iPhone iCloud Restore Horror Story

[AJsAWiz]

I had my iPhone 6s Plus replaced because they were unable to repair the screen.
When I got home about 8:30 pm I began the iCloud Restore (because the back up on iCloud was more recent than the one I had on my computer) process that I'd done many times before. The process went so slowly that I left my iPhone plugged in over night. The next morning it was still "in progress". I've never had a restore that took over 12 hours to complete. I made a few calls to Apple with no resolution to this problem. The next morning I spent 2 hours (had an appointment) waiting for a speedier restore. Finally (I suppose they got tired of seeing me) I was told to go home and plug it in to my computer (iTunes) because it would go along faster there . . . . NOT. I called Apple again and they verified that I had done everything properly. I was advised to halt the restore, delete all of the apps that were downloading (at a turtle pace) then sync my apps back. Well, we know that yields data loss (in some apps) and you'll need to recreate your folders and icon placement. Anyway, what I found out from 2 Apple reps is that Apple has been experiencing some iCloud problems which were, more than likely, the cause of my iCloud restore woes. 2 days later (yep, that's how long it took to get my iPhone back to it's previous state); I'm back up and running.
Lesson learned: Do not depend on iCloud for anything important. I will now back up my devices every 2 weeks as opposed to monthly so that I can restore from my computer instead of iCloud.

Anyone else have a similar iCloud related disaster to share?

 

[Goatllama]

I will now back up my devices every 2 weeks as opposed to monthly so that I can restore from my computer instead of iCloud.

YES.

Can't say I have similar experiences, but then again I don't backup to iCloud.

 

[AJsAWiz]

YES.

Can't say I have similar experiences, but then again I don't backup to iCloud.

I'll give it to you. You are a lot smarter (in the choices you made) than I was
I learned a lesson the hard way. I'll still back up to iCloud but will also back up to my computer on a more frequent basis. I just like having 2 options in case I need to restore. My computer back up was actually my "back up" plan but I became lazy and just backed up to my computer monthly. iCloud (because it's seamless) had the most recent back up files.

 

[eyoungren]

My iPhones (since iOS 5) have all been jailbroken. This has necessitated backups to iTunes for me, even when iCloud came along.

iCloud is great when it works and I do continue to make iCloud backups, but these are not and never will be my primary backups.

I'm also not a fan of the fact that apps must redownload. I understand why, but if you have a lot of apps and app data you better be on WiFi when you restore. iTunes makes this easier.

 

[barkomatic]

I have found iCloud to be a buggy nightmare.

 

[AJsAWiz]

My iPhones (since iOS 5) have all been jailbroken. This has necessitated backups to iTunes for me, even when iCloud came along.

iCloud is great when it works and I do continue to make iCloud backups, but these are not and never will be my primary backups.

I'm also not a fan of the fact that apps must redownload. I understand why, but if you have a lot of apps and app data you better be on WiFi when you restore. iTunes makes this easier.

Well said!

 

[ATC]

I recently had the same experience as the OP. My iPhone 5 died, picked up a new 6 and went to restore from iCloud backup which always worked great before (had my iP5 replaced 3 times from AC and every time iCloud restore worked like a charm).

Strangely, this time I was getting prompts to enter a password for an Apple ID that was associated with a very old email of mine (from 7+ years ago) which I no longer use and had no idea what the password was.

My phone just stayed in this state for 2 days (apps are "waiting" to load) before I contacted Apple. I was escalated to a 2nd tier specialist who was very friendly and helpful but he too wanted me to delete all my apps and re-download them one by one using my current Apple ID. Which I did but it took forever.

Now, I too backup to iTunes regularly.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I do automatic backups with iCloud nightly, and plug into iTunes eery 3-4 days. Call me paranoid, but I just want to make sure that my backup is as complete as possible, especially with my achievement streak with my Apple Watch.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Same as above and even though I let Apple do the cloud backup, I still do a weekly encrypted backup to iTunes.

I would never go to the Apple Store to possible exchange phones with out doing a back up to iTunes first.

 

[dk001]

I had my iPhone 6s Plus replaced because they were unable to repair the screen.
When I got home about 8:30 pm I began the iCloud Restore (because the back up on iCloud was more recent than the one I had on my computer) process that I'd done many times before. The process went so slowly that I left my iPhone plugged in over night. The next morning it was still "in progress". I've never had a restore that took over 12 hours to complete. I made a few calls to Apple with no resolution to this problem. The next morning I spent 2 hours (had an appointment) waiting for a speedier restore. Finally (I suppose they got tired of seeing me) I was told to go home and plug it in to my computer (iTunes) because it would go along faster there . . . . NOT. I called Apple again and they verified that I had done everything properly. I was advised to halt the restore, delete all of the apps that were downloading (at a turtle pace) then sync my apps back. Well, we know that yields data loss (in some apps) and you'll need to recreate your folders and icon placement. Anyway, what I found out from 2 Apple reps is that Apple has been experiencing some iCloud problems which were, more than likely, the cause of my iCloud restore woes. 2 days later (yep, that's how long it took to get my iPhone back to it's previous state); I'm back up and running.
Lesson learned: Do not depend on iCloud for anything important. I will now back up my devices every 2 weeks as opposed to monthly so that I can restore from my computer instead of iCloud.

Anyone else have a similar iCloud related disaster to share?

Have had so many issues with iCloud that I no longer count on it for anything. Photos, Backup, Music, etc... This is one area Apple couple really really use some help in.
It works till it doesn't. When it fails all you get from Apple is an "oops". If that much.

 

[AFEPPL]

Yes, i ended up having to reset the phone and ran it again and it worked ok the 3rd time..

 

[AJsAWiz]

Same as above and even though I let Apple do the cloud backup, I still do a weekly encrypted backup to iTunes.

I would never go to the Apple Store to possible exchange phones with out doing a back up to iTunes first.

That is what I normally would have done but I decided to go there right after the screen shattered (wasn't at home) because I depend on my phone. I couldn't see much and could only use it minimally. Ideally, I should have backed it up before going to the Apple Store.