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Can I transfer data to new phone before moving SIM card over?

My wife has an iPhone 6. We just ordered her an iPhone 11. We all use iCloud for backups. I want to set up her new phone and once it is working, unlock the iPhone 6 so we can use it in the future for international travel. I'm trying to figure out the right steps.


Do I turn on the new phone and restore from iCloud backup first? Can I do that without first moving the old SIM over? Should I have the unlock code ready to go? I'm just confused about when to move the SIM over to the new phone.


I know that unlocking a phone requires you to erase the phone. Can I erase and just leave it at the Hello screen? Then just turn it off and store it? I'm trying to find these specific answers but no luck finding them.


Thanks in advance.

iPhone 6, iOS 12

Posted on Dec 15, 2020 1:52 PM

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Posted on Dec 15, 2020 1:56 PM

You move the SIM to the new phone first, so it can be activated.


Then follow these instructions ➡️ Transfer data from your previous iOS device to your new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


To unlock the phone for use with other carriers, see ➡️ How to unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier - Apple Support

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 15, 2020 1:56 PM in response to Alfredo Jahn2

You move the SIM to the new phone first, so it can be activated.


Then follow these instructions ➡️ Transfer data from your previous iOS device to your new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


To unlock the phone for use with other carriers, see ➡️ How to unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier - Apple Support

Dec 15, 2020 4:16 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

You shouldn’t need the SIM to unlock the phone. A carrier unlock is done on Apple’s servers. Your carrier sends an unlock request to Apple, and Apple updates your phone’s carrier lock status.

Very interesting.


Also, when I erase the phone (as part of the unlocking process), can I just power it down once I see the Hello screen? Any suggestions?


Dec 18, 2020 7:23 PM in response to Alfredo Jahn2

Just a quick update. In the last 2 days, I upgraded my wife's iPhone 6 to a new iPhone 11 and I upgraded my iPhone 8 to a new iPhone 12 mini. Since my wife had a 6, I could not do phone to phone transfer. I DID NOT move the SIM to the new phones in both cases. Wifes, I restored from iCloud backup. After complete, I transferred the SIM from the 6 to the 11. For my transfer, I used phone to phone. AT&T told me to keep the SIM that came in the new phone and activate the new SIM. I asked if I could just use the old SIM, they told me NO. I didn't really believe her, but activating the new SIM was easy, so I went along with them.

Can I transfer data to new phone before moving SIM card over?

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