What's the easiest and best way to transfer all your data from your old iPhone to your brand new iPhone 7? This way!
When you get your shiny — or matte! — new iPhone 7, you'll need to move all your old data to its new home. Whether you're using iTunes a cable, or iCloud and the internet, the first thing you'll need to do is backup your old iPhone, then restore everything to your new iPhone. The process is straight forward but I'll walk you through it every step of the way!
- How to transfer your data to your new iPhone using iTunes
- How to transfer your data to your new iPhone using iCloud
- How to transfer your data to your new iPhone from an old Android, Windows, or Blackberry smartphone
How to transfer your data to your new iPhone using iTunes
Here's the deal: If you make an encrypted backup of your old iPhone using iTunes, then restore it to your new iPhone, it'll bring most — if not all — your password information along with it. That'll save you a lot of time and effort getting set back up.
You do need a Lightning to USB cable (or 30-pin Dock to USB if you have an iPhone 4s or earlier), and you'll still have to re-download apps — the App Store gives you slightly different versions for each device, optimized to run best on that specific hardware — but overall I still find it to be much, much faster.
- Make sure you're running the most recent version of iTunes.
- Plug your old iPhone into your Mac or Windows PC.
- Launch iTunes.
- Click on the iPhone icon in the menu bar when it appears.
- Click on Back Up Now.
- Click on Encrypt Backup and add a password.
- Skip Backup Apps, if asked. (They'll likely re-download anyway.)
- Unplug your old iPhone when done.
- Turn off your old iPhone.
Take your SIM card out of your old iPhone.
Wait for the backup to complete before proceeding.
- Put your SIM card into your new iPhone.
- Turn on your new iPhone.
- Plug your new iPhone into your Mac or Windows PC.
- Slide to set up on your iPhone.
- Follow the directions to choose your language and set up your Wi-Fi network.
Select Restore from iTunes backup.
- On iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC, select Restore from this backup.
- Choose your recent backup from the list.
- Enter your password if your backup was encrypted and it asks.
Depending on how much data you have to download, including music and apps, it might take a while for the transfer to complete. Keep your iPhone plugged into iTunes until the transfer is complete.
Your iPhone might feel warm for a while, and you might burn a lot of battery life for the first few hours or even a day due to the radios working and the Spotlight search system indexing. Just let it finish.
How to transfer your data to your new iPhone using iCloud
If you use Apple's online service, iCloud, to backup your iPhone, then you can transfer all your data over wirelessly. Depending on when your last backup was, however, you might want to manually trigger a backup before making a transfer. That'll ensure everything is as up-to-date as possible.
- Pick up your old iPhone.
- Make sure your iPhone or iPad is connected to Wi-Fi. (If you're low on power, plug in as well.)
- Launch Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap on iCloud.
- Tap on Backup.
- Tap on Back Up Now.
- When the backup is done, turn off your old iPhone.
Take your SIM card out of your old iPhone.
Wait for the backup to complete before proceeding.
- Put your SIM card into your new iPhone.
- Turn on your new iPhone.
- Slide to set up.
- Follow the directions to choose your language and set up your Wi-Fi network.
- Select Restore from iCloud backup.
Sign into your iCloud account. (Your Apple ID.)
- Tap Next.
- Agree to the Terms and Conditions and Confirm.
- Choose your recent backup from the list.
Enter your iCloud password when and if requested.
Depending on how much data you have to download, including music and apps, it might take a while for the transfer to complete. Stay on Wi-Fi as much as possible to speed up the process.
Your iPhone might feel warm for a while, and battery life may take a big initial hit. Don't worry, that's the radios and processors working overtime to get everything back in place, and the Spotlight search system indexing it as fast as it can.
How to transfer your data to your new iPhone from an old Android, Windows, or Blackberry smartphone
If you're coming from an Android smartphone, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry, you can still move some of your data, though you can't transfer apps, for instance.
- How to switch to an iPhone from an Android smartphone
- How to switch to an iPhone from a Windows Phone
- How to switch to an iPhone from BlackBerry
Other questions about transferring your data?
If you have any problems, or any other questions about transferring data to your new iPhone, drop them in the comments!
Reader comments
How to transfer data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone 7
How can you transfer only messages? I want to set up as new.
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From what I've learned over the years, iMessages are not synced with iCloud and the only way to carry them over to a new phone is by restoring from a backup, either iTunes or iCloud, and with everything else too, i.e. not setting up as a new phone like you want. But I'd love to hear if there was a way too... ???
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You can do it with third-party software and as far as I know, AnyTrans works well. I used to move only messages with it from my iPhone 5s to 6s, without restoring other data. You know the best thing is, I have several messages on my 6s before, and this software not only transferred the old messages without erasing the new existing ones on my 6s, but perfectly merged the messages of the same person into one thread. That’s beyond my expectation. You can have a try.
Should be interesting to get reports from actual iPhone 7 users on the new phone. Transferring info is generally pretty easy. Don't forget to wipe your old phone after you know you've got everything you want.
I transferred all my data to my iPhone 7 last night. Super easy. I have active backups to iCloud but I still made a full backup to iTunes (restore is faster). I then turned on the new phone, then plugged it into my Mac when indicated. iTunes then prompts you to either set up as a new phone or from a backup. I selected 'from a backup' then let it run through the process. It was pretty seamless for me and all my data looks to be intact; I was using about 100GB on my last phone.
I recommend starting the process when you are going to be on wifi for a while so you don't inadvertently use up data on your cell plan when updating. Also turn off Wifi Assist while the data gets downloaded.
How about backing up to an external drive? I've almost filled my 128GB 6+ and definitely do not have enough space on my MacBook to do an encrypted backup. At the very least I need my messages history to transfer. So excited for the 256 model!
I haven't looked into how to store backups on an external drive yet but you can see where your backups are stored but going into iTunes > Preferences > Devices tab. Right-Click on the specific device name in the Device backups window and select Show in Finder. If you go up to that parent directory then you can see the total size of each of the backups. I see that I have about 75GB of backups so I can probably delete some from old devices I no longer have.
If my backup is iOS 9.3 from my iPhone 6, will restoring from it to iOS 10 pose no problem?
You should be fine. I've upgraded directly from an older version of iOS. The backup is not directly tied to a specific version of iOS.
Thanks very much for that info
Anyone tried from a pretty old version like an iPod touch running v6.1.6?
I read through the article and noticed that Rene recommends pulling your old SIM out and just placing it in the new phone. In the past I never did this and just activated on the new SIM and thew away the old SIM. What are the pros/cons for using the old SIM?
None whatsoever. I've been carrying forward my nano SIM since the iPhone 5
Do you know if this help bypass an activation fee? AT&T had them, removed them with Next, and now they're back!
No, that will be charged regardless.
Rene buys unlocked iPhones which I believe don't come with a SIM. Keeping your old SIM should work fine, but there is always the possibility that something won't work right. I know that really old SIMs don't always connect to brews towers on Verizon and AT&T. If your device supports NFC (not an issue with iPhones) an old SIM won't work. Unless you are one of those people who hates to fo the phone call or logging in online to activate your order there is no real benefit to keeping the old SIM.
This is correct. If you specify what phone number you are replacing with the new iPhone when you order it online, you don't need to swap your SIM card into your new phone; it comes ready to activate when you turn it on. My recommendation is to create a backup on iTunes or iCloud before turning on your new phone so you can start the restore process immediately. If you have WiFi Assist, turn it off for the first few days while your iPhone downloads all it's data so you don't use your cellular data if your wifi signal is weak.
A guide on how to move from a larger capacity iPhone to a smaller capacity one would be very useful.
Main issue for many is size of their iCloud Photo Library.
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I'd like to see that too. I have to shave 10GB from my phone backup before my new 7Plus in just 32GB arrives, but I think it will be ok if I leave my picture library in the cloud and maybe nuke a big app or two...
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I have all my purchased apps in iTunes on my desktop. Can't I reinstall the apps from there to my upgraded device? Upgrading from an iPhone 6 to a 7+.
You could do that I suppose. But the apps need to be in the apps folder in your iTunes library and synced back. You're making it more complicated than it has to be though. It's much easier to back up your phone to iCloud and restore the backup to new phone OR set it up as a new phone and download the apps you want after setup (what I do). As long as you're using the same iTunes account it saves a list of every app (paid and free) that you've ever installed. You won't be changed to install them again.
I believe so. Or just download again from your "purchased" area list on the App Store. Or if you restore from a backup from either iCloud or iTunes it will put back all your apps you had, and in the same layout too, as well as everything else you had on your previous phone, settings, as well...
The whole point of the post was how to restore when app thinning changes the binary on the apps between devices. For example, if the devs did it right, I should currently have all Force Touch functions thinned out of what I have installed because I have an iPhone 6. But I will want that when my iPhone 7+ arrives.
My question is, does the app stored in iTunes have that thinned copy, or the full binary?
My understanding is that iTunes will have the full binary. This started in iOS 9.
Thank you.
To piggy back on the above question with regards to the SIM card, why keep the old SIM card and swap it into the new phone? I've always used the new one with no issues. Just curious....
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There is no benefit to keeping the old SIM other than not having to call customer service. I'm not sure about other carriers but when you call the Verizon Equipment Activation line it will autonomy use the new SIM.
I think Rene is saying in his article to keep the old SIM and throw away the SIM that comes with the new iphone 7. In the past, I threw away the old SIM -- say iphone 6 SIM, and activated the new iphone 7 with the SIM that came in that iphone.
Which way are you saying to do it?
Never do this - it builds up cruft and is a waste of time.
Instead just do a clean install on any new phones you get, login as required - and install apps as you need them. You will remove a ton of cruft from your phone, and apps you don't realise you dont need. I find my phones are more reliable too.
Unless you have an app without a cloud service to store its data (increasingly rare) NEVER backup your phone - whether to the cloud or iTunes (iTunes, seriously, it's not 1997). Cloud services store our data now - grow up - backups are a waste of time.
Never backup? Horrible advice.
So how do you get your iMessage/text history back on a new phone then? Just one example of something lost without a backup...
Well for those of us who don't pay for extra iCloud storage and have more than 5GB in photos and other data, using iTunes backup is the only option if we want to carry forward all our data from our previous phone.
I have to disagree with you niico100. People use their devices differently and choice for backup is a good thing. There are several reasons one might choose the use iTunes as the backup solution. iCloud storage is only 5GB for the free storage, an iPhone backup can easily be larger than 5GB. Restoring from iTunes is much faster than restoring from iCloud. Encryption or not, some just do not want their data on iCloud. Redundancy in backups are not a problem since if you do not backup to iCloud within a certain time frame Apple can choose to delete the backups. Please read the iCloud terms of service. Backing up in iTunes provides more certainty; it is easy to check on backups, delete old backups and if there is more than one iOS device in the home it is easy to manage the backups for each devices in iTunes. In iTunes backups can be archived. Some have important information in messages, without a backup those messages are forever lost. Yes, even in 2016 there still are reasons to use iTunes for backups.
off topic how do you ONLY put your contacts from your iphone onto an ipad? Without having to reset anything on either device of course.
As far as I know, with 3rd-party software.
You can sign in to the same account that the contacts are stored in. So for example, if you contacts are store in your iCloud, you could sign into that account on the iPad. Then in the iCloud settings you can switch whichever options on or off. So you can turn contacts on and leave the rest off.
This process works for other accounts such as gmail etc.
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I think you can just log into your iCloud account in your iPhone and just select contacts from the iCloud setting on your iPhone
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Can an iPhone be backed up on a IPad Pro?
the method is still the same
Wow! And all I need to do with my phone is to take the SD card out and install it into my new Samsung. I am sooooo glad that I dumped Apple 2 years ago.
Hope you don't have a Samsung "ied"....oops I meant galaxy 7
How do I recover my encrypted back up password?
Is there any way to recover password to unlock backup on iTunes?
i transferred data from old 6 to new 7plus via the ATT transfer app. All went well data but now instead of 15000 photos I have 45,000! 3 copies of each photo on my mac and new phone?!? I cloud photos were doubled. How to get rid of duplicates without having to delete by hand?