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If i restore a new phone from an icloud back up, will that erase or alter my original phone in any way?

Hello everyone,

Okay before i start i admit i am both stupid and crazy.

Basically i accidentally deleted whatsapp today and i stupidly have never had chat back up on using the in-app feature. However, my phone back ups under icloud do include whatsapp. In summer 2020 i bought a new phone and restored it from a back up and magically all my stuff was on it including all my whatsapp messages. Now it is february 2022 and i accidentally deleted whatsapp.

When i got my new phone i changed the number so i have no idea what number whatsapp was operating on because from what i remember the chats were just there without me doing anything. I re-downloaded the app today and it was like 'no back ups to chose from' so i can see my groups but no chats ever.

Having looked at my backups i have one from the 2nd of february 2022 my phone did automatically. I am too scared to restore my main phone to factory settings and restore from icloud back up and risk losing everything else and being even more sad. I have considered buying a refurbished iphone 7 for £90 from giff gaff and restoring that from the icloud back up and having that as a little external hard drive for all my whatsapp chats (if it worked). I am scared though that restoring this device from my icloud could affect my current device IPhoneSE 2020 which will remain my proper phone.

I really want to retrieve my chats for a multitude of reasons, for example, images and videos i never saved, funny memories and every whatsapp message since i was in sixth form.. but most of all my dad was really sick last year and messages of him saying he loved me are really important. I have been given a second chance in that currently he is recovering but that does not negate their value to me. I know spending £90 on a second phone is crazy, not even sure if it will work. Sorry for the long post that does not make much sense but i am wondering if anyone can assit?

Kind regards,

Charli

iPhone SE

Posted on Feb 21, 2022 11:28 AM

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Phil0124

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Posted on Feb 21, 2022 11:42 AM

Restoring a backup to a different device will not affect the device the backup was taken from in any way.

If you do restore your current iPhone it will in fact delete everything from it, and replace it with the data from the backup. No way around that.

You can totally restore a secondary phone from the backup instead yes and will not affect your current iPhone SE.

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Best reply

Phil0124

Community+ 2024

Level 10

198,783 points

Feb 21, 2022 11:42 AM in response to PleaseHelpme17

Restoring a backup to a different device will not affect the device the backup was taken from in any way.

If you do restore your current iPhone it will in fact delete everything from it, and replace it with the data from the backup. No way around that.

You can totally restore a secondary phone from the backup instead yes and will not affect your current iPhone SE.

Feb 21, 2022 1:42 PM in response to PleaseHelpme17

It should work, as long as the iPhone 7 is running an iOS version that is the same or later than the one used to make the backup.

If not using the iCloud backup option from within the App directly, the general iCloud backup process should theoretically backup the locally stored chats. Have no experience with that however.

Feb 21, 2022 12:19 PM in response to Phil0124

Thank you for your response Phil. I could not find an answer or related article anywhere! Do you have any knowledge on whether restoring an icloud back up of an iphone SE 2020 to an iphone 7 would be successful?.. or whether the chats will be saved since i never used the in app feature just iphone back up- all i can think is it did work before but that was an itunes back up (back before monterey changed this) and it wasn't icloud. It could be worth trying the £90 option if what you are saying is true.

Thanks again,

Charli

Feb 23, 2022 1:38 PM in response to Phil0124

thank you kind human.

If i restore a new phone from an icloud back up, will that erase or alter my original phone in any way?