The magic of an iPhone migration

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iPhones and iPads have – in my opinion – the best migration routine of any of the devices I’ve ever managed (with one exception that isn’t a fault of
[See the full post at: The magic of an iPhone migration]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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WCHS, Mele20, Alex5723

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If you have saved the passwords into the apple keychain these passwords will migrate over to your new device

If you backup with password your iPhone to your PC , you can restore to new iPhone including passwords, health data…(but not Apple Pay/card).

Restoring with iTunes from a PC is much faster than syncing 2 iPhones over wi-fi/BT

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Alex5723 wrote:

If you backup with password your iPhone to your PC , you can restore to new iPhone including passwords, health data…(but not Apple Pay/card).

For Windows users it is HORRIBLE to try and backup iPhone on a Windows computer. There are too many shortcomings if you use iTunes. You have to PURCHASE a third party app to do a decent backup onto a Windows computer. This is the ONE THING that makes me very angry with Apple (and Microsoft too).

I can’t stand iTunes and with its shortcomings for backup well….it is NOT an option. I’ve looked at many third party backup programs for iPhone and tried a few and disliked all of them. Besides NONE are free and I can’t see why I should be expected to buy an app to do something that the two parties involved should get together and offer free to their users…something BETTER than iTunes (they should both be very ashamed of the current state of affairs).

So, I just back up iPhone to iCloud and also download all photos from the iPhone to my computer. As for not restoring Apple Pay (not Apple credit card that Apple keeps pushing at me) are you referring to Apple Wallet that would not restore from a PC? That would be a big hassle!

SOME DAY, I keep hoping, that Microsoft and Apple will decide to work together for the benefit of those of us who like BOTH and have Windows computers and Apple iPhones and watches.

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…or keep the two devices side by side and they will restore the data from one to the other…

..with no mention of device battery levels anywhere?

IMPORTANT PRIMARY CHECK:
If backing up/ upgrading OTA or restoring via the side-by-side method, do it whilst devices are plugged in to charge and make sure each device has enough battery juice before commencing.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Mele20 wrote:

For Windows users it is HORRIBLE to try and backup iPhone on a Windows computer. There are too many shortcomings if you use iTunes. You have to PURCHASE a third party app to do a decent backup onto a Windows computer.

Sorry. This is nonsense.

You connect the iPhone to your Windows PC.

Launch iTunes.

Select your iPhone icon.

Run backup to iCloud (for safe keeping).

Run backup with password to your Windows PC (C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\backup).

Connect the new iPhone to your Window PC.

Launch iTunes.

Select restore

That is it.

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Zathras

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Sigh. I did NOT write “nonsense” but if you want to insist on how superior you are to the rest of us at this site go ahead…just don’t expect me to pay much attention to YOUR”nonsense”.

I don’t even think you understood (or maybe even read fully) my post. I’l say it again…iTunes on a windows PC is c**p.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Run backup to iCloud (for safe keeping).

My problem with iPhone backup with iTunes is that it is in the cloud and I do not agree that in the cloud is “safe keeping”. Cloud depositories of personal information are large targets for hackers. Saying that iTunes can’t be hacked doesn’t make me feel safe.

I will not try to list articles from “experts” saying how safe or unsafe cloud storage is, but list my own personal experience.

To date: My personal information in the cloud with several different companies has been leaked and my name and email address had been exposed 7 times. Luckily it was just name and email so spam was the biggest side effect. How do I know the info was hacked in the cloud? 1) Several of the companies notified me that my inform along with millions of others had been hacked and 2) I started getting spam on the the unique email address which I used only with that cloud source and none of my other email addresses were hacked (I wasn’t hacked).

I don’t backup to Cloud and that includes iTunes/iPhone. It comes down to this: The risk of my personal data being hacked in the clouds versus my backups kept usable in my fire & water proof safe. In my case I think the risks of being hacked in the cloud is way more than me losing my backups in my safe. I have all cloud functions of the iPhone turned off.

I too have to use a third party software to move files between the iPhone and Windows PC. Apple and Microsoft have never played together nicely and I don’t expect they every will. The only total compatibility that Apple iOS and Windows has is that they both plug into the same wall outlet.

HTH, Dana:))

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You forgot “enough room on that computer “.
also some use older iTunes because they want to sync to outlook

it’s never that simple as you state

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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I agree. I just purchased a new iPad Air 5 to replace my iPad Air 2. Transferring/copying everything on the old device to the new device was a piece of cake. They both function now and are synced, but I imagine that I will have to stop using the iPad Air 2 eventually, once 15.7 gets way of of date.

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My last experience was migrating my iPhone XR to a new iPad Pro (11-inch, 3rd-generation).  It didn’t go as I expected.  After migration, the apps on the iPad were all mixed up.  Perhaps due to the different screen sizes?  Could I have missed a setting?  Other than that, all went well.

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yvrhnl wrote:

My last experience was migrating my iPhone XR to a new iPad Pro

You can’t migrate iOS to iPadOS. These are 2 different OSs.

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But you can replicate the content but it does not set it up exactly the same as an iPhone.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Drcard:)) wrote:

My problem with iPhone backup with iTunes is that it is in the cloud and I do not agree that in the cloud is “safe keeping”. Cloud depositories of personal information are large targets for hackers.

iCloud has never been hacked and if there were any attempt all had failed.
The main “problem” with iCloud is the small 5GB free backup space.
I pay $0.99 per a month for 50GB backup storage. That is enough for backing up my iPhone, iPad and Apple watch.
I backup my photos to free Google photos (19GB of backup space).

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Drcard:)) wrote:

My problem with iPhone backup with iTunes is that it is in the cloud and I do not agree that in the cloud is “safe keeping”.

I always backup my iOS devices locally, NEVER to iCloud for 2 main reasons.

1. Apple’s default free ‘cloud storage’ is 5GB (compared to Google’s free default of 15GB). I have two iOS devices in use, a 128GB iPhone SE2 and a 64GB iPad 6th Gen. Locally, the backups are stored within a C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup folder. I can see that one device backup is ~4.8GB whilst the other is ~16GB:

They are quite clearly highly compressed because the devices themselves show storage usage as such:

So, I cannot backup both devices to iCloud without being forced to pay for additional iCloud storage space.

2. Have you ever tried to restore an iOS device OTA (Over The Air), i.e. from iCloud using Wi-Fi or <shudder> via your mobile/cell’s data plan?  You really need to try it to see if it’s going to work for you when you really, really need it. I witnessed a friend trying to do an OTA restore… for more than 3 hours before giving up and trying again overnight when OTA traffic was lighter. You are utterly dependent on the strength of Wi-Fi/Mobile data signals. Conversely, I can restore from a local data backup using a USB-to-Lightning cable within minutes.

PS – I agree wholeheartedly with comments that iTunes for Windows is dreadful. It works after a fashion but is painful to use… (unlike the sleekness of iTunes for macOS… which just works.).

Hope this helps…

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PKCano

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Yes I did it on three phones and took photos of my Dad’s phone doing it.  It really works.  I pay for more space for photos.   As Alex said .99 is very inexpensive.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Rick Corbett wrote:

Have you ever tried to restore an iOS device OTA (Over The Air), i.e. from iCloud using Wi-Fi or <shudder> via your mobile/cell’s data plan?  You really need to try it to see if it’s going to work for you when you really, really need it.</shudder>

So, I cannot backup both devices to iCloud without being forced to pay for additional iCloud storage space

Yes, I did many time when upgrading to new iPhone/iPad. Worked flawlessly for me but took a long time.
I switch to local encrypted backups and restoring with iTunes which was fast.

$0.99 per month for 50GB iCloud storage won’t break the bank.

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Rick Corbett wrote:

PS – I agree wholeheartedly with comments that iTunes for Windows is dreadful.

iTunes isn’t dreadful nor painful.
I use iTunes to backup to ‘Computer’, listen to thousand radio stations, copying music, video, pdf… files to the iPhone…
The app is stable, never crash and new versions doesn’t require re-boot any more.

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As someone who have been close to the action in our not so small business managing Iphones without MDM, I can bring an opinion that might be of interest to some here.

We use Itunes on Windows a lot for backing up. I am not a cloud person. Evolution will likely make dinosaurs like me disappear, but for now, it still works fine for us that way. Itunes worked very well for backups. You just put a password with the Itunes backup in Itunes so it includes your passwords in the backup as well. It is a simple process then whenever you plug your phone, it backs it up.

Using the Microsoft store version of Itunes has brought issues, so maybe that is what some are experiencing, because it is pushed and you might not have noticed you changed versions. In our case, it couldn’t synchronize to Outlook anymore. The solution was to click around the suggested update to use the traditional desktop version of Itunes.

The problem with Itunes backup is the rare occasion it doesn’t work when it is time to restore. So I suggest having more than one backup in case one doesn’t work. One could argue this is enough to not rely on Itunes for backups, but in my experience, I had restore issues once in a while with pretty much all backup software I used when you bring some volume because it seems statistics ends up catching up on you, be it for PCs or something else. I think I also saw an iCloud backup issue once helping someone, so maybe Itunes isn’t the only solution that isn’t perfect anyway.

Although I still back up using Itunes, last refresh of devices, I used the OTA method to copy the old phones on the new ones. I must say this: it is true that upgrading a fleet of Iphones for a small or medium business that manually manages everything is a relatively painless experience, nothing like upgrading to new PCs. It feels as if it almost perfectly works like it should have worked all along: you upgrade the hardware, but the software is almost all moved from the older device to the new one, then you just wipe the old one and give it to someone you love so it starts a new life. No need to manually install the new PC, change all the dumb settings that Microsoft puts by default and then copy your stuff. It is almost as transparent as it can get. Hear this Microsoft: I still keep my PCs as long as I can, but we change our phones every 3 years because battery gets less good with usage and the process is so easy I don’t mind us putting a few hours once every 3 years to have everybody have the new hardware, but no new software to learn because we already use it. It makes Apple sell more phones. It just works. Get it?

It is true you need to be careful before wiping that some apps don’t transfer their data. Google Authenticator, you need to use your old phone to export the data it contains to the new one once you copied your old phone on the new one, but it is painless. If you don’t use iCloud like me, you might have to reenter some info in some apps, but for the most part, I found it just works. I suggest not wiping your old phone too fast and checking all apps after the update to the new phone to make sure everything works.

Now a few things to keep in mind. The OTA upgrade needs your new phone to be on a version of IOS that is equal or more recent than the one your are upgrading from. The quality of your wifi connection matters, plus maybe how busy Apple servers are. It doesn’t work great in my experience if you try to copy your old phone to your new one if it isn’t already up to date. It will try to update, but then it might hang or not work when trying to update the new phone to the latest IOS prior once the copying has started. The solution is get your new phone out of the box, set it as a new phone, upgrade it to the latest IOS version, wipe it as a new phone than start the process of copying your old phone to the new one.

Never leaves your wifi while upgrading. I thought the fact that the two phones were close to one another and maybe using bluetooth made it so I could leave and let the update finish in my car. Not. It will just stop and do weird things and you will have to restart from scratch.

The process can be painfully slow. You should do it when you have plenty of time to leave your phone unused for a while and do something else without stressing about what is going on. Sometimes, it is quite fast, sometimes it takes a few hours, but it doesn’t require you and the result is still great: you have the same phone you had with a much more powerful hardware once it is finished if you let it complete.

I’m pretty satisfied with Apple’s way of doing things. It is not perfect, but they keep going in the right direction. I also love that they don’t force the new IOS anymore, but allow you to continue receiving security updates on the older version until things stabilizes. This is perfect for me. I always wait until the latest IOS is the only version offered to update to it. I experienced much less upgrade pain issues since Apple has started doing this. Reliability is up a lot because of that. Iphones issues are not a subject I talk about much anymore. Apple also sends security updates to older devices unable to run the latest version. That’s great.

Now if they could just be a little bit more transparent about the fact that an older device is secured well enough or not and send a notification when they stop patching them enough to keep them at around the same level of security than newer devices, that would be best. Right now, we don’t know if they only patch the most critical security issues or not on devices running much older IOS versions. There is just still a bit too much unknown about how safe are older devices running an older IOS version and whether this version is still patched or not and how much.

 

 

 

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Rick Corbett, Alex5723

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AlexEiffel wrote:

Using the Microsoft store version of Itunes has brought issues, so maybe that is what some are experiencing, because it is pushed and you might not have noticed you changed versions.

I’ve also noticed that issues with iTunes for Windows are mostly down to the Store version being used instead of Apple’s own installer so that’s now the first thing I check for.

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Alex5723, AlexEiffel

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Perhaps of interest, I’ve noticed that the direct download links from Apple for the x64/x32 versions of iTunes for Windows appear to be unchanged… for those who prefer the Apple installer rather than the Windows Store version:

Direct download link for x64

Direct download link for x32

Hope this helps…

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Rick Corbett wrote:

for those who prefer the Apple installer rather than the Windows Store version:

You don’t need either one.
Just launch iTunes and check for updates.
I always download an iTunes file just as a backup in case of re-install.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Just launch iTunes and check for updates.

Good point, well made.

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Alex5723

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