iCloud Restore for iPhone 6s - Missing Messages/Recent Calls Missing

I had the same battery performance problem as Patrick Meyers with my original iPhone 6S that was restored from the 5S iCloud backup. The battery drain was so severe that it would go from 100% to 0% overnight with the screen off. Best guess is that it's a software issue. So it probably didn't matter that the phone was replaced, because restoring from the iCloud backup of the iPhone 6S would have caused data and app corruption either way. Which is a much worse problem than the battery issue.

Patrick: The other option for getting the phone back into a usable state, albeit with some data loss, is a restore from the 5S backup if you still have it. You will lose the data since that 5S backup. Then consider trying a reset of the Settings to see if that addresses the battery drain issue. (Settings > Reset > Reset All Settings) I haven't tried the Reset All Settings approach yet, but it seems like a reasonable thing to try.

Good suggestion latrans, I wish I had thought to Reset Settings first. I had originally hoped restoring from an iCloud backup would wipe the system and provide me with a clean slate for my restored apps and data and fix any hidden OS/software battery issues. When that crashed I was knee deep in data loss and non-functioning apps so I gave up and started over.

I have seen folks in other threads mention that if you have a 6s backup stored locally in iTunes that you can use one of the iOS/backup extraction programs to delete the plist files from it and then successfully restore to a 6s. Apparently the settings are corrupted somehow in 6s backups and that's causing the restore to hang. I don't have any recent iTunes backups because I've transitioned (foolishly?) to iCloud for backups. I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to download an iCloud backup so I could restore it locally but couldn't find anything trustworthy.

After spending so much time setting my phone up again (and since the battery issue appears to be fixed after a fresh install), at this point I've spent so much time trying to get this working I've kinda given up. I would restore the 5s backup but I really don't want to hassle with it if resetting the settings doesn't fix the battery and I have to go through this all again. I'm going to try to extract my messages, voice memos, and other recoverable data from an old backup somehow and just be disappointed in Apple and this whole process. 😟

Just over one week ago I gave Apple access to my iCloud backup as they suggested we put my account in maintenance mode. The idea was for their engineering team to try to replicate the issue on their end. I've been asking for updates about their progress, but customer support and technical advisors are unable to get any information from the engineering team. They couldn't even tell me if the engineering team had attempted to do anything with my iCloud backup.

Obviously this lack of transparency/communication has got me fed up, so I've rescinded their access to my iCloud backup and made it very clear that if they were to be entrusted with my data, I expected much better communication. If I knew they were at least making use of my backup, I would continue to give them access.

But at this point, after 3 weeks of trying to get answers... any answer, I'm fed up.

The only other option I was given was to try other hardware. Apple support confirmed that I have a Samsung A9 chip and suggested I try a device with a TSMC chip. I won't be able to do this until the New Year. Can anyone else here confirm if they have had this issue occur with a device running on a TSMC chip? It could save me a trip to the Apple store if this is purely a software issue.

My gut tells me Apple is choosing to keep communication to a minimum until they release a fix with 9.2(or some future variant). I feel we (Apple's customers) deserve better than this.

Hmm interesting ... how do you tell if you have the TSMC chip?

I've tried it with separate devices with separate chips and it still happens on each. It must definitely be a software problem.

Your advisor should be able to look-up the type of chip on your device.

Thanks MiniMice!

That's interesting that Apple were forthcoming about the manufacturer of your A9 chip - I'd have thought they'd have kept that information to themselves.

The iPhone from which my original 6S backup came from had a TSMC chip. I don't know what chip is in my replacement 6S - but I know this backup doesn't work on either this 6S or on my 4S so I suspect this issue is purely down to the original backup coming from a 6S - TSMC or Samsung chip.

I Have the same issue with the TSMC when restoring form a 6s backup. All texts are gone. When I restored from a 6 backup, no issues.

I did not have any battery issues or short battery life. I get excellent battery life in my opinion.

Same problems here :-/

The app data and all messages are lost. Some apps crash at start. Health no longer works.

The Apple Support could not help me (ID: 989564860).

There is an article on (german): http://www.heise.de/mac-and-i/meldung/iCloud-Backup-beim-iPhone-6s-Wiederherstel lung-mit-Problemen-2923623.html

Had an iPhone 6s Plus with iOS 9.1 on it, exhibiting odd storage behavior. Confirmed iCloud had completed a recent backup (yesterday, 2:34 pm) and did an erase and restore, for troubleshooting. Happily, this resolved the other bug (wherein the iPhone displayed a different amount of available storage space compared to iTunes) but now we're stuck with missing HealthKit, Messages and other data.

• Attempted restoring from my backup yesterday at 2:30 pm, HealthKit, Messages and other data still missing;
• Attempted restoring from a backup on (9/23), HealthKit, Messages and other data still missing;
• Attempted restoring from a backup on (9/20), HealthKit, Messages and other data still missing;
• Attempted iOS 9.2 public beta 4 and restoring from my backup yesterday at 2:34 pm, HealthKit, Messages and other data still missing;
• Contacted AppleCare iCloud support, who suggested we remove iOS 9.2 public beta and bring the device back to the "released" OS track;
• Still troubleshooting with AppleCare, though I'm not clear what steps to resolution exist.

Does anyone have a Radar/Apple bug identifier with which I can file a follow-up with Developer Relations? I'd love to provide Apple's support team with additional logs/details/troubleshooting steps.

Radar/bug report filed --

iPhone 6s Plus restoring from iCloud backup missing Messages, HealthKit and other data rdar://problem/23678340 http://www.openradar.me/23678340

Is there a fix for this yet???? I've lost all my messages and history also

Similar here as well, so thought I would add my "echo" of issue. On fresh install of a backup last night on the 6S, I get a white screen with black Apple logo (I've only seven black page with white Apple logo on successful installs). Install hangs on white screen and have to hard reset the device. Backup install then finishes "fine" with only missing pieces I have of call history and iMessages. IPad is on same cloud account and full iMessage history is on that device.

I had the same problem. Apple 6S Plus with iOS 9.1. Went to the Genius Bar, all three back up failed to load. Had to go to my 6 Plus backup from September. Realized that I still can't generate iCloud backups. Called Apple Tech Support, and they escalated to Support Advisor who said she would escalate to Engineers. This morning they called and had me change my iCloud password to a temporary Support Password so they can go in and take a look at what is going on. I gave her the link to this discuss so that they can find others who are having the same problem in case they need more research material. I'll keep you updated once I hear back from her.

Just experienced the same thing. I restored to my iPhone 6S, the white screen appeared and stayed there for hours. I turned the phone off and back on, and now my message history is gone.

This is atrocious. Totally unacceptable. I am kicking myself I didn't just stay with iTunes backup. That has never failed me. I can't believe this very common workflow is broken for so many people.