Clean install via iCloud

[Rhino1]

If there’s nothing wrong with the backup I’d use it and see what happens. I’ve had excellent results restoring from backup with no issues at all. Only time I’ve started from a fresh install is when I have had problems that would not go away no matter what I tried, that’s only happened 3 times in the last 5 years so I’d say restoring from backup works very well

Agreed for most apps.. but when you do a comparison some apps are so so much different in size even after you've configured them just the way you want on the new device.
[doublepost=1541014034][/doublepost]

Doesn't WhatsApp have their own backup service? I could have sworn they did. Or an export/import option.

They do, but it just wont upload to iCloud drive. It remains stuck at 0% regardless of everything i've tried (and believe me I have tried everything)

iMazing is well liked (to my knowledge and in my experience) and they have an active presence on these forums.
https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/iphone/20888066/
This page suggests that you can manually create a WhatsApp backup on the old phone, and restore it to the new one.

I read that mate, none of it works. It just remains stuck at 0% uploading for hours but seems to backup fine when you do a full iPhone iCloud backup instead of just a chat backup to iCloud Drive.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Agreed for most apps.. but when you do a comparison some apps are so so much different in size even after you've configured them just the way you want on the new device.

Agreed, a lot has changed over the years. I didn’t realize the apps is what you were concerned with, I thought it was personal data, emails, photos, etc...

 

[Mlrollin91]

Agreed for most apps.. but when you do a comparison some apps are so so much different in size even after you've configured them just the way you want on the new device.
[doublepost=1541014034][/doublepost]

They do, but it just wont upload to iCloud drive. It remains stuck at 0% regardless of everything i've tried (and believe me I have tried everything)



I read that mate, none of it works. It just remains stuck at 0% uploading for hours but seems to backup fine when you do a full iPhone iCloud backup instead of just a chat backup to iCloud Drive.

Maybe try contacting WhatsApp support.

 

[Rhino1]

Agreed, a lot has changed over the years. I didn’t realize the apps is what you were concerned with, I thought it was personal data, emails, photos, etc...

Thanks mate - nop just the whatsapp messages and photos.

Maybe try contacting WhatsApp support.

I guess that's another option but I can almost hear him saying upgrade the 9.3.5 device to 12 and try again.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

If you can't get the cloud backup to work, you will need to attempt to restore the WhatsApp messages from an iTunes backup.

 

[Rhino1]

If you can't get the cloud backup to work, you will need to attempt to restore the WhatsApp messages from an iTunes backup.

Exactly but only third party tools do this like iMazing which looks fantastic but those tools worry me. I just feel they may assist in the start but who knows what's really going on in order to just pull certain data from a phone and what issues it may cause in the long run

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I understand that, if you're not willing to use them, you aren't transferring your messages.

 

[Rhino1]

I understand that, if you're not willing to use them, you aren't transferring your messages.

It seems as if things are heading that way.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

FWIW, I used to do clean installs once a year or so, migrating only Camera Roll and (i)Messages by using backup extraction apps. My Messages history goes back to my first iPhone purchased in about 09, and I've never had any issues with my backup.

 

[mdlooker]

Unless I'm reading this wrong, it seems back-ups can be corrupted or have corrupted elements within and be ported over. I'm not sure how to get everything over clean as all of my backups are through the cloud. I do, however, try to protect against in the best way I can in order to keep my past important data going forward..

 

[Rhino1]

FWIW, I used to do clean installs once a year or so, migrating only Camera Roll and (i)Messages by using backup extraction apps. My Messages history goes back to my first iPhone purchased in about 09, and I've never had any issues with my backup.

any particular app you recommend?
[doublepost=1541019671][/doublepost]

Unless I'm reading this wrong, it seems back-ups can be corrupted or have corrupted elements within and be ported over. I'm not sure how to get everything over clean as all of my backups are through the cloud. I do, however, try to protect against in the best way I can in order to keep my past important data going forward..

That is very interesting. But it could just be a false positive. Was that all via iCloud?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Yes, iMazing.

 

[mdlooker]

Yes, everything is through the cloud..

 

[Rhino1]

Fixed it..!! You will not believe what I had to do in order to achieve this;

1. Took my old 9.3.5 backup and just restored over my clean iOS12 install (not what I wanted to do but hold on..!)
2. Waited for all apps and restore to complete
3. Enabled iCloud Drive
4. Went to WhatsApp and re-registered (obviously as phone has changed)
5. Messages reappeared due to the restore (great!)
6. Went to settings in WhatsApp > Chats > Backups > Backup now
7. Bang! It started backing up immediately to iCloud Drive (that was what caused the issue in the first place!)
8. Waited for the full upload to take place
9. Went to Photos and did an upload to iCloud (also worked!)
9. Did ANOTHER restore but used the "clean install backup" I took just prior to restoring the old 9.3.5 backup.**
10. Re-registered WhatsApp
11. Went to settings in WhatsApp > Chats > Backups > RESTORE!!
12. All chats/media started to downloaded and finally everything was there ready to use
13. Job done!


** I could have setup the phone as new and re-downloaded and setup everything again but is there really a need to since it was setup perfectly just prior to it (clean install a few days ago) - it wasn't previously restored from any backup?

Just wanted to let anyone who is having a similar problem know what may work for them.

 

[Minorite]

Nice! But I thought this was the long way you were trying to avoid But honestly, it was the only way to keep photos in Camera Roll as far as I'm aware of.

If I would've seen this thread earlier I would have also recommended iMazing, never let me down since purchasing it last year, but it can import photos only to albums that you create with the app and not to Camera Roll.

For WhatsApp messages, I'm surprised that no-one added a direct link to the iMazing guide for WhatsApp transfer. Used it myself, no issues noticed. And this can be done even with the free version.

 

[Rhino1]

Thanks for that mate! I'll keep it in mind for the next attempt as it was indeed LONG! especially the upload!