 
sandman42 said:
Our phones are locked (carrier), but all the phones involved here are on the same carrier and were all purchased new by me originally. I have to think that I can call AT&T and get it sorted out without having to cut the 4S's SIM card. I was just hoping it would sort itself out when I restored the from the backup of the other phone, as it does when you buy a new phone from Apple (I never have to swap SIM cards then), but I guess when you buy a new phone you tell then what account you'll be using it with, so it must get "pre-activated" in some way.

----------





Gotcha, thanks for clarifying.



I have a sim in the replacement phone already, can't I just (re)activate that one? Do I really have to get a new one? Seems crazy. Oh well.
Click to expand...



Just go to the store to get new SIM card. You will not be able to use the old one cause it can only be used once.
 
As far as the backup is concerned, yes it will be as simple and magic as connecting the new phone to iTunes and restoring from a backup of the broken phone. So don't worry.

As far as your question for the SIM card goes, SIM cards cannot be overwritten. Hence if a SIM card already has the data of one account (i.e. user) it cannot be overwritten with the data of another account. Just walk-in to any AT&T store and you'll be done in 5 mins.

It is exactly alike getting a new phone and getting a new card (with your old number of course :))
 
iThingsGurl said:
As far as your question for the SIM card goes, SIM cards cannot be overwritten.
Click to expand...
This isn't true of Verizon SIM cards, btw. On Verizon you can reassociate a SIM card with not only a different line on your account, but with a different account. I do it all of the time with the lines on my account and have done it for people when I flip iPhones so I know you can do it with the Verizon SIM cards.

It is up to the carrier whether the SIM cards are "one offs" or not.
 
JulesJam said:
This isn't true of Verizon SIM cards, btw. On Verizon you can reassociate a SIM card with not only a different line on your account, but with a different account. I do it all of the time with the lines on my account and have done it for people when I flip iPhones so I know you can do it with the Verizon SIM cards.

It is up to the carrier whether the SIM cards are "one offs" or not.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right. I forgot to mention the carrier needs to put that 'switch' on the SIM cards. I generalized AT&T. I apologize.
 
iThingsGurl said:
You are absolutely right. I forgot to mention the carrier needs to put that 'switch' on the SIM cards. I generalized AT&T. I apologize.
Click to expand...
No problem, just wanted to point it out in case any Verizon people read the thread so they would know.

Every now and then a Verizon SIM card isn't able to be reassociated with a new line but the techs are never able to explain why so idk either.
 
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