New iPhone SE Woes (restoring from Mac)
My 1st gen iPhone SE died two weeks ago. Just received a new 2020 version iPhone SE direct from Apple yesterday. I was able to install my original SIM and get the new phone up on the original phone number with cellular data access as before.
Important facts: I am in the Ozark Mountains with no access to Wi-Fi or broadband. I could not use iCloud for backups because my cellular performance is both poor (mostly 2G/3G) and often interrupted. I made regular backups of my iPhone SE on my trusty old MacBook Pro 17" running MacOS 10.12.6 (Sierra) with all updates applied including latest iTunes available to that OS release. I have been able to successfully restore backups to my old SE from my Mac. And I have always used my iPhone hotspot to provide internet access for the MacBook Pro.
I must put the new SE in recovery mode for iTunes to see it (USB-A connected.) That was a disappointment but, ok we will go along with it. But iTunes insists on forcing a contact with the Apple server in order to check for and apply a (forced) update to iOS 15.3.1 (new phone has 15.3 .) Obviously no hotspot is available from the iPhone whilst in Recovery Mode (see again my disappointment in that?) BUT I grabbed a friend's Android and got the Mac up on that phone's hotspot. ITunes now can contact the Apple Server and offers an update to iOS 15.3.1, almost 6 gb and 6 hours of download time!) Is there a way I can avoid the apparently forced update and access my iPhone backup on the Mac and get it restored to my new iPhone? Otherwise it's almost as much of a brick to me as the old iPhone SE and thus perhaps I should return the new iPhone and get the old one repaired.
--Rick Thomas
(Downsville in Huntsville 😓 )
iPhone SE, iOS 15