Moving data from iOS7 iPhone 4 to iOS8 iPhone 5S

[tch999]

Hello,

A family member has recently purchased an iPhone 5S to replace a rather ageing iPhone 4. She's asked me to help in the transfer of information from the 4 to the 5S and of course I'm happy to do so.

The iPhone 4 is running the latest version of iOS7 and the iPhone 5S has shipped with iOS8 - I can tell this from the box art as it has the Health app on the front.

Whenever I've come to setup a new iPhone, I've always made an iCloud backup for one last time on the outgoing handset and then restored this onto the new handset in the initial setup menu. In the past, I've personally gone from a 4 > 5 and then a 5 > 6+, so I've never had an issue with iOS versions being out of sync. Will the fact that the last backup on this iPhone 4 is an iOS7 backup conflict with the fact that the iPhone 5S is running iOS8? I'm trying to make the upgrade to the new handset as seamless as possible for her, so don't really want to be manually importing apps/photos/settings if I don't have to.

Hopefully there must be someone else out there that has had experience of going from an iPhone 4 to something running iOS8 to be able to give some advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[BJMRamage]

I went from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 6...therefore iOS7 to iOS8

I did a normal backup, then started the new phone and and said to start from backup...everything worked...you just need to remember to let that sucker sit for a while and download everything and just wait. trying to use it too early stops things from going into the correct folders and such.

it is doable. Apple knows there are people like this.

 

[Cmd-Z]

Yes an iOS 7 backup will load onto an iOS 8 device.

But if possible, and if her computer's iTunes library is up to date, do a local backup to her computer rather than iCloud, and load that backup onto the new iPhone from the computer during the new iPhone setup process (you get a choice, iCloud backup or iTunes backup). It is much faster than loading from iCloud since the iCloud method will attempt to re-download all her apps, Camera Roll, etc. over Wi-Fi, much slower than a cabled connection to a computer.

 

[tch999]

Thanks for the time to reply!

I agree that the iTunes/cable option is probably the best and quickest.

If I have any problems, I'm sure I'll be back for more advice

 

[imagineadam]

Sorry to hijack this thread but how about moving data from an iPhone 5 on iOS 6.1.4 to an iPhone 6? My wife's 6 should be here tomorrow and she's worried about losing her notes and reminders... All of that can be backed up in iCloud can't it then transferred over to the i6? Bonus question: where could I get the most money for her used iphone 5 on iOS 6.1.4?

 

[Cmd-Z]

Sorry to hijack this thread but how about moving data from an iPhone 5 on iOS 6.1.4 to an iPhone 6? My wife's 6 should be here tomorrow and she's worried about losing her notes and reminders... All of that can be backed up in iCloud can't it then transferred over to the i6?

Yes this should just work fine, but similar as above an iTunes backup is better than iCloud for speed purposes, and Apple seems to suggest that an iTunes backup is more comprehensive. If you compare these two articles about backups, the one regarding iTunes says a lot more about "what is backed up":

iTunes: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
iCloud: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859

The other thing to pay attention to is contacts ... make sure that your wife's contacts are stored in an email account (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) or locally (like Outlook). If her contacts only live on her iPhone, which can happen when your carrier transfers them for you, then these could get lost since contacts are not part of any type of backup, except for recents and favorites.

Bonus question: where could I get the most money for her used iphone 5 on iOS 6.1.4?

Most $, probably Craigslist or eBay. Safest, probably Gazelle, Amazon, Best Buy, etc.