Workaround for Transfer stuck on software update iPad IPhone

Hello

apple advisor Isabella and Adrian asked me to post this on the forum for others to see, in the meantime while a help article is generated for this workaround.

forgive the writting but it was the reply to the Apple advisor and Isabella said to just paste it here as it will help others:

iPhone transfer wouldn’t work regardless of which way we tried

It always got stuck on the software update to IOS18

Every time, and only way out was to reset and erase then hard restart both iphones.

I then had the idea to try and con the iPhone - it was getting stuck on the update so take that out of the equation and there was no reason it wouldn’t work.

I cancelled the transfer and hard restarted both iPhones

Put the new iPhone on power

Turned it on and kept all other Apple devices out of range. And followed the onscreen instructions and basically said do later, skip or don’t do for everything except for linking to the internet and there wasn’t a way to skip sign in, 

Skipped all from passwords and passcodes and every question asked hit do later on everything

It then went into the iPhone.

Went straight to settings and did nothing else and to software update

There was NO iOS 18 showing but ios17.? Forgot the number sorry, so let it update to the iOS it wanted, completed

Hard restart the iPhone again

Back to settings and this time is showed ios18.1, selected update, completed and worked

Hard restart the iPhone again

Back to setting and then erase iPhone - which ever way you would do if selling the phone  I’m not sure of exact terminology but I know you guys will.

Let the iPhone erase and restart

Then left it off overnight but powered

Powered up today on battery and had the old iPhone beside it and fired both up

iPhone transfer windows opened

This time the funny swirling blue cloud you scan with the old phone to kick off the transfer never included update iPhone

So these steps have removed the update from the transfer

Then it went through the options and I answered those as I would to set up my iPhone normally,

Because the update it done it all worked and no issue at all.

The issue with iPhone transfer is the software update.

This help article you guys can word right but add it to the usual one you get for iPhone transfer as it’s happened to alot of people going by your forum ad had I a link for this I would of had it done on day 1 not day 6.

It’s worth noting too for your technical people that make the programming

On a new device you need a brightness option as the ago brightness it uses before activation is hopeless as my screen was so dark I could barely see it, add in a brightness control to the menu that oops up with accessibility and WiFi options and restart, also add in a stay on and don’t go to sleep option s well which will keep the screen on so you can see what’s happening without interfering with the phone.

The biggest thing you need to do with the setting of a new iPhone is after language add in a menu - update iPhone or transfer iPhone, so you have the ability to update the iPhone immediately and have the option of the latest iOS or the one before, eg iOS 17.7 I think was the last ios17 one as well as the latest, as that was the issue here the iPhone wanted another Rio’s 17 update before it could take on the ios18 update, if there is a option to update before starting the transfer it would negate this issue of update freeze and keeps the old iPhone active and not stuck in a transfer cycle.  Yes you would need to connect to the internet but that’s pretty easy then once it’s updated you can then either auto go to transfer to Mach to the menu where you chose to set up the iPhone other transfer or the other  usual options

I hope this all makes sense and that you can help to generate a help page to add to the iPhone transfer as she searching for issue help I found so many issues with the transfer and all related to the update part which caused all the issues.  But no help advice like I just listed it would have saved me days, once I got it done I transferred in less than 15 minutes! Where as I’ve been spending hours every day then giving up as the one on screen was too dark to keep trying and I had 5 days of this until I contacted Apple yesterday and then I was able to tell Adrian all I tried and we tried his list as well none worked.  

This is the only work around that is relatively easy to follow when you know what to do it doesn’t take long at all.