iPhone 17 Pro Max won't restore from iPhone 16 Pro Max via my MacBook Pro

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iPhone 17 Pro Max won't restore from iPhone 16 Pro Max via my MacBook Pro

I just got my iPhone 17 Pro Max. I connected my iPhone 16 Pro Max to my MacBook Pro and did a backup of it. My plan was do to a restore from a computer based backup b/c I thought it would be faster than doing the restore from iCloud. The backup worked perfectly, as expected. The restore, not so much. I plugged in the new iPhone to the Mac and it would not recognize the 16's backup data. I restored the iPhone 17 (even though it was just out of the box) thinking I missed a step or had maybe gone too far, but it still didn't work. I did get it to restore from iCloud but because of the number of photos I have, it'll probably take 2 days to complete.

Has anyone else had this problem? I searched and tried every tip I could find but nothing worked.

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 25, 2025 1:57 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 25, 2025 2:06 PM in response to DExplore97

I'm not sure it will help you to know if anyone else had this issue. It appears you have now successfully moved your data over to your new phone and if the worst thing is it might take a while for your photos to index, that's not so awful. I would plug it in to charge tonight, connected to Wifi and leave it plugged in all night long and you be surprised to wake to a phone with all of your photos. Actually, the best charging method is to plug it in at night and leave it plugged in ALL night, EVERY night and you'll wake to a fully charged phone ready for the day.

When I got our two iPhone 17 Pros (17 Pro and 17 Pro Max), I connected to my MacBook Pro and updated them, then when updated, used the QuickStart transfer process, which moves things over easily and seamlessly.

Again, you've migrated, so that's good and you just need to let your photos download.

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iPhone 17 Pro Max won't restore from iPhone 16 Pro Max via my MacBook Pro

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