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How many times have you restored your iPhone from backup?

A

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
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I know there are a lot of threads asking the question about whether or not to start your phone as new or restore from backup.

Is there anyone else here that has been restoring your phone from backup ever since you got your first iPhone? I've had every iPhone since the iPhone 1 and have been restoring from backup every time. Over the years I've had no issues when doing it that way. I've always believed that starting with a fresh iPhone each time defeats the purpose of having backup and restore. I personally don't relish the idea of spending an entire day reloading all of my apps and entering passwords.

From what I understand, when you restore from backup, you are only loading your data, settings and camera roll. Everything else, especially the OS, is a fresh install. I don't see harm in simply re-loading personal data from backup unless, of course, its corrupt.
 
Agree with you. I think only one year I didn't and that's because I actually wanted a fresh start.
 
Usually every time but this year I decided on a fresh start in an attempt to try and slim down the amount of apps I actually use. Also I had been some strange symptoms where some apps would interfere with Twitter notifications, so I thought if I added apps over a period of time I'd be able to 'catch' the one responsible.
So other than this year, from back up every time as that what's there for and saves a load of hassle re-installing stuff.
 
Everytime I get a new one, and that's it. I exchanged my 7+ yesterday so set up as new at the Apple Store and restored when I got home. Always a good timesaver imo.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Restored from backup since iPhone 4 for both me and my wife. Never had an issue
 
Always restored from backup. Never wanted to lose the history of text messages, calls and whatnot.
 
Restored from backup every year when I get a new iPhone. Nine times so far. Never a problem.
 
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Restored from backup with every iPhone since the 3G (I've had every iPhone but the 2G and the 6S). Never had a problem.

Matter of fact, I imported everything from my Palm Treo to my iPhone 3G back in 2008. I have info dating back through from my very first Palm Pilot in this iPhone 7, >20 years of my life. :)

I understand why others like to start fresh, but I'm happier with continuity.
 
I've had some weird and nasty bugs in the past form restoring from a backup. Last time I did that was iOS 7/iPhone 5s. Since then, new every year.
 
AppleFan360 said:
I know there are a lot of threads asking the question about whether or not to start your phone as new or restore from backup.

Is there anyone else here that has been restoring your phone from backup ever since you got your first iPhone? I've had every iPhone since the iPhone 1 and have been restoring from backup every time. Over the years I've had no issues when doing it that way. I've always believed that starting with a fresh iPhone each time defeats the purpose of having backup and restore. I personally don't relish the idea of spending an entire day reloading all of my apps and entering passwords.

From what I understand, when you restore from backup, you are only loading your data, settings and camera roll. Everything else, especially the OS, is a fresh install. I don't see harm in simply re-loading personal data from backup unless, of course, its corrupt.
Click to expand...

I've been doing restores for years, can't remember ever doing a new install. Why would you? I hate going through and redoing app settings and stuff...
 
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AppleFan360 said:
I know there are a lot of threads asking the question about whether or not to start your phone as new or restore from backup.

Is there anyone else here that has been restoring your phone from backup ever since you got your first iPhone? I've had every iPhone since the iPhone 1 and have been restoring from backup every time. Over the years I've had no issues when doing it that way. I've always believed that starting with a fresh iPhone each time defeats the purpose of having backup and restore. I personally don't relish the idea of spending an entire day reloading all of my apps and entering passwords.

From what I understand, when you restore from backup, you are only loading your data, settings and camera roll. Everything else, especially the OS, is a fresh install. I don't see harm in simply re-loading personal data from backup unless, of course, its corrupt.
Click to expand...

Used an iTunes back up every time for years now. Has always worked perfectly for me. Make sure it is encrypted and all your passwords and health data move onto your new device and you are ready to move on.
 
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Last year, with the 6S, was the first time I have encounter bugs so always start fresh now. If you use iCloud services and don't have a lot of apps it's actually not that bad. Takes minutes.
 
Newtons Apple said:
Used an iTunes back up every time for years now. Has always worked perfectly for me. Make sure it is encrypted and all your passwords and health data move onto your new device and you are ready to move on.
Click to expand...

Yes, I learned that the hard way once. Kept having to put in all my passwords and found it very time consuming. Then I learned about "encrypted" backups and have been good since. I actually do an iTunes and an iCloud backup before changing devices just to be sure. I also actually do multiple iTunes backups just to be sure. I tend to try the new ios betas so I make a bunch of backups in case I need to revert to a prior version.
 
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kevroc said:
Yes, I learned that the hard way once. Kept having to put in all my passwords and found it very time consuming. Then I learned about "encrypted" backups and have been good since. I actually do an iTunes and an iCloud backup before changing devices just to be sure. I also actually do multiple iTunes backups just to be sure. I tend to try the new ios betas so I make a bunch of backups in case I need to revert to a prior version.
Click to expand...

You plan sounds like mine. I do use the iCloud back up thing but every Friday I back up to my office computer via iTunes encrypted and do the same that weekend on the home computer.

Too big of a hassle for me to start over again. A restore from iTunes only takes like 5 minutes and you are ready to go.
 
Never ever used a backup, always start fresh, I couldn't care less for my text message history.
 
I've done both with the only difference being the restore from new was a lot more work (redownloading apps, etc).

I've restored as new for it to never ever any problems which is a annoying waste of time.

Someone mentioned above about starting as new to slim down the amount of unused apps which is a pretty good idea.

I think moving forward I'm going to be restoring from a back up. Why have it if I never use it?
 
I've always set it up as a new phone. It never did any good. I still had all the annoying bugs and crashes and locked screens. This time I gave up and just restored from a backup. No difference. Apple is just the best of the worst at this point.
 
I usually backup/restore from my MacBook but this time I used iCloud back up. I got my 7+ today and boy did that iCloud restore took an hour to complete the process. What is the benefit of using iCloud vs iTunes backup/restore? I would prefer to use iTunes since it only takes 5 minutes versus cloud.
 
Dopestar said:
I usually backup/restore from my MacBook but this time I used iCloud back up. I got my 7+ today and boy did that iCloud restore took an hour to complete the process. What is the benefit of using iCloud vs iTunes backup/restore? I would prefer to use iTunes since it only takes 5 minutes versus cloud.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I prefer iTunes over iCloud, simply faster. I do like knowing I have a backup though in case I'm not at my computer for some reason or other. I've also learned how to go into my "mobilesync\backups" folder on my computer to see the backup folders iTunes will create for each device. For instance, I backed up my 6s Plus on iOS 10, then appended to the end of the folder name "- 6s Plus iOS10" Then when I upgraded it to 10.1, did another backup and appended "-6s Plus beta 10.1". Then did one more backup with the standard folder name. So I basically have 3 backups. That way if I don't like 10.1, I can revert back, or if I do, I can easily upgrade to the 7 Plus (which is currently restoring). I do that for my iPad as well. It's extremely helpful if you want to try betas but have a rollback option if it doesn't work out. When I'm done playing around it's easy enough to delete the extra folders...
 
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I backed up my old phone to iTunes to my computer and iCloud (thank God). I restored my 7 from the iCloud backup. I didn't get my apps! Restored from iTunes. Good, but some apps still missing, some logins/passwords had to be reentered. Apple needs to work on this to make this process more seamless and reliable.
 
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