iPhone 13 Pro Transferring my iPhone 11 Pro to my new iPhone 13 Pro

[Benz63amg]

What’s the best way to do it guys? I would ideally create an encrypted backup of my 11 Pro on my Mac and then just restore that backup on the new iPhone 13 Pro but my Mac doesn’t have enough free space so I can’t create an encrypted backup. I heard there’s a way to directly transfer my 11 Pro to the new 13 Pro once I have them connected to Wifi side by side, is that true? Is that identical to doing an encrypted backup restore using a Mac? Will it transfer all my health data etc? How long does it usually take? My iPhone 11 Pro is 256gb and I have about 70gb free on it

 

[jtptus]

I had a similar issue. The Wifi side-by-side you refer to may be the Quick Start method that uses iCloud backups and moves them to the new phone. My iCloud does not have all my phone data. My work around: a portable Samsung SSD T5 drive. Connect drive and the phone to your Mac. When you select where you want to back up the phone, choose the T5 and encrypt as you wish. Then use the Retore function to copy T5 to new phone. Later, you might be able to free up some space on your Mac (aka The Mothership) to allow the encypted back up to be stored on it. It is all bit tedious but easier than trying to free up space on the Mac blindly and getting the 'not enough space' message.

 

[Benz63amg]

I had a similar issue. The Wifi side-by-side you refer to may be the Quick Start method that uses iCloud backups and moves them to the new phone. My iCloud does not have all my phone data. My work around: a portable Samsung SSD T5 drive. Connect drive and the phone to your Mac. When you select where you want to back up the phone, choose the T5 and encrypt as you wish. Then use the Retore function to copy T5 to new phone. Later, you might be able to free up some space on your Mac (aka The Mothership) to allow the encypted back up to be stored on it. It is all bit tedious but easier than trying to free up space on the Mac blindly and getting the 'not enough space' message.

I have an external 1Tb t5 SSD connected to my Mac but I don’t see any such option in MacOS for choosing where to store the backup. It goes on the internal 128gb SSd drive of the MacBook by default

 

[CoronaOnTap]

I have an external 1Tb t5 SSD connected to my Mac but I don’t see any such option in MacOS for choosing where to store the backup. It goes on the internal 128gb SSd drive of the MacBook by default

You can’t change the location of iPhone backups for security reasons. You’re gonna need to temporarily move some stuff to the SSD to make room for the encrypted backup.

If you just use your 11 Pro to setup your 13 Pro it might take a while but you would get all your health data on the new iPhone. You’d even have the option to automatically pair your Apple Watch with the new 13 Pro.

 

[Benz63amg]

You can’t change the location of iPhone backups for security reasons. You’re gonna need to temporarily move some stuff to the SSD to make room for the encrypted backup.

If you just use your 11 Pro to setup your 13 Pro it might take a while but you would get all your health data on the new iPhone. You’d even have the option to automatically pair your Apple Watch with the new 13 Pro.

I see, so the direct transfer method via Wifi with both the old iPhone and new iPhone side by side that I mentioned above transfers EVERYTHING just like an encrypted backup does, correct?

 

[CoronaOnTap]

I see, so the direct transfer method via Wifi with both the old iPhone and new iPhone side by side that I mentioned above transfers EVERYTHING just like an encrypted backup does, correct?

I just setup my replacement 11 Pro with that method and I got all my data including my Health data. Don’t think I lost anything. And my Watch automatically paired with the new iPhone.
So I’m fairly positive yours would be fine as well.

 

[Benz63amg]

I just setup my replacement 11 Pro with that method and I got all my data including my Health data. Don’t think I lost anything. And my Watch automatically paired with the new iPhone.
So I’m fairly positive yours would be fine as well.

And how long did the direct transfer from the old iphone to the new iphone take? About 30 minutes?

 

[Oridus]

I had a similar issue. The Wifi side-by-side you refer to may be the Quick Start method that uses iCloud backups and moves them to the new phone. My iCloud does not have all my phone data. My work around: a portable Samsung SSD T5 drive. Connect drive and the phone to your Mac. When you select where you want to back up the phone, choose the T5 and encrypt as you wish. Then use the Retore function to copy T5 to new phone. Later, you might be able to free up some space on your Mac (aka The Mothership) to allow the encypted back up to be stored on it. It is all bit tedious but easier than trying to free up space on the Mac blindly and getting the 'not enough space' message.

The phone to phone method is a direct transfer between devices… iCloud storage not required.

 

[RickNY]

Every time I think I don’t have enough room on my Mac, it’s because I forget about old iPhone backups that I made in the past that I forgot about. If you don’t need older ones anymore, use Manage Backups to trash the ones you don’t need anymore. If you need the older ones, you can move them to an external drive - https://www.imore.com/how-move-your-iphone-or-ipad-backups-external-hard-drive

 

[Benz63amg]

Every time I think I don’t have enough room on my Mac, it’s because I forget about old iPhone backups that I made in the past that I forgot about. If you don’t need older ones anymore, use Manage Backups to trash the ones you don’t need anymore. If you need the older ones, you can move them to an external drive - https://www.imore.com/how-move-your-iphone-or-ipad-backups-external-hard-drive

i dont have any old iphone backups on my Mac so thats not the case im low on storage space. my mac only has internal 128gb of storage, i currently have about 50gb free so not enough to create a backup of my iphone 11 Pro which is why i created this thread. it sounds like the direct phone to phone transfer method should work just like restoring an encrypted backup from the mac does so i might do that as mentioned above by CoronaOnTop once i get my 13 Pro delivered next friday.

 

[CoronaOnTap]

And how long did the direct transfer from the old iphone to the new iphone take? About 30 minutes?

More or less. Mostly depends on the no of apps and your broadband speed as it downloads all the apps from the App Store.

 

[DomC]

When transferring to a new phone, does it matter in the sequence when the SIM should be changed over between old and new?

 

[Benz63amg]

When transferring to a new phone, does it matter in the sequence when the SIM should be changed over between old and new?

Good question, I’d like to know the answer to this as well

 

[mrbjr]

Me too!

 

[Fozziebear40]

And my Watch automatically paired with the new iPhone.

Did you have to unpair your watch first before you started?

 

[daddyd302]

I'm using Itunes to restore my new Iphone to my old settings. I've done this with my old Iphones and Ipad Pro's in the past when upgrading.

 

[DomC]

This is interesting regarding SIM transfer:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210655

 

[ebika]

Transferring sim then copying between phones, or the other way around doesn’t matter, afaik. The cell plan and contents of the phone storage are separate things. I used phone-to-phone transfer from my XS to 12 pro. It took 30 minutes or so, but it was painless. As others have said, it’s using direct wifi between devices to transfer everything.

 

[Benz63amg]

Transferring sim then copying between phones, or the other way around doesn’t matter, afaik. The cell plan and contents of the phone storage are separate things. I used phone-to-phone transfer from my XS to 12 pro. It took 30 minutes or so, but it was painless. As others have said, it’s using direct wi-if between devices to transfer everything.

Got it, Just so that i know i get my iPhone 13 Pro and boot it up, What is the option/feature for direct phone to phone backup transfer called exactly?

Another question i have is this, since the iPhone 13 Pro is going to come with iOS 15 pre installed. Does my iPhone 11 Pro need to be upgraded to iOS 15 as well or can i keep it on iOS 14?

 

[Chargr]

Transferring sim then copying between phones, or the other way around doesn’t matter, afaik. The cell plan and contents of the phone storage are separate things. I used phone-to-phone transfer from my XS to 12 pro. It took 30 minutes or so, but it was painless. As others have said, it’s using direct wifi between devices to transfer everything.

This right here is correct.

My simple go to is always back up, but start phone fresh with automatic download of my texts, photos, notes, reminders, etc. I don't actually restore from a backup unless I noticed something missing.

Best to start fresh so that you don't carry new bugs onto the new phone.

 

[ebika]

Got it, Just so that i know i get my iPhone 13 Pro and boot it up, What is the option/feature for direct phone to phone backup transfer called exactly?

Another question i have is this, since the iPhone 13 Pro is going to come with iOS 15 pre installed. Does my iPhone 11 Pro need to be upgraded to iOS 15 as well or can i keep it on iOS 14?

They call it Quick Start. I don’t think it needs to be iOS 15 on the old device. It’ll tell you when you try if you update it or not. I’m 90% sure I transferring from and old version of iOS to new when I did my XS -> 12.

 

[Benz63amg]

This right here is correct.

My simple go to is always back up, but start phone fresh with automatic download of my texts, photos, notes, reminders, etc. I don't actually restore from a backup unless I noticed something missing.

Best to start fresh so that you don't carry new bugs onto the new phone.

But my "Messages" category is about 20gb in size so that can't be backed up to the cloud as you claim unless you pay for iCloud and have large icloud storage.

 

[big samm]

You can also use the Apple lightning to USB adapter and make it a wired transfer instead of wireless. Also make sure both devices batteries are full

 

[Chargr]

But my "Messages" category is about 20gb in size so that can't be backed up to the cloud as you claim unless you pay for iCloud and have large icloud storage.

Yeah I pay 1$ a month for it, it’s enough for me.

 

[CoronaOnTap]

Did you have to unpair your watch first before you started?

That’s the point of this. You don’t need to unpair the Watch. It’s part of the transfer process. You’ll be asked which contents you want to transfer to the new iPhone which includes Apple Watch too.