iPhone 13 Pro Max Activate new iPhone 13 Pro Max using the hotspot from my iPhone 12 Pro on T-Mobile

[Rafagon]

I just received my new iPhone 13 Pro Max today. It is from T-Mobile. The new iPhone 13 line ships without a traditional SIM card and uses an eSIM instead.

So you're told you need access to Wi-Fi in order to set up your new iPhone 13 Pro Max. I just went to my local T-Mobile store and their Wi-Fi happened to be down.

My question is as follows. Can I use the Hotspot from my iPhone 12 Pro to activate my iPhone 13 Pro Max?

Will that successfully activate my iPhone 13 Pro Max and then allow me to restore from iCloud?

 

[Banglazed]

I would not recommend hotspot because it may take much longer than WiFi unless you’re in an area with upper 5G speed. In your situation, it would be better to use phone to phone transfer and use cable like lightning to usb camera to connect both phones which should be much quicker. It will still need WiFi for activation and apps download.

 

[Rafagon]

I would not recommend hotspot because it may take much longer than WiFi unless you’re in an area with upper 5G speed. In your situation, it would be better to use phone to phone transfer and use cable like lightning to usb camera to connect both phones which should be much quicker. It will still need WiFi for activation and apps download.

Yep. That's exactly the problem. No Wi-Fi where I live. I'm gonna have to go back to T-Mobile tomorrow. Thanks for your reply!

 

[winterny]

I activated my new 13 using wifi hotspot from my 12. If you are just doing activation and not iCloud restore, the total amount of data transferred is minimal.

I did the direct transfer of data from the 12 to the 13, and all went well.