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Migrating new iPhone & Apple Watch - which sequence?

N

NME42

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 15, 2019
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Next weekend I will receive both a new iPhone and a new Apple Watch. Did quite some migrations in the past, but never iPhone and Apple Watch together.

What is the best (fastest/most hassle free) sequence to migrate my devices? First iPhone and then AW or the other way around?
 
For me iPhone then watch - the iPhone is usually relatively straight forward as a physical sim. The watch as an eSIM can be a little more tricky and often needs a call to my provider to sort out due to their clunky systems.
 
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savagewatts said:
Unpair your old watch. Do an iCloud backup of your old phone. Setup your new iPhone, pair your new watch. I do it every year.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
I wanted to do a migration with a cable and Migration Assistant. Suppose your approach will work with that too?
 
IJustWannaTalk said:
Huh. Didn't know there was a wired option.
Click to expand...
I think it was introduced with iPhone 15, but not sure. Friend of mine did it last year and it was a great experience.
Migrated my last iPhone with Quick Start (but wireless) and it was good. Guess it will be slightly faster wired even though thruput is limited with a Lightning to USB-C connection. With USB-C and two iPhone Pros it should be quite fast.

Use a wired connection to transfer data to a new iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

You can transfer your iPhone data to a different iPhone using a wired connection.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
Could I barge in and ask a question? My watch and phone are both on the public beta RC 26. I'm wondering if I should leave them there, or if a different version is the actual release tomorrow I should update? I seem to remember last time I swapped to a new watch, I had updated the old watch to the current new release of whatever version it was and I had trouble loading the watch backup to the new watch because it was on a different version.

This year my watch is coming the day before my phone, so guess I'm swapping over the watch first. Last year I only did the phone and the new phone paired with the old watch automatically.
 
JBinPDX said:
Could I barge in and ask a question? My watch and phone are both on the public beta RC 26. I'm wondering if I should leave them there, or if a different version is the actual release tomorrow I should update? I seem to remember last time I swapped to a new watch, I had updated the old watch to the current new release of whatever version it was and I had trouble loading the watch backup to the new watch because it was on a different version.

This year my watch is coming the day before my phone, so guess I'm swapping over the watch first. Last year I only did the phone and the new phone paired with the old watch automatically.
Click to expand...
Editing again: I’m showing my age. I didn’t look at the bottom of the screen where it says other update available…

Editing: This is my first time doing the betas. If the RC has no changes, is it the same build number as the official release? I turned off the beta setting & am not getting that there is an update to do

I'm also on the RC & will move to the official versions when they are released tomorrow. I'd recommend doing that as the RC shouldn't have anything that the official doesn't & you won't have to worry about differing versions. There isn't an official version that's newer than what the watch will ship with.
 
Last edited:
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savagewatts said:
Unpair your old watch. Do an iCloud backup of your old phone. Setup your new iPhone, pair your new watch. I do it every year.
Click to expand...
When you unpair the old watch do you select the option to remove the data plan or to keep it? I've seen conflicting recommendations from people who may never have actually been through the process.
 
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rhino7 said:
When you unpair the old watch do you select the option to remove the data plan or to keep it? I've seen conflicting recommendations from people who may never have actually been through the process.
Click to expand...
I would keep the watch data on the phone so that when you repair the new watch, it will receive the apps and settings....
 
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Going thru this too, so I asked ChatGPT and this was the suggestion

Here’s the best order to upgrade when you’re getting both a new iPhone and Apple Watch, since the Watch depends on the iPhone for setup and connectivity:

Step 1: Upgrade your iPhone first
  • Why: Your Apple Watch must be paired to an iPhone. If you try to set up the new Watch before your new iPhone, you’ll just end up having to unpair and re-pair again.
  • What to do:
    1. Back up your old iPhone (iCloud or computer).
    2. Set up your new iPhone from that backup so all apps, messages, and health data transfer over.
    3. Sign back into iCloud and make sure Health and Watch data are syncing.
Step 2: Transfer your Apple Watch
  • Why: The Watch stores things like health/activity history, Apple Pay cards, and settings. It needs to hand those off to the new phone.
  • What to do:
    1. Unpair your Apple Watch from your old iPhone (this automatically backs it up).
    2. Open the Watch app on your new iPhone.
    3. Pair the Apple Watch and restore from backup.
Step 3: Set up any new Apple Watch (if upgrading)
  • If your Watch is also new, you’ll just pair it directly to the new iPhone as a fresh device or restore from your last Watch backup.
  • Double-check that your fitness and health data migrated properly (sometimes requires iCloud Health sync to be on).
✅ Summary:
  1. Upgrade iPhone first → 2. Unpair old Watch / pair new Watch → 3. Restore Watch backup or set up new Watch.
 
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rhino7 said:
When you unpair the old watch do you select the option to remove the data plan or to keep it? I've seen conflicting recommendations from people who may never have actually been through the process.
Click to expand...
I think that I've done both over the years. I had problems last year & had to call AT&T & they sorted it out pretty quickly, but what it was that I did, who knows. AT&T might have information on it. I'm going to check their site later tonight.
 
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