Moving from original iPhone to 4S. Just backup one and restore to other?

[GhostMac24]

Like the title says. Just want to make sure it is as simple as backing up the old iPhone (over 4 year old 1st gen iPhone) and the restoring that backup to the iPhone4S. Is that correct?

Just don't want to screw this one up since this will be my first "upgrade" to a new phone since purchasing the 1st gen iPhone.

Thanks for any advice for what is probably a stupid question.

 

[spblat]

Not to worry. It should be as you described. Sync and make sure you have a backup. Connect new phone, set it up, take iTunes up on its offer to restore from your backup. Once the restore is done it'll start to sync your apps and media. Interrupt the sync and turn on wifi syncing. Unplug, start a wifi sync and walk around giggling like a schoolgirl, using your new 4S while it syncs in the background.

 

[wordoflife]

Yes you can.
However, I'd advise against doing so. Performance won't be as good and the battery won't last as long either. It has something to do with the configurations files in the OS.

I know this was the case with my 3GS

 

[ZBoater]

I wouldn't do it either. I'd start from scratch and just resync contacts/music etc.

 

[mcdj]

I've restored from backups without issue, battery life or otherwise. I think the old advice of not restoring is no longer relevant. With more apps every year, and more that store data, restoring from a backup is more and more essential.

 

[spblat]

I've restored from backups without issue, battery life or otherwise. I think the old advice of not restoring is no longer relevant. With more apps every year, and more that store data, restoring from a backup is more and more essential.

I'm with mcdj. Given the amount of time you'll save with an automatic restore (and unless someone can point to an advisory from Apple about this) I think it's worthwhile to go with the automatic route. If there are performance problems or other weirdnesses one is always free later to spend the extra hour or three on starting over.

 

[GhostMac24]

When y'all say "starting over" you mean starting from scratch like I never had a previous iPhone, correct? In other words, start with an "empty" phone and start adding my apps, contact, etc? Seems like it would be the less than optimal way if you want to have a (virtually) 100% clone of the previous phone. My biggest concern is all the mail on my old iPhone. I don't just have my .mac mail. I also have 3 other emails I need to use (2 pop and 1 imap).

 

[bwphoto]

Plus it would be nice to maintain text message records that exist on one's current iphone. Those conversations will transfer over to the new one if we restore from the backup, correct?

 

[spblat]

Plus it would be nice to maintain text message records that exist on one's current iphone. Those conversations will transfer over to the new one if we restore from the backup, correct?

Yep. It's been a couple of years since I did the full "start completely over" thing. Since then I've upgraded to iOS 4, iOS 4.1, and iOS 5 without losing any settings, text messages, preferences, wifi settings, etc. I've also been through 2-3 hardware swaps without issue. I'm confident it'll be the same with the 4S update.