How to fix iPhone 16 Pro Max Stuck on Setup?

I had to turn mine off and restart the process as well. Then it worked.

Like someone else said, after I restarted the new 16 Pro, my old 14 Pro didn't prompt the setup again until I restarted that as well.

Then for the thing where you use the camera to authenticate, it wouldn't recognize the animation on the new phone, so I had to do the manual authentication with the code.

I had some variation of this.

Unboxing, nice experience. Protective screen application, perfect for once! Setup process, still ongoing for 7+ hours…

Initially things went smoothly, my old 12 Pro Max found the new 16 Pro Max, offered to set it up, the speculous blue orb scan worked, and my AT&T # was activated on the 16 quickly. Like others, though, it hung there, with neither device giving feedback other than the spinning fan circle. I foolishly thought it had started data transfer and let them spin, both devices plugged into power, and went to bed.

I woke up after a few hours and checked on progress, there was none. I found these posts and began trying resolutions. After power cycling both phones, I was back to setup, but the magic blue orb no longer worked. The manual code entry did, and it looked like I was making progress. The new 16 then offered to update it’s software to 18.1 Beta (yes, I’m on the beta program, I realize the risk and that part of this is my fault) and I foolishly accepted. I went back to sleep again.

I awoke a few hours later to find the new phone back at hello and the old spinning at nothing. Another round of power of the old phone to resume, this time manual setup didn’t acknowledge on new phone. A hah!, I said, someone here had success with the phones directly connected (c -> lightning) so I cycled both, still no acknowledgement. I removed direct connection, power cycled both again, and after manual code entry finally got the data transfer initiated!

I eagerly waited for the time remaining progress indicator to show… Time remaining: 7 hours! I plugged both into power again. Within 20 mins this 7 hours was down to current estimate of 2, and I’m hoping it will continue to decrease faster than real time so I can use one of my phones soon.

I debated just starting fresh, but had spent a few hours preparing by deleting old, unused apps and reorganizing them all to my liking. I’m glad I chose to start this at the end of the day when the phones weren’t urgently needed. I’m sure I’ll enjoy the new 16 Pro Max, but this has certainly taken the shine off of my new phone experience.

Thanks to all who posted solutions here. For others experiencing the same, try, try again, and persevere!

I had the same issue and went to the Apple Store, they put my phone in recovery mode and connected it to their Mac, then they reset my phone completely and I set it up from the beginning. Working great now! When they reset it, it updated so it didn’t get stuck again. Hope this helps!

Finally resolved after spending nearly 5 hours on this employing all the suggestions/tips in this thread.

Not sure what finally did it but id did involved restoring & updating while connected to my Mac Studio.

*Be prepared* to spend a lot of time on this.... best of luck.

Same issue, turned off 16 Pro and restarted. The connection didn't happen immediately, had to cycle bluetooth on 15 Pro and lock/unlock the old phone before setup restarted.

Same for me. The transfer process froze immediately after the phone number transfer. Restarted the 16 Pro and am doing a transfer from iCloud backup instead of the Quick Start. I had many problems with Quick Start a couple of years ago with another model. Think I'll skip it in the future.

Are none of you guys actually taking a few minutes of your time to read through the comments on this? All asking the same question but the solution is in here multiple times. Get the phone into recovery mode plug into your Mac or pc and erase/re install iOS.

apple stores are going to be flooded because of this lol they better release another update or something haha

I went into my carrier and they exchanged my phone for a new phone that was able to be setup successfully in the store. Very difficult process. They said a guy was in the night before with the same issue.

Hey,

The solution was to essentially hard reset the phone from my Macbook. However, when I tried it at home, it made the problem worse somehow by locking my phone into "troubleshoot" mode.

I ultimately ended up making a genius bar appointment and they did the same thing with their equipment but it worked.

Hope that helps

No potential solution for this! You can keep restarting in recovery mode (volume up then down and then power key hold), if you are lucky, it may enter into recovery mode if connected to iTunes on computer, else send the same back where you bought it!!

You can transfer the esim back to your old phone, I had to do that yesterday while at the Apple store.

Thanks mate worked for me the only step missing was holding the power button for 25 seconds

nah- apple store, ez fix.

Try an update and restore to factory settings or us a backup Apple Account that you have possibly.