IPhone xs max ios 12.3.1 wont restore off an iphone 8 plus ios 12.3.2 file

I'm sorry that I don't have the link but the iOS 13 (beta) was what worked for me. Going back to Verizon store today (I believe I had to purchase it there because of our business account) to ask them to PLEASE tell others who buy these high-end phones that they cannot transfer data without jumping through these hoops. I doubt they will listen, but at least they will be able to tell customers there's a fix.

I just had this issue today. My last update to my iCloud was 3am this morning so I turned in my old phone for an upgrade and got this issue. The last update in my iTunes was over a week ago, so I just lose a week's worth of text messages because of this.

skinniebull wrote:

What helped you so much? I can’t find the solution on this thread could someone copy and paste.

Apple in their wisdom has decided that the solution is not something they want people to do. So they are removing posts that describe how to edit the info.plist file in the folder containing the backup to change the product version to 12.3.1.

The problem with that approach is you will then be stuck with a very buggy iOS 13 beta version of iOS that won’t be cleaned up for months. If you want to go with a beta choose the much more stable 12.4.

Thank you! I have been with Apple from day 1, back to the old SE. I've never had a problem updating a phone. Until I tried to upgrade from an 8 Plus to an XS Max. I tried everything. Repeatedly. I thought it might have been a compatibility issue with the OS. Pretty dumb release. Looks like it's a brick. Back to the 8 Plus.

Yestersday, I have got exactly the same issue.

This is shame from a such big company like Apple.

They should tell customer that there is an issue with iPhone 8s plus owner.

This smartphone is the expensive one in the world and the quality of support seems to be very poor.

I will bring the smartphone and get my money back.

The only solution at this stage is return the phone. I refuse to spend $1000 on a phone and have to jump through hoops to try and get all my data across and then to be told “but you might lose some of your data”. So I took my phone back for a full refund.

This was the post Apple decided to remove twice now because it would contain ‘some questionable advice’? But the only thing it contains, is a solution that Apple does not provide for a huge problem for many of their customers buying a very expensive new product (the Xs Max) that can’t be used without loss of very valuable personal data from their previous iPhone!! This is really unbelievable but also really true!!

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What you need to do, is make a backup from your iPhone 8 plus on iTunes, so not the probably most used way in iCloud. Just to be sure make another backup also in iTunes say 5 minutes after the first one and work with the last one. The first backup may then be used in case something goes totally wrong which I don't expect, but you never know of course.

Now use the File Explorer and go to: 

C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\<60ea0d293332c1db596d8955c9d6a262954ea86e>

At least at my computer the last folder name was <60ea0d293332c1db596d8955c9d6a262954ea86e>, but it may or probably is a different folder name with you. 

(Please note that I have a Windows PC, it may be in a different location on e.g. an Apple computer? I don't know, because I don't have one, so can't check. On an Apple you then need to find the location on your own I guess?)

In that folder look for a file named Info.plist. 

Open that file with the Notepad app, which is a file editor that will not change the format of the file. 

Look into the file and then search for Product Version (Tip: use Ctrl F), and you'll find a section that looks like this:

Product Type
iPhoner10,5
Product Version
12.3.2
Serial Number
XXX

Then change 12.3.2 to 12.3.1 (make sure that you only change the 2 in a 1) and then save the file.

Now you can set up your new iPhone Xs Max the usual way without losing any data that was on your old iPhone 8 plus by setting it up not as a new phone but at a certain point in the process restoring it from a backup in iTunes. This done by selecting Restore from iTunes, then connecting the new iPhone Xs to your computer and let it connect to iTunes, next select the most recent (just slightly modified) backup files and then it will work. Your Xs will start restoring from the iPhone 8 plus backup!!!

The only thing I still had to do was to login again in various e-mail accounts and Whatsapp with my respective passwords to make contact again and have e-mails, Whatsapp messages etcetera copied to or make accesible again at the new Iphone Xs.

If you have Windows it is what you see when you double-click the Computer icon on the desktop or choose Computer from the Start menu.

On a Mac it is called Finder, and the path to the backup is different.

In either case you can also get to the location by opening iTunes Preferences, Devices panel, right click on the most recent backup and choose Show.

This was the post Apple decided to remove because it would contain ‘some questionable advice’? But the only thing it contains, is a solution that Apple does not provide for a huge problem for many of their customers buying a very expensive new product (the Xs Max) that can’t be used without loss of very valuable personal data from their previous iPhone!! This is really unbelievable but also really true!!

——————————————————-

What you need to do, is make a backup from your iPhone 8 plus on iTunes, so not the probably most used way in iCloud. Just to be sure make another backup also in iTunes say 5 minutes after the first one and work with the last one. The first backup may then be used in case something goes totally wrong which I don't expect, but you never know of course.

Now use the File Explorer and go to: 

C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\<60ea0d293332c1db596d8955c9d6a262954ea86e>

At least at my computer the last folder name was <60ea0d293332c1db596d8955c9d6a262954ea86e>, but it may or probably is a different folder name with you. 

(Please note that I have a Windows PC, it may be in a different location on e.g. an Apple computer? I don't know, because I don't have one, so can't check. On an Apple you then need to find the location on your own I guess?)

In that folder look for a file named Info.plist. 

Open that file with the Notepad app, which is a file editor that will not change the format of the file. 

Look into the file and then search for Product Version (Tip: use Ctrl F), and you'll find a section that looks like this:

Product Type
iPhoner10,5
Product Version
12.3.2
Serial Number
XXX

Then change 12.3.2 to 12.3.1 (make sure that you only change the 2 in a 1) and then save the file.

Now you can set up your new iPhone Xs Max the usual way without losing any data that was on your old iPhone 8 plus by setting it up not as a new phone but at a certain point in the process restoring it from a backup in iTunes. This done by selecting Restore from iTunes, then connecting the new iPhone Xs to your computer and let it connect to iTunes, next select the most recent (just slightly modified) backup files and then it will work. Your Xs will start restoring from the iPhone 8 plus backup!!!

The only thing I still had to do was to login again in various e-mail accounts and Whatsapp with my respective passwords to make contact again and have e-mails, Whatsapp messages etcetera copied to or make accesible again at the new Iphone Xs.

For me it did work perfectly. I hope other people may benefit from it too.

Take an iTunes backup on computer, find the backup folder, and open info.plist file in a text editor. Locate the Product Version key which should have a value of “12.3.2” and simply modify it to “12.3.1” and save the file (with its original name.) This hack tricks iTunes in thinking the 12.3.2 backup is the older 12.31.1 version. It is really simple and it worked to me. Nevertheless, it is an incredible mistake from Apple.

SpiffyCaper wrote:

Ok. So as far as I can tell the 12.4 was just released. I see it is available for update on both my 8plus and Xs. Does that not solve the problem?

Yes, that will solve the problem. It apparently also has a direct transfer feature that doesn't require restoring a backup.

Your post is rather garbled, and it isn't clear what you are trying to do. Are you trying to update your iPhone 8 to iOS 12.4? Are you doing it over the air, or through iTunes? Or is your post about something completely different?

Did anyone who used this hack run into trouble with updating to 12.4? The hack itself did work (comically) well for me. So naturally I have been just waiting for something to go wrong.

I'm updating to 12.4 this evening and hoping that updating from 12.3.2 - with the 2 changed to a 1 to magically create 12.3.1 - doesn't cause some new glitch...

See this post in this very thread-->https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250430811?answerId=250831253022#250831253022