Possible to transfer data to an iPad Pro using older OS?

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Level 1

4 points

Possible to transfer data to an iPad Pro using older OS?

My dad (with the help of a grandchild) dropped and broke the screen of his iPad Pro 2nd generation. He wasn't really interested in paying for an upgrade, just wanted "the same but bigger" (he had an 11 inch), so I picked him up what I thought was exactly that -- a refurbished iPad Pro 2nd generation, 13 inch.

Only... turns out it's not the same thing at all. Apple seems to have been doing some seriously bizarre hokey-pokey with the 2nd gen -- the bigger machine has a Home button (not an issue) and for reasons I do not pretend to understand, can't be upgraded to iOS 18, which the broken iPad is running.

The iCloud backup that I made with great pain and suffering (the broken screen is very broken and completely black, I'm having to hook it up to a monitor and play braille with the touchscreen) at least had the courtesy to inform me that I couldn't use it due to the iOS incompatability. Quick Start transfer just fails silently at the "looking for nearby devices" step. The broken Pro has a USB-C port and the refurb has a Lightning port so I'm assuming I wouldn't be able to hook them up either.

The photos, etc, are all safely backed up, but my dad had some specialized apps (mostly to do with boating) that he was really hoping to keep the data from.

Is there any workaround to all this mess, or am I just hosed?

Posted on Jul 15, 2025 5:07 PM

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Answer 1

markwmsn

Level 6

17,125 points

Jul 15, 2025 11:12 PM in response to dzlotnik

Sorry to say, you fell afoul of some confusing terminology. The iPad Pro had two generations before the iPad Pro 11-inch was introduced (starting with its own first generation), so the "iPad Pro 2nd generation, 13 inch" you bought is older than any 11 inch iPad Pro. It has reached the end of its upgradability after seven years at iPadOS 17.7.8.

The one your dad had was two model years newer and still being updated. "The same but bigger" would be an iPad Pro 13 inch (4th generation) released March 2020.

Hooking up these two iPads with a Lightning-to-USB-C cable should work on a hardware basis, but I don't know that Quick Start transfer will work any better "backwards" (to a lower software level) over a wire than wireless. Seems questionable.

If there is any chance you can swap that refurbished iPad Pro 2nd generation, 13 inch for a 4th generation (or later) without losing too much of your investment, you should probably try to do that.

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Answer 2

LotusPilot

Level 10

320,718 points

Jul 16, 2025 3:53 AM in response to dzlotnik

You can only transfer or restore data to a target device that has the same or later version of iPadOS as the source. Unless the replacement iPad can be updated to at least the same version that created your pre-existing device backup, you'll not be able to restore the backup. Simply connecting the "broken" to replacement device (with earlier-version of iPadOS) will not facilitate data transfer.

Given your predicament and description, your only hope of recovering data from the broken iPad is to connect and external monitor and keyboard to the iPad - and transfer locally stored files and data to either Cloud or other external storage.

You should note that any data/files already synchronised with iCloud will [already] be available to other devices, including the earlier generation iPad.

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Possible to transfer data to an iPad Pro using older OS?

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