Swapping iPhone question

[iphone joe]

My co-worker asked me a question this morning and I didn't know the answer. He has a 6+ and his wife has a 5s through Verizon. He hates the big screen and she wants the big screen so they want to flip phones. Do they go to a Verizon store to do this? Do they need to reset their phones to factory settings before the swap happens? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Sketchr]

My co-worker asked me a question this morning and I didn't know the answer. He has a 6+ and his wife has a 5s through Verizon. He hates the big screen and she wants the big screen so they want to flip phones. Do they go to a Verizon store to do this? Do they need to reset their phones to factory settings before the swap happens? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

If they are both verizon phones just swap the SIMS. You do not need to go to a store. The new settings will update automatically in their internal system.

 

[rockitdog]

Yep - just swap the sim cards!

 

[Givmeabrek]

Yea, but that will only switch phone numbers. To switch the contents you will need to make backups and restore to the other phone. Not quite as simple.

 

[iphone joe]

I thought with Verizon you needed new sim cards to do such a thing.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I thought with Verizon you needed new sim cards to do such a thing.

Nope. Your SIM has the service tied to it.

 

[eyoungren]

Yea, but that will only switch phone numbers. To switch the contents you will need to make backups and restore to the other phone. Not quite as simple.

^^^This.

Note that you cannot do a restore from a backup version that is higher than the firmware the phone is on.

So, if his wife is running say 7.1.2 on her 5s he will not be able to restore from his backup on her 5s. They will both need to be running the same version to pull this off.

 

[iphone joe]

So all they need to do is first back up both phones then reset to factory settings, switch sim cards and restore the backups?

 

[eyoungren]

Yes.

And the restore from backup part will work only if they are on the same version of iOS.

 

[willmtaylor]

^^^This.

Note that you cannot do a restore from a backup version that is higher than the firmware the phone is on.

So, if his wife is running say 7.1.2 on her 5s he will not be able to restore from his backup on her 5s. They will both need to be running the same version to pull this off.

...so if my wife is moving up from a 4(S) to a 6, how will we get all of her messages, etc. onto the iPhone 6?

 

[Newtons Apple]

...so if my wife is moving up from a 4(S) to a 6, how will we get all of her messages, etc. onto the iPhone 6?

Update the 4s and then back it up. Then use the restore to restore the 6 and all her messages will move just fine.

Forgot, do an encrypted backup and restore. This move everything and is required when backing up a device that has had the Apple Watch paired to it (not your case)

 

[eyoungren]

...so if my wife is moving up from a 4(S) to a 6, how will we get all of her messages, etc. onto the iPhone 6?

Moving up is not really the issue. It's moving laterally or down.

You can restore from a backup that is from a version LOWER than the firmware the phone is on. I.e, if the phone is on 8.4 you can restore from a 7.1.2 backup. But you cannot restore a phone on 7.1.2 from a 8.4 backup. You'll get an error.

I believe you can get away with minor point variations between the two, but not major versions.

 

[willmtaylor]

Update the 4s and then back it up. Then use the restore to restore the 6 and all her messages will move just fine.

Forgot, do an encrypted backup and restore. This move everything and is required when backing up a device that has had the Apple Watch paired to it (not your case)

Moving up is not really the issue. It's moving laterally or down.

You can restore from a backup that is from a version LOWER than the firmware the phone is on. I.e, if the phone is on 8.4 you can restore from a 7.1.2 backup. But you cannot restore a phone on 7.1.2 from a 8.4 backup. You'll get an error.

I believe you can get away with minor point variations between the two, but not major versions.

Ah, ok. That's what I thought. Thanks, gents.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Ah, ok. That's what I thought. Thanks, gents.

Sounds like we are going to have a happy wife! Wise Man!

 

[willmtaylor]

Sounds like we are going to have a happy wife! Wise Man!

Well, yes and no. I'm all but forcing her to upgrade. She honestly still loves her 4(S) except that the latency is getting to be a bit much and the battery "aint what she used to be." I do think she'll love the bigger screen, touchID, etc., etc. once she upgrades though.