Cannot transfer backup to a new iPhone 12 Pro. Not enough space error

I found a solution to this.

My scenario was moving from a 128GB to 64GB phone.

The old phone was using around 80GB of space so I used the optimise photos to offload the high res photos to iCloud.

The phone and iTunes both then showed the space used by photos reduced and the phone space used to around 50GB total.

So in theory the transfer should work. However both the direct phone to phone transfer and iTunes backup and restore both kept failing with out of space errors.

Also the iTunes backup file was still around 80GB.

I determined that the photos had not been offloaded to iCloud even though the space reports said it had.

Basically the photos only get offloaded if the iPhone starts running out of space. The space usage monitor is not accurate.

To force the phone to offload the photos you need to fill up the phone storage. I did this by downloading lots of moves on prime/Netflix etc. I filled up almost the whole phone.

once done I then deleted prime/Netflix to delete the apps and data.

Then I could transfer the phone to the new phone.

in summary the storage usage monitor is not accurate when optimised photos is enabled. The phone only offloads the high res photos if the photo starts running out of space.

This is really poor by apple. The space storage monitor is not accurate at all.

But I hope this helps other people as I wasted days of time trying various other things, until I realised the cause and solution.

I HAVE THE ANSWER

turn off photos backup on icloud (if they are backed up, they are already in the cloud and will be there for your new phone as well, if they are only on your old iphone, they'll transfer now)

It took me two days, so many attempts. but that did the trick

This worked for me as well. I tried an iPhone 7 to iPhone 7 transfer, both with 128GB, and kept getting the "not enough storage" message, even though the original phone was using only 108 GB. After I disabled iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive it allowed me to start the transfer. Now it says time remaining 9 hours so it's going to take all night to complete the transfer.

Take a backup on iCloud. Use this backup to restore your new iPhone.

iCloud backup doesn’t include information that is synced and stored in iCloud, like Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Mail, Notes, Voice Memos, shared photos, iCloud Photos*, Health data, call history, and files you store in iCloud Drive.

*-If you had turned on iCloud Photos, your content is automatically stored in iCloud. 

Sam issue for me. Have a 256 gb almost full iPhone 8. Got the new 256 gb iPhone 12 pro and just wanted to have an easy set it up with the same contacts, apps messages, WhatsApp’s, settings, etc transferred from one to the other. Obviously I don’t want to transfer the photos and video across (why would I want to fill up my new phone?). It used to work easy before? But now it seems it forces you to choose between the easy option that wants to transfer everything(!), or the round-about method of using iCloud (which I generally avoid using as the 5gb limit is restrictive). An easy selection of what to transfer screen would of been greatly appreciated during the set-up, but now I have to back up to iCloud selectively then start new phone from iCloud as transfer from phone to phone is not possible (transfer errors or not enough space errors etc). Hopefully the iCloud method works!

So I was having the same issue with an XS with 256gb capacity but only 75gb being used. Tried for a couple hours to get the new 12 pro max with 128gb capacity to restore from a back up. Tried iCloud, direct phone to phone and restoring from hard backup on my MacBook Pro. Nothing worked. Then I even deleted more data from the Xs knocking it down to only 55gb, rebacking it up on iCloud and trying that. Still nothing. I had backed the Xs up the night before(when 75gb was still being utilized), so as a last ditch effort I tried to restore the new 128gb 12 pro max from that back up and for some reason it worked. No clue, reason or indication why but it worked.

I have the same problem as the original poster. I tried direct transfer, transfer from backup on computer, transfer from iCloud, and factory resetting my old phone and then using that backup. Nothing has worked. I have 65gb on my old phone and my new 12 pro max is 128

Same issue. Brand new 12 max pro. Transferring 82gb of data, but the new 12 max pro keeps insisting there is not enough data on the new phone. Apple. Come on. This thing is A FORTUNE to have such an immediate and basic bug. So disappointed.

My wife also had this problem. She's switching from XS to 13 Pro. Transferring from iCloud worked for her.

I just got a new iPhone 12 pro too, 128GB. I tried to set it up from my old iPhone XS max 256 ( only 80 GB of 256 GB used) and I am getting the same error. I would hope given the many complaints around the same issue, Apple would try to address this with urgency otherwise, that's as good as having features that are not user friendly or rather non-executable. What's the point?

I still don't know of the best way forward.

I have the same problem. I bought an iphone 12 pro and tried in vain to easy transfer data from XS Max. 12 pro has 128gb, i'm transferring 50gb from XS Max - keep getting 'not enough space'. Have contacted support twice - they have no idea and offer nothing more than try again. What a waste of time and money

I am moving form an iphoneX 256GB to an Iphone 12 pro 128 GB (probably this is done on purpose to force users to go only in higher memory products than the other way around?) I keep getting the "not enough space" message. I was using 170 GB in the iphone X so started to delete photos, videos, content, apps, offload apps, permanently deleting deleted photos etc. I am now at 115 GB and i keep getting the same message. Weirdly, when I am connecting my phone with USB i see that I only have 77GB free out of my 256, when as per my phone I should have about 140 GB. I have tried backing up after the storage reduction measures, but get the same message. As I understand from the message from @Hickmo, my phone cant even save a compressed version of the photos, because it decides for me that i dont need that - someone has not thought of the migration case, I take, or the user´s free will option, I take... Now will try to load on my OneDrive app that i have on my phone crazy amount of content hoping to replicate the idea with Netflix with something which will hopefully be less time-wasting. What I wonder after the long series of messages spreading over several months about the product which is supposed to be the latest pride of Apple, is ...where is Apple? I would not expect this to be just a venting space for desperate users or a stack overflow version of Apple, but a support towards the community, not just within the community. Please advise how to proceed. The iphone 12 pro has prompted me as a first thing to update to the latest operative system (which i hope is kept after every time the sync fails i am prompted to erase the iphone). I am beyond annoyed and wonder if i can simply send the phone back.

I purchased the very first iphone and every model thereafter. It has progressively gotten worse and worse. Siri used to be AMAZING and is now useless. I've spent the last 8 hours trying everything to get my backup transferred. I even purchased extra icloud storage and tried that route. This is clearly an issue, yet apple refuses to fix. I'm taking mine back and making the switch to something non-apple.

I have the same problem with the iPhone 12max. My XR transferred my pic and would sync I am having real orobkems getting this new phone to auto sync with new pics. I use my phone and surf pro in my work Since this new phone is soo expensive I need a fix. The max does not come with a lightening cable which is really insulting since the phone is soo costly.

Is not having the newest cable part of the problem?