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I always follow whatever order they instruct when setting up a new iPhone. My Air is on its way I couldn't be more excited for the new design!
I have always had to update the software on the new phone before I could transfer due to software on the old phone being newer.

After the update I could do the install and set up. And nowadays the processes are so fast it takes a fraction of the time it used to.

As with my 5, 6S, SE3, happened in Jan with my iPhone 25e.
 
I have the same question. Do we update the 17 before we transfer the files from our current iPhone?
From the past couple of OS’es, Apple has put in an update if needed into the initial start up screens. I doubt you’ll have a choice about skipping the update before transferring files.
 
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When transferring from one device to another, don’t they have to be on the same OS version? If so, I sure hope it’s not updated out of the box.
The source phone has to have the same or older OS than the destination phone. OS’es store data in different ways and are backwards compatible with how older OS’es store that data, converting it as necessary. If your destination OS is older than the source OS, the destination phone won’t know how to copy certain data and it won’t even allow you to transfer. It’ll tell you to update your phone first and then transfer your data.
 
I have the same question. Do we update the 17 before we transfer the files from our current iPhone?
in the past, when this has happened it won't allow you to do the transfer until the update is done. I hope that Apple has improved this process because back then we had to set up the phone, run the update, reset the phone like new to allow it to transfer the settings and data from the other phone.

My rule of thumb is DONT update your existing phones to new iOS versions if you are going to be getting a new phone just to avoid this issue. Yes, I know that I will be four days without the latest and greatest Apple software, but I know I will have an easier time to transfer my data.
 
The combination of the 15 series’ day one update and data transfer mixed with everyone jamming the Wifi had me stuck in the Apple Store for about 3 hours on launch day in 2023. To anyone doing an in store pickup + trade in for a 17, I recommend changing to send in the old phone via mail-in so you can just set it up at home.

As far as I recall, they ask you if you would like to change to mail instead before you sign it over if you already selected in store trade in.
unfortunately, if you are on the iPhone upgrade program and doing the in store pickup, this is not an option as you have to surrender the old iPhone in store, there is no way to change to mailing back the old phone. I spent an hour on the phone with Apple Sales Support who tried to find a way to allow this to happen. Especially since, I like to make sure everything is working and that there are no showstoppers for apps and hardware before sending in my older device,

However, Apple having no launch day delivery options at 5AM PDT/8AM EDT when I went and did the pre-orders, I was stuck doing in store pickups for the first time in almost 10 years.
 
I wish I'd seen this thread before. I'm trying to set up my ProMax and rashly agreed to update now rather than later. Now, it's stuck on the downloading Software Update screen with almost no progress and projected times changing between an hour and 13 hours! I don't know how to cancel it and start again.

My last upgrade was relatively smooth, so I wasn't expecting this.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be really grateful!
 
I wish I'd seen this thread before. I'm trying to set up my ProMax and rashly agreed to update now rather than later. Now, it's stuck on the downloading Software Update screen with almost no progress and projected times changing between an hour and 13 hours! I don't know how to cancel it and start again.

My last upgrade was relatively smooth, so I wasn't expecting this.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be really grateful!
Make sure that you are on good Wifi. Remember that there will be a lot of users hitting that update server at once today so it may be slower. But if you are in the downloading software update screen. I would just make sure that your wifi is set to the highest. So if you have a b/g network and a n network (of wiFi 6+) make sure that you are on the higher speed one. Also, since you are chatting with us on this thread, run a speed test to make sure that you are getting the speeds that you are paying for. If not, you may need to reboot your modem/router.
 
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Make sure that you are on good Wifi. Remember that there will be a lot of users hitting that update server at once today so it may be slower. But if you are in the downloading software update screen. I would just make sure that your wifi is set to the highest. So if you have a b/g network and a n network (of wiFi 6+) make sure that you are on the higher speed one. Also, since you are chatting with us on this thread, run a speed test to make sure that you are getting the speeds that you are paying for. If not, you may need to reboot your modem/router.
Thank you! I found it very off-putting that the cog didn't turn around during the process.

It suddenly did make progress and is finally transferring the data from my old phone!

I really appreciate you replying! It can feel so lonely when it's all going wrong!
 
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Expecting it to fix the camera bug. Also not uncommon to see day one updates for new Apple devices. Maybe the devices that ship next week or later will have this pre installed.
 
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