iPhone 12 Pro Stuck(?) Restoring from iCloud Backup

Hey, I have had the same issue and had the exact experience as you to a T. I have deleted and restored to factory settings 4 times and have tried restoring from my iCloud backups at least 4 times (each time selecting from a less recent backup thinking that that was the issue) it was not. it still says "apps and data will continue downloading in the background" yet they never load.I took my 12 device back to the carrier I bought it from and they informed me that they just had the same experience with someone else and I would have to take my device in to apple and get a new phone. its frustrating because I can see all of my photos and data when I log onto iCloud.com its just not wanting to transfer over to the new 12 devices or the latest 14.2 update for whatever reason. so I'm stuck with a new phone with no photos, no apps, no access to anything. debating risking my patience trying to get an appointment scheduled with apple directly seeing that its holiday season and a during a pandemic at that :(

I have similar situation on iphone 12 max where can not restore from previous backup. I tried few times and left as it is. After few days, all photos and numbers restored on phone. Took around 4 days for restore.

Were you also having the issue where the photo library was just stuck at “updating” and none of your photos were showing up? My phone has been stuck there since 2 days and I’ve been waiting patiently for something to happen. Also none of the apps have finished downloading since I started the restore process. Anyone else having the same issues?

I went through the same process, but fortunately over night. I resolved it by logging out of my VPN app. At that point, the phone was clearly connecting to my WiFi and finished the restore within minutes. Then asked if I wanted to install the previously downloaded update.

Yes had the same issue with the photo album. And the apps as well, i would click on a few of them to “pause” the download to try to give priority to one at a time to finish uploading, that worked a little but it never fully got any of my apps to download 100%. Sounds like you either leave your phone alone for 4 days or do as i did; download from a different iCloud source if possible...

Following up: i was able to restore a backup from my iPad that contained my photos and contacts. Not sure why the iPad backup from iCloud worked and the iPhone X backup/restore gave such a hassle??