Possible complicated question

[Npggirl7]

I have not used an iPhone since the 5 because I was tired of the smaller screens and switched to Android to try it. Not bad, love the larger screen, but now that Apple has the 6+, I am back with Apple (well, I will be as soon as I get my pre-order).
I booted up my 5 in order to try to back it up before my 6+ arrives in a few days, and I plugged my 5 into my Macbook Air, but my Macbook Air is FULL (and old, heh) and would pretty much not do a thing. It wouldn't pull over my pictures, it wouldn't back up my phone.
How do I set my new iPhone up and bring over all of my music and pictures without losing anything.
I believe everything is on the cloud, but again, I haven't really used my 5 in a while, and I have only purchased a few items from iTunes in the past year (via my iPad).
I have tons of music on iTunes from years of using iPhone's, and I want to ensure that I can get my music and pictures over to my new device.

Basically, how can I be sure I get my pictures and music on my new phone, since I could not complete a back up or anything when I plugged into my Mac?
Do i set it up as new, and if so, will EVERYTHING come down from the cloud?
Do I need to be sure that all photo sharing is on, and music sharing for everything to flow over properly without having a backup on my Mac? Things such as that?
Any help is appreciated!

 

[cymolia]

so whats the question ?

 

[Npggirl7]

so whats the question ?

Sorry...
Basically, how can I be sure I get my pictures and music on my new phone, since I could not complete a back up or anything when I plugged into my Mac?
Do i set it up as new, and if so, will EVERYTHING come down from the cloud?
Do I need to be sure that all photo sharing is on, and music sharing for everything to flow over properly without having a backup on my Mac? Things such as that?

 

[famoussasjohn]

Go to Settings>iCloud and see when you had last processed a backup. If nothing or not recent, do a back up through iCloud when on WiFi first before doing anything and you should then be fine. If anything, once you connect to your computer, export all of the pictures to your computer and then sync them over.

 

[Npggirl7]

Go to Settings>iCloud and see when you had last processed a backup. If nothing or not recent, do a back up through iCloud when on WiFi first before doing anything and you should then be fine. If anything, once you connect to your computer, export all of the pictures to your computer and then sync them over.

Great! I will try the Settings>iCloud option.
Thank you!

 

[famoussasjohn]

Great! I will try the Settings>iCloud option.
Thank you!

No problem. If you're on iOS 8, you might need to upgrade to iCloud Drive before you can start the backup process, but anything that is pre-iOS8 should be just fine.

 

[Agent-P]

Like famoussasjohn stated, on your iPhone 5 create a full iCloud backup.



Then when you get your 6 Plus, during the setup choose the "Restore from iCloud Backup" option.



As for music, if it's all purchased from iTunes then it will show up on your device to download. If not, you'll need to sync it over from iTunes on your computer.

 

[lsh]

Are pictures included in the backup? I didn't think they were - I know a few people who lost pictures thinking they were. I thought you had to import them to your Mac/PC???

 

[tekkt0r]

Are pictures included in the backup? I didn't think they were - I know a few people who lost pictures thinking they were. I thought you had to import them to your Mac/PC???

yes, assuming your icloud account is large enough to store all your pics.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Are pictures included in the backup? I didn't think they were - I know a few people who lost pictures thinking they were. I thought you had to import them to your Mac/PC???

It's always a good idea to import them to a Mac/PC, regardless. However, Camera Roll (iOS 7 and earlier) has always been part of the standard iCloud backup (and also the iTunes backup). In iOS 8, Photo Library is a standard part of the iCloud backup if you are not using iCloud Photo Library (beta). If you are using iCloud Photo Library, that's your backup.

The only time that Camera Roll/Photo Library won't be backed up is if you intentionally turn off Camera Roll/Photo Library in your Backup Options. To access that option:

iOS 7 and earlier: Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage > Backups: (device name)

iOS 8: Settings > General > Usage > iCloud: Manage Storage > Backups: (device name)

I know somebody who did eliminate Camera Roll from their iCloud backup (rather than pay for additional iCloud storage), failed to transfer photos to the computer... I leave it to you to guess what happened next.

Regarding restoring from an iCloud backup: iTunes music, apps, and photos are gradually downloaded when restoring from iCloud, based on what was on the phone at the time it was backed up. That can take many hours.

With "iTunes in the Cloud" all iTunes music is automatically listed in the Music app, regardless of whether it's physically on the iPhone. If it's not on the phone, it will stream if you select it.

If there are songs or apps that didn't get transferred, you can go to iTunes and/or App Store and go into the Purchased section to re-download.