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iPhone 12 Pro iPhone-to-iPhone data transfer or restore from iCloud backup?
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That's what I was hoping for this year but check out the first step on this support page for data transfer:
Transfer data from your previous iOS or iPadOS device to your new iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Set up your new iOS or iPadOS device from a backup of your previous iPhone or iPad.
How to pair your Apple Watch with a new iPhone
support.apple.com
This is why every year I'm not sure which way to go to get the Watch transferred over. Yes, the watch is included in a phone backup but when or how often does the Watch get backed up to the phone? When you UNPAIR your Watch that's when it backs up to the phone...I think.
Pair your Apple Watch with a new iPhone - Apple Support
Ready to get a new iPhone? Learn how to transfer your Apple Watch from your old iPhone to your new one.
That's what I was hoping for this year but check out the first step on this support page for data transfer:
Transfer data from your previous iOS or iPadOS device to your new iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Set up your new iOS or iPadOS device from a backup of your previous iPhone or iPad.
Yea, I've seen that too and I was planning to do it that way, but for some reason I saw somewhere else the other way where it asks you in Quick Setup if you want to transfer your Apple Watch to hit continue and to only unpair if it doesn't ask you.
Pair your Apple Watch with a new iPhone - Apple Support
Ready to get a new iPhone? Learn how to transfer your Apple Watch from your old iPhone to your new one.
So i tried the wired method and its been about 90 minutes on the “Enter iPhone Passcode” screen. It seems like something is happening but this is so much slower than the last few times that I tried this wireless transfer between much larger iPads.
Edit: Nevermind. Starting over. Took about 15minutes and in the setup process it asked me a lot of questions that it didnt ask the first time. I wonder if having it pre-activated caused a problem because wired worked very well.
Edit: Nevermind. Starting over. Took about 15minutes and in the setup process it asked me a lot of questions that it didnt ask the first time. I wonder if having it pre-activated caused a problem because wired worked very well.
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Never mind. I just restarted both phones and restarted the process. It went through smoothly this time.
I did an iCloud backup before I went to pick up my phone (unpaired my watch beforehand to have a backup of that)z took about an hour to restore sitting just outside the Apple store at the local mall. However, it seemed to go quick as they were trying to get people in and out rapidly due to COVID, so people were not staying in the store after the transaction.
i normally only do iTunes backup via my MacBook Pro, however this time with my iPad Air 4 I did a iCloud restore from my iPad air 3 as it was a small 500mb iCloud backup and all my keychain passwords transferred over. However something very strange happened during the restore, a message came up saying that my iTunes purchases contained items downloaded from another users iCloud account and that I had to enter their password wtf!!! I called Apple and they said to just press ignore which was an option and my Air 4 successfully backed up. Has anyone else ever seen this before during backup?
edit - I have never allowed anyone to use my apple devices, and then to log into their account and download stuff from iTunes.
I’ve always done setup as a new phone until this year, where I decided to try the iPhone to iPhone transfer. Wow, how easy. Aside from a minor issue with activating the phone, everything went smoothly, and within an hour (including the time spent activating), my phone was perfectly set up exactly how I had it before, even the wallpapers. Most things were signed in, the only exception being my Tesla app. Even websites that I frequent were already logged in. All my photos were transferred over.
Only downside is that it’s kind of boring. Everything is set up, no need for any fiddling. I can just go back to work.
Only downside is that it’s kind of boring. Everything is set up, no need for any fiddling. I can just go back to work.
How did you activate the new phone after transfer? Do you take the sim card out of your old phone and put it in the new one? Did you port/ activate after the transfer?
I had the same issue from my iPhone 11 Pro Max to my iPhone 12. I tried several times over and over, it just remained stuck. At the end I went the iCloud route. No clue what went wrong.
By the way, I wanted to do an iTunes (well, now Finder) backup/restore from the Mac, but the not so smart backup logic wants to backup literally everything from the old iPhone, including cached full size iCloud Photos pictures, despite me having "optimize storage" turned on. And there seems to be no easy way to delete those. Therefore I didn't have enough space on my Mac for the backup.
Did you ever solve the problem or did you also choose another route?
Always start from scratch for me
i use to do this and I actually enjoyed it. Not anymore, it takes too long.
I did this for the 1st time and it wasn’t bad.
Not if you sync your data to iCloud. When I use to start from scratch, contacts, photos, and text/iMessages were there due to iCloud.
Yes, all locations listed since March when I started reusing the phone.
Ok so I’m a little confused. When you start from scratch, you are basically just re downloading your apps again correct? When you sign in to your iCloud on the new phone, contacts, photos, and text/iMessages will be there due to those things being backed up to iCloud correct?
As for stats or info on the apps, that will all come back within the app correct? Since you will need to sign in?
No back up, I never back up. Photos, massages, and contacts show up because of all of my devices sync to each other.
I started from scratch because I don’t need all the apps, it was like spring cleaning.
I sign into the apps, and everything shows up.
i tried iPhone to iPhone last year but it took a long time probably because I forgot to enable Optimize iPhone Storage.
This is my normal routine:
Enable Optimize iPhone Storage so that restoring photos isn’t part of the restore
Unpair Apple Watch
Run Backup
Then restore new iPhone from backup
Re-pair Apple Watch
Disable Optimize iPhone Storage just because I like them all to be on the iPhone for speed
Hope whatever method you choose goes smoothly
This is my normal routine:
Enable Optimize iPhone Storage so that restoring photos isn’t part of the restore
Unpair Apple Watch
Run Backup
Then restore new iPhone from backup
Re-pair Apple Watch
Disable Optimize iPhone Storage just because I like them all to be on the iPhone for speed
Hope whatever method you choose goes smoothly
Yeah it gave me the option to transfer over my watches. I have an old series 2 and a new series 6 paired to my SE2020. I’ll let you know if it ends up not transferring over. My SIM card is still in my SE.
So far I’m doing a wireless transfer since I don’t have the necessary adapter handy. It’s a bit slow. Usually I restore from iCloud or start new.
I’d be interested in seeing if my Gmail accounts are logged in on the new iPhone. Usually I have to painstakingly get a new temporary password generated to authenticate my non-Apple email addresses on my iPhone mail app.
My emails came over fine. But it looks like I have to unpair the watch from my old phone and repair it to the new phone. Maybe it’s because I didn’t move the SIM card over to the new phone? I don’t know.
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I’m in process of doing an iphone to iphone transfer over WiFi. I picked to transfer my Series 3 SS without backing it up. It says it has 2 hrs left still (started it around an hour ago). I’ll update as well.
I did phone-to-phone. It took about two hours with them next to each other, then I could use the new baby as it continued to configure in the background.
I’m running the public beta, so I had to enroll and download that first, and then reset and transfer.
I’m running the public beta, so I had to enroll and download that first, and then reset and transfer.
An iCloud backup gives you the exact same content as an encrypted computer backup. I restored from an iCloud backup and every app on my phone except for Facebook was already logged in.
The app IPA files aren't copied to the computer anymore, so even an iTunes backup requires the apps to be re-downloaded from the App Store (the app data is backed up / restored either way).
In case anyone is like OP and interested in eSIM transfer. I migrated from an 11 Pro on a Verizon eSIM and did a phone-to-phone transfer to a 12 Pro. While I didn’t get the official screen for eSIM transfer, I was able to quickly activate the eSIM on the 12 Pro via a brief automated process on chat on the Verizon website.
No need for QRcode cards to activate eSIM? Last year i had run around to get QR code’s as not all AT&T or Apple stores had them. Once i had them, setting up was a pain as i also needed another phone from my family plan With me. I wasn’t told that in the first time, so i had to back and gather everything then spent many hours on the Tech Support, and it finally worked.
