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iPhone 11 Pro Debating whether to upgrade after WeChat gets banned

K

kevjen888

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
767
236
I’m currently on IUP and was definitely going to upgrade to 12 next month. But with the news of WeChat gets banned next week I’m having second thought. I use WeChat a lot to communicate with my family back in China. After 9/20 it won’t be available on App Store for download. I do back up my current phone regularly, but I’m afraid something would go wrong during the restore process onto my new phone and WeChat will somehow not get installed back onto the new phone.

How reliable is the the iCloud backup? Do apps disappear when need to restore?
 
I guess you could return the phone if it doesn’t install propery.
 
kevjen888 said:
I’m currently on IUP and was definitely going to upgrade to 12 next month. But with the news of WeChat gets banned next week I’m having second thought. I use WeChat a lot to communicate with my family back in China. After 9/20 it won’t be available on App Store for download. I do back up my current phone regularly, but I’m afraid something would go wrong during the restore process onto my new phone and WeChat will somehow not get installed back onto the new phone.

How reliable is the the iCloud backup? Do apps disappear when need to restore?
Click to expand...
iCloud does not back up the actual apps, only their data. Any app that is totally removed from the App Store, as will likely be the case with WeChat, will not be reinstalled to a new phone.
 
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chrfr said:
iCloud does not back up the actual apps, only their data. Any app that is totally removed from the App Store, as will likely be the case with WeChat, will not be reinstalled to a new phone.
Click to expand...

so iCloud backup just backing up the app data, the actually app would have to be downloaded from the app store onto the new phone. so if wechat isn't available at that time then i'm out of luck, is this correct?
 
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The “phone to phone” transfer is amazing. As far as I can tell it just copies everything over. Used it the other day when I got a replacement XS Max. I’ve had trouble with both backup to computer and iCloud so to see that work was great.
 
acorntoy said:
The “phone to phone” transfer is amazing. As far as I can tell it just copies everything over. Used it the other day when I got a replacement XS Max. I’ve had trouble with both backup to computer and iCloud so to see that work was great.
Click to expand...

i just did a quick google search, phone to phone only for Verizon customers? I’m using T-Mobile
 
Buy the iPhone, visit Canada to download the app, then go back across the border.

Even then, I'm not sure it will work properly due to U.S. firewalls. Overall, it's a bad situation for Americans even if you have the app. Perhaps you can subscribe to a Canadian or Australian VPN for continued service?
 
JPack said:
Buy the iPhone, visit Canada to download the app, then go back across the border.

Even then, I'm not sure it will work properly due to U.S. firewalls. Overall, it's a bad situation for Americans even if you have the app. Perhaps you can subscribe to a Canadian or Australian VPN for continued service?
Click to expand...
US Firewalls? Do those things even exist? I mean does the US government manage to enforce IP traffic control to the internet backbone and all US ISPs?
 
www.macrumors.com

MacRumors Giveaway: Win One of Apple's Upcoming iPhone 12 Pro Max Models From iMazing

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with iMazing to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a copy of the...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com

imazing.com

Download, Install & Back up your iOS Apps to Mac and PC | iMazing

Manage your apps your way, without iCloud or a complex iTunes sync. Install .IPA files from your Mac or PC computer to your iPhone and iPad. Download .IPA files from the App Store. Back up and transfer your apps' files, game progress or chat conversations.
imazing.com imazing.com

The software macrumors is promoting is capable of downloading the .ipa (App) and saving it so if it is deleted from the store it can be transferred to a new phone. Judging from the description it needs to be on the App Store to initially download (not off your phone) so if you want to explore this route I’d do it before Sunday. There are also competitors that do the same. I just thought it was funny this was on the front page.
 
kevjen888 said:
I’m currently on IUP and was definitely going to upgrade to 12 next month. But with the news of WeChat gets banned next week I’m having second thought. I use WeChat a lot to communicate with my family back in China. After 9/20 it won’t be available on App Store for download. I do back up my current phone regularly, but I’m afraid something would go wrong during the restore process onto my new phone and WeChat will somehow not get installed back onto the new phone.

How reliable is the the iCloud backup? Do apps disappear when need to restore?
Click to expand...
If you don't mind having two phones, I would just grab a cheap Android phone and sideload wechat on it.

Or you can create a non-US iTunes account to download wechat. As I understand it, it would only be banned in the US app store.
 
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ian87w said:
US Firewalls? Do those things even exist? I mean does the US government manage to enforce IP traffic control to the internet backbone and all US ISPs?
Click to expand...

The new law says businesses must, so national service providers will comply by using firewalls. Whether the firewall is centralized or not, the effect is the same.
 
ian87w said:
US Firewalls? Do those things even exist? I mean does the US government manage to enforce IP traffic control to the internet backbone and all US ISPs?
Click to expand...

If anything you wouldn’t be able to change the store from your first selection on your Apple ID.
JPack said:
The new law says businesses must, so national service providers will comply by using firewalls. Whether the firewall is centralized or not, the effect is the same.
Click to expand...

I imagine Apple will block people from having an iTunes account changed to a different country and then downloading it if it was first set to U.S

Using VPN (if it’s address isn’t flagged as fake) + New account in foreign country should work just fine. But then you’d have to deal with two accounts.
 
acorntoy said:
I imagine Apple will block people from having an iTunes account changed to a different country and then downloading it if it was first set to U.S

Using VPN (if it’s address isn’t flagged as fake) + New account in foreign country should work just fine. But then you’d have to deal with two accounts.
Click to expand...

That would be pretty strange. Apple currently allows users to change country settings because people legitimately move and travel for work and study. Apple engineers traveling to their R&D centers and partner factories included.

I suspect Apple will remove the app from the U.S. App Store but leave everything else to network operators. That’s not their legal responsibility. Which should mean a booming business for Canadian VPN providers.
 
kevjen888 said:
so iCloud backup just backing up the app data, the actually app would have to be downloaded from the app store onto the new phone. so if wechat isn't available at that time then i'm out of luck, is this correct?
Click to expand...
If it’s no longer in the App Store you will not be able to install it.
 
What if I do a full back of my current phone to my Mac then do a restore on my new phone. Will that work?
 
JPack said:
The new law says businesses must, so national service providers will comply by using firewalls. Whether the firewall is centralized or not, the effect is the same.
Click to expand...
Not trying to debate, but I'm just trying to understand what the actual restrictions are.

From reuters:
The order bars data hosting within the United States for WeChat, content delivery services and networks that can increase functionality and internet transit or peering services.

“What immediately is going to happen is users are going to experience a lag or lack of functionality,” a senior Commerce official said of WeChat users. “It may still be usable but it is not going to be as functional as it was.” There may be sporadic outages as well, the official said.
Click to expand...

Seems like US will ban local servers for WeChat, but won't actually block the traffic. Meaning that Wechat can still function, just not optimal since there will be no local servers allowed.
 
acorntoy said:
If anything you wouldn’t be able to change the store from your first selection on your Apple ID.

I imagine Apple will block people from having an iTunes account changed to a different country and then downloading it if it was first set to U.S

Using VPN (if it’s address isn’t flagged as fake) + New account in foreign country should work just fine. But then you’d have to deal with two accounts.
Click to expand...
You could.

Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support

Before you update your location, you must spend your account balance, cancel your subscriptions, and get a payment method for your new country or region.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

Or one can simply create another iTunes account for another non-US region. The only downside is that unlike Android, iOS doesn't allow multiple iTunes accounts in one device logged in at the same time. A hassle, but doable. I do exactly this to download some games that are only available in countries like Japan.
 
kevjen888 said:
What if I do a full back of my current phone to my Mac then do a restore on my new phone. Will that work?
Click to expand...
The device will download each of your apps one by one from the App Store when you restore.

If it’s no longer in the App Store you will not be able to install it.
 
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kevjen888 said:
What if I do a full back of my current phone to my Mac then do a restore on my new phone. Will that work?
Click to expand...

I believe that using a third party software to download the actual app on a computer is the only option if you wish to continue to have the same user experience as you have now.
 
acorntoy said:
I believe that using a third party software to download the actual app on a computer is the only option if you wish to continue to have the same user experience as you have now.
Click to expand...
I believe that doesn’t work
 
kevjen888 said:
I’m currently on IUP and was definitely going to upgrade to 12 next month. But with the news of WeChat gets banned next week I’m having second thought. I use WeChat a lot to communicate with my family back in China. After 9/20 it won’t be available on App Store for download. I do back up my current phone regularly, but I’m afraid something would go wrong during the restore process onto my new phone and WeChat will somehow not get installed back onto the new phone.

How reliable is the the iCloud backup? Do apps disappear when need to restore?
Click to expand...
Icloud is used for backup data not apps.
 
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