New iPhone 13 stuck on software update

No. Your iPhone is downloading your data from iCloud AND downloading / installing an iOS update. Your iPhone will need to download and update the iOS version first before the transfer data portion happens.

Make sure that your iPhone is setup to meet the following requirements before you attempt to update the iOS version-

• Your iPhone must have a fast Wi-Fi connection; you cannot update over cellular data or a cellular hotspot
• The iPhone can not be in Low Power mode
• The battery state of charge must be above 50%
• Your iPhone must have at least 6GB or more free storage space
• Your iPhone cannot be connected through VPN
• You should leave the phone plugged in until it finishes updating, both to assure that it remains above 50% and to keep Wi-Fi enabled (Wi-Fi turns off when the phone sleeps if not connected to power).

Axel F.

I had the same issue. After trying multiple times without any luck (even kept it over night) i finally started over (long press the lock button).

Once starting over, go straight to setting up your phone manually and make you do no transfer anything from the older phone.

As soon your Iphone starts, log in to your apple ID, go to settings, software update, then download and install the software on your Iphone (takes around 30 minutes).

After the Iphone is up to date, go to settings and erase your Iphone (back to factory settings).

Go ahead and set up your Iphone from scratch, this time when you scan the QR to transfer all data from your Iphone to the new one, it will directly start transferring the data as your Iphone is already up to date (will take around an hour)

All the process took around 1.5 hours and worked like a charm :)

I have found a workaround what may help:

1. First login to the new phone and DO NOT copy any data to it.
2. Start the software update (it took me about 40 minutes, but it depends on the server, download speed, etc.)
3. After the update to 15.1.1. is completed on the new phone, reset the new phone and then start the data transfer from the old to the new phone.

This way the entire process took me about 90-100 minutes (to do the update and the data transfer), but at least it worked :)

I resolved this issue by resetting the phone to factory options which reversed anything I had done. Then the first thing you need to do with your new iPhone is to update the OS. Think of it as your new phone was assembled a couple weeks or months before you received it, but in the meantime there have been updates to the operating system and you need all that new information to do the switch from your old phone. Another way is to relate it to buying a printer that only has a tiny supply of ink - you have to purchase the full size cartridges before you do any large print jobs.

Once the OS had completed the update the swap was amazingly executed. You will love your new phone/camera ;)

Apple's iPhone activation process often gets hung up - perhaps when we inadvertently miss a step or think we have done something wrong. I had the same experience of it seeming to be on a loop cycle. I refer you to my comments above posted on Jan 28, 2022.

You need to stop the process. Power down the iphone and then restart. Then go to the reset setting and clear the phone to factory settings. This takes a few minutes. Once factory settings are restore, the unit's operating system needs to be updated to the current (latest) version. After that you can have it take command and restore all your settings from your old iPhone.

Good luck - be patient. You will also be contacted by Apple support inviting you to a one on one session to introduce you to two features of this new phone that may be of most interest to you. I recommend you wait a couple weeks and learn what you can on your own so that when you have this free session you will be more informed and the information may mean more to you.

You’ll need to quit the iOS update, then start over the setup.

When you restart, don’t transfer your data from your old iPhone or from the cloud.

You’ll then be able to use the phone but it won’t have your apps or anything on it. Which is fine, for this step the only thing you need to do is update the iOS. You’ll need to go to settings and update the iOS from there.

Once the update is installed, you need to then need to go to settings and go to to General>Transfer or Reset iPhone>Reset. (It was either that or “erase all”. I can’t remember which)

From there the phone gets wiped (except the iOS). It’ll prompt you to set up the iPhone again. You’ll can then either choose to transfer your data from the iCloud or your old iPhone and you should be set to go without having to update the iOS because you already did that successfully before you wiped it.

If at any point you find yourself updating the iOS in the initial phone setup, you’ll have to quit the iOS update and start again. You can do this by holding down the power button.

This is a dumb terrible workaround and Apple should absolutely have fixed this by now. It’s completely unacceptable.

thanks. It took longer than should be necessary, but all is working now with going through the manual set up on new phone, updating the iOS, resetting the phone to factory, then performing the sync with the old phone. Someone at Apple really needs to review the way the process is created. Old phone was on the latest software, new phone was not and evidently the new phone attempting to sync and update does not work. Should force an update first, reset itself and then begin sync

appreciate you helping out @woodturner47

Reset the new phone to factory settings (Settings/General/Transfer or Reset Phone/Reset/Erase all content and settings), then follow these instructions→Transfer data from your previous iOS or iPadOS device to your new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support or watch this companion video:

In case anyone else bumps into this: as Axel Foley pointed out it appears to be doing a lot more than a standard update. At the risk of being a bit harsh, I'll say that the UI is just poorly designed. It will say that it is preparing to update which would obviously lead you to believe it's *just* updating, but it's not. You may have to leave it for quite some time but mine eventually did reboot and keep running.

I had the same issue -- stuck on iOS update. I simply plugged the phone into a charger and the update resumed and completed.

Restarting the new iPhone is actually the correct procedure.

I had to restart twice to complete my new iPhone 13 Pro Max a few weeks ago.

hey i may be a little late for your issue, but if anyone is still having this issue i just had to plug the phone up, and then it went to the download screen after staying on the "preparing to update" screen for too long. I'm currently watching it update so hopefully that goes well and doesn't take too long.

I agreed with you and share your frustration having had the same experience and subsequently, since I was able to resolve the issue I have been tagged by Apple support to trouble shoot this issue over and over for other customers

as to a solution I had to do the software update on the new phone before porting over the data from its predecessor

good luck

Go into setting and reset your phone to defaults. Then go back transferring from your old phone. That worked for me, aafter I had updated the OS.

I had the similar issue, my iphone13 brand new phone setup took 12 hours, still not completed. I have to restore every thing. This is seems very bad user experience, since activating a new phone taking more than 12 hours, I tried twice so far. I know all the required setting like WiFi every looks good. First I tried with Data transfer assuming that it works smoothly like Samsung device, unfortunately Iphone13 not worked at all. I had to restore and started fresh. Lets hope without data transfer it will work this time.

Interesting thing is, Iphone is keep on trying to install the new IOS version, not sure why this will take more than an hour (Samsung hardly takes 10 minutes). I have a very good wifi connection, I have been using other devices just fine with my wifi. My another request is, if the updating or any issue, Iphone can show an error message instead of showing as "Installing now" for hours hours. Overall I felt the activating Iphone13 user experience is really poor. I hope this time my activation goes smoothly. Battery is 100% as well, infact I connected charger also, still no luck.