Broke old phone. Can't restore new one because I can't turn off find my iPhone on the broken one. Help?

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Broke old phone. Can't restore new one because I can't turn off find my iPhone on the broken one. Help?

My old iPhone got run over by a vehicle. Miraculously, everything still works except cellular data, wifi, and bluetooth. I was able to back it up to my iTunes via USB. I bought a new iPhone and am attempting to restore it from iTunes. However, when I try to do so it prompts me to turn off Find my iPhone first. I have tried multiple times, but my old iPhone cannot connect to the server to do so. Is there any way around this? I have tried wifi tethering the old phone but even when its plugged in to a wifi enabled device it won't let me open the wifi menu to tether. Do I have any other options? It's infuriating because all the data is right there, I just can't get it to communicate with anything else.

iPad, iPadOS 18

Posted on Jul 11, 2025 7:35 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 11, 2025 8:29 PM in response to saoirse51

You're going to need to take the old phone out of the equation. It's damaged and it's never coming back online.

Did you ever backup the old phone with iCloud?

Did you at least sync data on iCloud on the old phone, such as photos, messages, passwords, etc.?

If you backed up to iCloud, you can restore the phone from your most recent iCloud backup. If you didn't backup with iCloud, you will need to set up the new phone manually, not from backup. Sign into the phone using your Apple Account and Password and turn the switches on for everything you can with iCloud in Settings > Your name at the top > iCloud > turn the switches on for everything.

You can download your apps from the App Store using the same Apple Account and Password.

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Answer 2

saoirse51 Author

Level 1

23 points

Jul 11, 2025 7:48 PM in response to saoirse51

I did some digging and was able to get into Find My iPhone via my computer. I both erased and removed the iPhone. It says both of these are pending until it comes back online. It cannot come back online. I have tried doing the backup again to no avail. Is there anything else I can do?

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Answer 3

Jul 11, 2025 9:43 PM in response to saoirse51

My guess is you tried to backup a heavily damaged phone to iTunes, which didn't work. The time to ensure you don't lose data is BEFORE catastrophe strikes. This is why I backup to iCloud every night, while my phone is charging, connected to Wifi. I can never lose data.

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Answer 4

saoirse51 Author

Level 1

23 points

Jul 11, 2025 8:59 PM in response to lobsterghost1

I don't understand what the point of backing up to iTunes is then if it won't let me use it.

It is not backed up to iCloud. I do think I synced data.

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Broke old phone. Can't restore new one because I can't turn off find my iPhone on the broken one. Help?

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