With a lot of people getting new devices in the next few weeks, the "start new or restore" threads have been popping up. I have always done a restore because I don't want to lose certain data like my text messages (both iMessage & SMS texts) or data in certain non-cloud based apps. The problem is that you have to do an all or nothing restore. I also feel like there are probably certain settings that I have set up on my phone over the years & across different versions of iOS that may be preventing something cool in iOS 10 from working the way it was intended. I have no direct evidence of that, but I feel like somewhere along the way I probably turned something off because it sucked in an old version, but is awesome in a new version, but that "off" setting just carries over in a restore.
It would be nice if Apple had a list of categories, apps, or data that you could select to download on a new install. I know all about the iCloud backup settings, but I'm talking about a more robust selection where you can pick & choose things you want like they were & things you want to be wiped clean & start fresh. Like being able to say, "I want to start fresh, but restore my text messages, photos, email/contacts/calendar settings, and these 5 apps."
It would be nice if Apple had a list of categories, apps, or data that you could select to download on a new install. I know all about the iCloud backup settings, but I'm talking about a more robust selection where you can pick & choose things you want like they were & things you want to be wiped clean & start fresh. Like being able to say, "I want to start fresh, but restore my text messages, photos, email/contacts/calendar settings, and these 5 apps."
