Need to restore a backup from iphone 5 to iphone 4, help please!

You should try setting up as new and then erasing all contents and settings. Then when you click restore from backup in iTunes click on the dropdown box and see if it will allow you to restore from the iPhone 5.

Other than that, you may have to use your iCloud.

During set up of the iPhone it asks you 3 things:

- set up as new

- restore from itunes back up

- restore from icloud back up

When you choose to restore from iCloud back up and sign into your account do you see both your iPhone 4 back ups and iPhone 5 back ups?

If you need guidance on how to restore from iCLoud back up this can show you how:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766

lostintheiClouds wrote:

To your question--this is the main issue, qhen I first restored my iPhone4 it didn't even give me the option to restore from my iPhone5

Where do you see this?. In iTunes on your computer or on the iPhone during set up choosing from iCloud back ups?

lostintheiClouds wrote:

I can see them now in a factory settings version of my iphone 4 that is on ios7.... any idea how to access that???

Again where are you seeing this, saying factory settings doesn't make things clear enough.

Also did you erase the iPhone then go through set up and choose to restore from iCloud back up?

I have the exact same problem.

I lost A LOT of data I assume is backed up and in itunes my last available backup is from march. But on the iphone it shows a backup on icloud from yesterday. But I can only delete it, not install it.

Losing my mind.

I'm giving this a little bump. Because it's the exact same problem and I still did not manage to fix it.

And now I noticed that the bigger backup (with my old files) and which I could only delete, not use, is gone.

So

Most of all I would like to have my music I made with the 'figure' app and text history of whatsapp back.

I also still have the old phone, but no sim card, as I had to switch to the new one.

Any chance of getting it back through there?

It's so frustrating to know that it's on there and you're not allowed to get to it.

i had this same issue and was able to solve it relatively easily. the problem appears to be the mismatch in iOS versions. i restored my 4 and then updated it to the most recent iOS version (which is the same as my iphone 5S was running) and subsequntly iTunes gave me the new option of restoring the 4 from my prior 5S backup (peviously it wasnt even coming up as an option in restore). i thought it was an issue with the iphone 4 not being compatible with an 5S backup, but as long as both they are running the same iOS, any backup becomes available for restore. obv its not easy running the newest iOS on an iphone 4, but it was a perfect copy of my backed up 5S and will do fine until im up for a renewal. hope this helps.

You cannot restore a backup from a newer IOS verion to an iPhone with a lower IOS version.

IOS 7.1 backup to iPhone with IOS IOS7.0.x = NO.

IOS 7.0.x backup to iPhone with IOS 7.1 = Yes.

So update your iPhone 4 first to the latest IOS 7.1 and restore your backup.

Confirming this last post. There is no excuse that Apple cannot provide the same upgrade path from different versions of their own software. My IPhone 4 got dunked in water so I upgraded to the IPhone 5. The daily backup I have on my computer, (No thanks Apple Icloud service) will not restore. Similar issue with the last phone I broke although it was the same OS and the backup said it was corrupt. Maybe Microsoft can be hired to build your applications Apple. You might have great ideas but execution on basic functions are **** poor.

You have no idea how software works and

your handling of the device is very poor.

Maybe you should hire someone to take care of your stuff.

I had same problem. The issue lies in that iPhone 5 uses IOS 9. Unless you have an iPhone 4S, then your regular iPhone 4 cannot use software that is later than the 7.1.2. Therefore, you cannot restore a backup from IOS 9 to your device. Sorry.