URGENT--Getting New X Today...What Should I do Beforehand?

[Pseudo-Fed]

I did a little poking around with searching, and of course I've found basic information, but still want to ask the experts here:

Got lucky and caught an X in stock at my apple store early this am. Picking it up in a couple hours. This is the first time I've ordered a phone online for pickup, and first time getting from Apple store. Always just gone to AT&T.

This is also the first time I'm KEEPING my old phone (7+), at least for now. I chose "activate later" to save time in checkout because I was concerned I wouldn't get the phone. I was planning on having the store activate the phone as though I had made that choice when I get there (as AT&T does if they can).

I plan to restore from backup. Other than backing up my 7+, and taking my Speck Presidio Sport case WITH me to the store, is there anything else I should do before going to the store or before interacting with the new phone?

Edited to add: I have an apple watch (two actually, including S3 LTE). I've asked in another thread about that consideration and was told unpair and repair and the carrier activation part should be smooth. Any further tips appreciated.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Shadowbech]

Can't you just stick your old sim to your new iPhone X? It sounds like you purchased full price if you choose "activate later"?

 

[liftedpsd2010]

Man this place has really gone downhill with posts like this.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Yes, paid full price. Have never moved a sim, so I don't know. AT&T has always provided the new phone in working order and I've traded old phone last couple times.
[doublepost=1512227435][/doublepost]

Man this place has really gone downhill with posts like this.

^^^Couldn't agree more. Check my post history and find out how many questions I've found very basic yet I've nevertheless taken the time to answer with links, screen prints from my watches, phone and apps in order to be helpful.

It happens this particular purchase transaction is different for me and I want to be sure all steps are covered. I read posts every day that evidence someone has omitted a step, setting or consideration. Your imperious attitude is the one changing the direction of this forum.

 

[UnifiedMelody]

I did a little poking around with searching, and of course I've found basic information, but still want to ask the experts here:

Got lucky and caught an X in stock at my apple store early this am. Picking it up in a couple hours. This is the first time I've ordered a phone online for pickup, and first time getting from Apple store. Always just gone to AT&T.

This is also the first time I'm KEEPING my old phone (7+), at least for now. I chose "activate later" to save time in checkout because I was concerned I wouldn't get the phone. I was planning on having the store activate the phone as though I had made that choice when I get there (as AT&T does if they can).

I plan to restore from backup. Other than backing up my 7+, and taking my Speck Presidio Sport case WITH me to the store, is there anything else I should do before going to the store or before interacting with the new phone?

Edited to add: I have an apple watch (two actually, including S3 LTE). I've asked in another thread about that consideration and was told unpair and repair and the carrier activation part should be smooth. Any further tips appreciated.

Thank you for any advice.

Your best bet is to discuss directly with the apple specialist, I'm sure they'll sit you through your doubts and questions...

also getting from apple store > getting from any other carrier . especially if outright .

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Your best bet is to discuss directly with the apple specialist, I'm sure they'll sit you through your doubts and questions...

also getting from apple store > getting from any other carrier . especially if outright .

Thank you.

I'm reading I need to unpair my apple watch(es) BEFORE backing up my phone since this backs up the watches for when I repair with the new phone. I'm presuming I will leave the Apple Store with a carrier activated X, but need to restore from backup at home and then repair my watches?

 

[Clix Pix]

I grabbed an iPhone X last week when one became available at my local Apple store. I had been checking regularly for indications of availability. I didn't place an order online, though, simply walked into the store and then we placed a "reserve" on the phone and someone brought it out to us. Before leaving home I backed up my iPhone 7 and also had unpaired my Apple Watch; as part of the setup process of the new phone the employee and I also paired my watch, too. Very painless, really! My iPhone 7 was on the NEXT program, as is the new iPhone. At the time of purchase of the iPhone X the iPhone 7 was to be traded in and so Apple printed out a shipping label for me to use to send in that phone to AT&T. I also began a new NEXT program with the iPhone X. Everything went smoothly and I was surprised at how much more quickly the setting-up/activation process is now than it has been in the past. Old phone and new phone are "paired" kind of like the phone and the watch, but this is for the purpose of restoring from backup, which goes surprisingly quickly. When I got home with the new iPhone I plugged into iTunes and added the music and movies that I wanted, and photos, since they were not included in the backup (don't use iCloud for those). Apps and all the settings were done in the store, restored from the backup I had done just prior to leaving home.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Thank you.

I'm reading I need to unpair my apple watch(es) BEFORE backing up my phone since this backs up the watches for when I repair with the new phone. I'm presuming I will leave the Apple Store with a carrier activated X, but need to restore from backup at home and then repair my watches?

That is correct. Also make sure you do an encrypted backup to bring all your health data forward in your backup.

 

[Archer1440]

Even if you forget to do it, if you pair from a backup using the "hold the phones close" method, the X will automatically unpair one of the watches paired to your old phone- the one you're wearing- and give you an option to pair with it during setup. You can manually unpair the second watch, and then pair it with the X, later.

As long as the backup and the new phone are on the same version of iOS, and you're using iCloud, it couldn't be easier to migrate.

 

[newellj]

Thank you.

I'm reading I need to unpair my apple watch(es) BEFORE backing up my phone since this backs up the watches for when I repair with the new phone. I'm presuming I will leave the Apple Store with a carrier activated X, but need to restore from backup at home and then repair my watches?

My advice, based on very recent experience.

Buy the phone with "activate later" and bring the new phone home. Don't let the Genius do anything at the Apple Store.

Make sure both phones are on the same version of iOS so that you can read and write backups back and forth if you have to (for example, if there's some glitch in setting up the new iPhone).

When you get back home, un-pair the Watch. That will force a backup to your phone (your existing/old phone).

Then do an encrypted backup with iTunes. If you don't encrypt the backup, you'll lose a lot of information that you'll need to re-enter/recreate later. In theory, an iCloud encrypted backup is as good as an encrypted iTunes backup on your local machine, but I tried that first and it lost all of my Health and Workout data.

Optionally, I would then go into iTunes>Preferences>Devices and archive this backup so it can't be overwritten by a subsequent backup. This is the state of your Watch and iPhone at the date and time you switched to the new iPhone.

I would next set up the new iPhone with iTunes and restore the backup you just made from your old 7 to your new X.

Once that is really complete, which will take a while, I would re-pair the Watch. This also may take a very surprising period of time. Restoring backups to a Watch apparently is much more time consuming than the initial setup.

When you're done, you should have recreated the exact state of your old iPhone and Watch on the new iPhone.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Even if you forget to do it, if you pair from a backup using the "hold the phones close" method, the X will automatically unpair one of the watches paired to your old phone- the one you're wearing- and give you an option to pair with it during setup. You can manually unpair the second watch, and then pair it with the X, later.

As long as the backup and the new phone are on the same version of iOS, and you're using iCloud, it couldn't be easier to migrate.

Since you say this, I recall an "oh crap" moment where my backup last time was incompatible, I think because backup was on later version of IOS than the new 7+. I've just updated 7+ to 11.2. I presume I will first need to update the new X if not on 11.2.

 

[newellj]

Since you say this, I recall an "oh crap" moment where my backup last time was incompatible, I think because backup was on later version of IOS than the new 7+. I've just updated 7+ to 11.2. I presume I will first need to update the new X if not on 11.2.

That's why I suggest making sure they're both on the same version of iOS before you start.

 

[Archer1440]

Yes, that is very likely going to need to be done. Just set up as a new phone, do the update, then erase the phone and set up from the cleared state as restore from a backup. It all works.

I won't address an iCloud vs iTunes restore, except to note that I had no issue at all with an iCloud restore, including all my health data going back to the beginning of Watch 0. And I've been running the iOS beta program, was probably on beta 2 or 3 at the time.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

My advice, based on very recent experience.

Buy the phone with "activate later" and bring the new phone home. Don't let the Genius do anything at the Apple Store.

Make sure both phones are on the same version of iOS so that you can read and write backups back and forth if you have to (for example, if there's some glitch in setting up the new iPhone).

When you get back home, un-pair the Watch. That will force a backup to your phone (your existing/old phone).

Then do an encrypted backup with iTunes. If you don't encrypt the backup, you'll lose a lot of information that you'll need to re-enter/recreate later. In theory, an iCloud encrypted backup is as good as an encrypted iTunes backup on your local machine, but I tried that first and it lost all of my Health and Workout data.

Optionally, I would then go into iTunes>Preferences>Devices and archive this backup so it can't be overwritten by a subsequent backup. This is the state of your Watch and iPhone at the date and time you switched to the new iPhone.

I would next set up the new iPhone with iTunes and restore the backup you just made from your old 7 to your new X.

Once that is really complete, which will take a while, I would re-pair the Watch. This also may take a very surprising period of time. Restoring backups to a Watch apparently is much more time consuming than the initial setup.

When you're done, you should have recreated the exact state of your old iPhone and Watch on the new iPhone.

Thank you. I'm actually wearing both apple watches (one is off) to take them in. But it sounds like this is not necessary. I will plan to use encrypted iTunes backup. Did not know about archive. So:

1) return home with carrier activated X
2) update X to 11.2.
3) unpair both watches from 7+
4) backup 7+ on iTunes, encrypted, and archive
4.5) restore backup to X
5) re pair AW3 LTE with phone, and hope AT&T activation without issue, using backup.
6) re pair AW2 with phone, using backup
7) go run a 5K or something to clear my head and test the AW3 LTE

Sound about right? Will Apple store move the SIM or provide another?
[doublepost=1512230080][/doublepost]

Yes, that is very likely going to need to be done. Just set up as a new phone, do the update, then erase the phone and set up from the cleared state as restore from a backup. It all works.

I won't address an iCloud vs iTunes restore, except to note that I had no issue at all with an iCloud restore, including all my health data going back to the beginning of Watch 0. And I've been running the iOS beta program, was probably on beta 2 or 3 at the time.

Not sure I understand "erase" the phone. How do I do this?

 

[newellj]

Thank you. I'm actually wearing both apple watches (one is off) to take them in. But it sounds like this is not necessary. I will plan to use encrypted iTunes backup. Did not know about archive. So:

1) return home with carrier activated X
2) update X to 11.2.
3) unpair both watches from 7+
4) backup 7+ on iTunes, encrypted, and archive
4.5) restore backup to X
5) re pair AW3 LTE with phone, and hope AT&T activation without issue, using backup.
6) re pair AW2 with phone, using backup
7) go run a 5K or something to clear my head and test the AW3 LTE

Sound about right? Will Apple store move the SIM or provide another?

I didn't include swapping the sim card - my bad. I would not do anything to activate the new phone until you have fully backed up the old phone. That's the point at which I would take your sim card out of the old phone and install it in the new phone, which should come up on your carrier's network with your cell number. I would NOT let the Apple Store touch your phone at all. Take it home _sealed_. Yeah, that's not really necessary, I'm saying that for effect, but I do mean this: don't let the Apple Store touch your new or old phone.

 

[Archer1440]

Not sure I understand "erase" the phone. How do I do this?

Settings > General > reset >reset all settings


Seriously though, iOS 11.x has made migration so easy (just hold the old phone up to the new one, and BANG everything transfers) I can't see the advantage of messing about with iTunes. As far as I know you don't even need to mess with the SIM card (there should already be an Apple sim in the phone, right?)

 

[newellj]

If you're keeping your old phone, which I believe you said you are, I would definitely not erase the old phone at this time. If you discover that, notwithstanding all the steps you take to avoid it, you've lost data, you're going to want to be able to start again with your old phone. How do I know this? After I made the mistake of letting a Genius try to help set up my new X, which resulted in a lot of lost data, I was able to reverse the process and start again with my old phone, and was able to rescue all the data the Apple Genius had lost. If I had erased my old phone...SOL.

 

[Flyer888]

I'd never ever unbox and setup at the Apple Store. It's something that's much convenient and enjoyable to do at home.
Basically you want to do the following (or at least this is what I did every time I got a new iPhone):
1. Update your 7+ to newest iOS
2. Unpair your Apple Watch
3. Connect your 7+ to iTunes and make a backup (don't forget to encrypt, to keep the Health etc data)
4. Throw away the SIM card inside the iPhone X, take out the SIM card from your 7+ and put it in your iPhone X
5. Setup and activate your iPhone X as "new iPhone"
6. Update your iPhone X to newest iOS
7. Connect your iPhone X to iTunes and restore it from the 7+ backup that you made
8. Re-pair your Apple Watch
9. Done!

 

[Archer1440]

You left out "erase iPhone x" in between steps 6 and 7, which is what I was referring to above. You can't restore it from a running setup, you need to reset it first.

 

[Applenoob34]

Man this place has really gone downhill with posts like this.

Posts like this degrade this forum. Instead of keeping your negative opinion to yourself, you wasted space on a forum built to help others. Good job.

 

[Flyer888]

You left out "erase iPhone x" in between steps 6 and 7, which is what I was referring to above. You can't restore it from a running setup, you need to reset it first.

You don't have to. In my step 5, I've setup the X as new phone. When you connect the X to iTunes you can click "restore backup...".

 

[thesaint024]

Thank you for any advice.

If you want to enjoy your phone, get off MR and never look back. It’s madness!

 

[AustinIllini]

Do you even have to swap your sim? If you bought it, your carrier should connect to it when you start it.

And I highly recommend doing an iCloud back up with an iTunes backup for emergencies.

 

[j800r]

Don’t restore from backup. People have had problems with that. Start it off clean and you’ll probably have a much smoother experience.

 

[Archer1440]

Don’t restore from backup. People have had problems with that. Start it off clean and you’ll probably have a much smoother experience.

Never a problem with 10 different iPhones over the years. Yes some people may have had a problem but it works for the vast majority despite what you may read here.