will itunes erase my iphone if I set it up as new?

You have responded to a question that was asked 2 1/2 years ago.

I imagine that the OP has found an answer by now.

I ran into this exact same situation today. I was assisting my son in trying to backup his 5s to iTunes on his Macbook Pro running Yosemite. The phone has been used and has data and apps and photos and etc. on it that he wants to keep and wants to backup. The two options that iTunes presents:

1. Setup as new (this is a scary choice as it implies that the iPhone will be reverted to factory settings and all data will be lost)

2. Restore from backup (the Macbook Pro does have the backups from an older iPhone on it in iTunes and we do not wish to restore those to the new iPhone)

He wants to backup the 5s for the first time to iTunes. The two choices presented are very confusing. I don't recall running into this uncertainty during the several times I have backed up newish iPhone to iTunes in the past. I don't know if the newest versions of iTunes have become more confusing in choices presented to the user when backing up a new iPhone but it appears to be the case.

Thanks to the posters in this thread who have helped to clarify these choices.

roaminggnome,

Obviously the questions concerning backing up a new iPhone in iTunes are still current for several other users. The two choices presented by iTunes (1. setup as new, and 2. restore from backup) were confusing to the OP and continue to be confusing. Apparently 2 and a half years has not resulted in iTunes being made more clear in these choices. New posters have taken the time to search out a pre-existing thread that deals with the same question they are having. I believe that is the way these discussions are supposed to work. Why start a new thread if one already exists?

*psst* doesn't work the way you're describing, next time you should try it first 🙂

Exactly right. ElenaRaq's investigation helped me too and I'm an software development manager.

I notice this kind of unhelpful attitude like dieselvdubs far too often in these forums. Not only was the comment unnecessarily snarky but worse, it was wrong.

What doesn't work? I have restored as new.

I didn't describe anything or how it would work, other than restoring as new, leaves the iPhone with no content just as when it was new. It does work exactly like that.

psst. you responded to a nearly 3 year old post.

Gad I found this post. I wasted hours on iClouded-up "solutions". I was a-scared to set up as new phone. I can't believe this issue persists after (at least) 3 years. Simply adding the words "or first time sync" to the set up button is all you need - boom, thousands of man hours saved across the world!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I am trying to put music on my dad's phone that he uses for work and I would be so dead if I erased all of the data!

I'Ve choose restore back-up and now all my pictures is gone. And all the photos on my old iphone is restored in my new iphone. Can i retrieve the photos? Please please help.

I deeply appreciate the information that was shared too! This has allowed me to heave a big sigh of relief! Thanks!!

Thanks. I've been using Macs since OS 7.1 and don't think this was a silly question at all. It helped me very much.
As many have said: there are no silly questions, just silly answers.

Dear Apple,

After 3 years, it still continue to confuse people.

As a user, I expect some help text to these kind of "mission-critical" options.

This is not a silly question.

I'm a software engineer and I was confused as well at the first time.

This is totally a CX issue that your company should consider to handle.

The same issue is still present in iTunes 12.3.2 for Mac OS, and iOS 9.2. Late 2015 and Apple still prefers to scare its customers.

I've been an Apple fan since 1980 (Apple ][+), owned a Mac 128K with the original Mac OS, and owned many other Macs and iOS devices through the next 31 years. Nonsense like this is nothing new. I do miss the early days when Apple didn't push customers around as much and they listened really closely. This company now grows to resemble the monstrosity they depicted in that famous 1984 sledge hammer ad. I remember seeing it on TV and knowing exactly what they were talking about.

I am not throwing empty words around here, just expressing thoughts of a long-and-sometimes-weary Apple customer. The mid-1990s was a similarly dark period, as I recall, when the company seemed to be headed the wrong direction.

It can be challenging to remain a loyal Apple customer. Eventually they get their act together (mostly). Sometimes it just takes new leadership.

I know this is an old post but I had this issue today as well.

I had just updated my iTunes to 12.3.2.25 and Apply iOS 9.2

upon plugging in my iphone to my laptop to load some audio books, I got the "New Phone" screen. 2 options.... load as a new phone or restore from back up. Only back up was 7 months ago. no chance I'm doing that.

I selected Set up as a New phone and it just took me in to the normal screen that allows me to see all the info about the phone. nothing changed on my phone at all. now I'm starting to load some new music and books. wish me luck. I've never liked iTunes

You are correct that restoring as new makes the iPhone as it was when it came out of the box, but that is not one of the options in this situation. As many users have said in their posts in this thread, the options are set up as new and restore from backup. Clicking set up as new doesn't erase anything.

You are confusing people.

ps. before you mention it, I know your post is a year old. Deal with it.