Q: What data do i need to MANUALLY save before installing as "NEW iPhone"?

Is your old phone corrupted or just defective? Here is what I would do unless you suspect that the data on the old phone is indeed corrupted.

Transfer content from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a new device - Apple Support

If the above does not work you still have the option to set up as New but you would risk losing some data indeed.

Well, there seems to be conflicting information in your instructions:

If you are advised to a "fresh" install of the phone, that implies that you would set it up as a new device, so not sure why the sync is in the list unless it is to have a backup just in case (which is always a good idea).

If you have an iCloud account and are currently syncing Contacts, Calendars, Mail, Photos, Reminders, Notes, etc. then those will download to your device when you sign back in to that same iCloud account.

Unless you are restoring the phone from a backup made either in iCloud or iTunes, then Messages, device settings, will not be restored to your device. Apps on your previous device will not download automatically if you are not restoring from a backup.

Do you know why they advised to set up the phone as a new device?

I would recommend that you create a backup of the old device in either iTunes or iCloud before setting up the new device, so if you find that setting it up as a new device is seriously problematic, you can revert to restoring it from a backup.

Cheers,

GB

hotwheels 22 wrote:

 

hi all,

 

i am getting a new iPhone 6 from genius bar for a variety of reasons and i am being advised to do a fresh install of the phone which i understand to be the following:

 

1. sync with me.com (check to verify that all settings are checked so i will get all data from apple downloaded from the phone)

2. set up my multiple email accounts (setting up gmail accounts should sync any google synced data)

3. MANUALLY download apps that i need from iTunes on the computer that i ran my most recent backup (the mac pro)

 

the issue now seems to be that there is DATA that is not going to be transferred in this process. and in addition to hating to lose data - i run a business so losing data could end up being a major pain.

 

as a for instance there are TEXT MESSAGES that are on the phone that are not in iMessage on my laptop as a consequence of them being exchanged with someone on a text message basis and not on an iMessage basis. i use these texts constantly to get in touch with people i work with or to look up an address or to remember something that was sent to me in a text message.

 

That is difficult question - the only way to restore messages to a new phone is via restoring a backup - and that will defeat the purpose of a fresh install

There is software called TouchCopy that can make copies of that data and have it available via pdf or something like that

iPhone Backup Extractor is another piece of software that does the same thing on a backup file

 

A. does anyone know if there are OTHER pieces of data (other than apps) that i need to MANUALLY sync or migrate to my newly set up iPhone?

Photos, music, notes, data contained within apps such as game scores

 

B. does anyone know how i would get TEXT message data to a newly set up iPhone?

See my reply above

 

C. what else could i be missing here for a smooth transition?

That pretty much covers it

 

i am kind of caught between the proverbial brick and a hard place as i can't keep using a phone that is acting up at inopportune times but at the same time i don't want to be foolhardy and lose important data that will make things problematic.

 

THANKS

Usually the emails are not an issue if you have an IMAP account on the web portal of the email provider. If you set it up as an email account on the new device - the emails from the server should sync right in

hotwheels 22 wrote:

 

hi guys,

 

thanks for the help.

 

so, from what i understand the tech feel that there is some SYSTEM software problems but also perhaps some APP specific problems. i don't think they feel that there is a hardware specific problem.

 

so it is a little tough to assess the genius bar expertise but - from my standpoint at least - i don't really see any reason (other than effort) to do a FRESH installation on my iphone. AFAIK my data has been migrating from the 3 to the 4 to the 5 and now it is on the 6.

 

@gail from maine. maybe i am misunderstanding or maybe i miscommunicated. but the step on syncing was to sync to ICLOUD so that i can get all the things that i have synced in icloud on my various devices. this doesn't imply that i am going to do a full backup from iCloud does it? you know what i mean? i mean i think the tech was saying i should hook up to iCloud to sync my data but not to do a full backup. Right - once you sign into your iCloud account, then anything you sync with iCloud (Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders, iCloud Drive Data) will be pushed back to your device from iCloud.

 

1. Music the tech said i could get from "SYNCING" (but not backing up) the MUSIC from iTunes, yes? Yes - from syncing or from re-downloading OTA: Download past purchases

 

2. Notes i can get from an iCloud Sync, yes? Yes

 

P"hotos, music, notes, data contained within apps such as game scores" Photos from syncing, but you would need to import those photos to your computer in order to sync them back to another device: iTunes 12 for Windows: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad

or if you have a Mac: iTunes 12 for Mac: Sync iPod, iPhone, or iPad

3. Data contained within apps. hmmm. so i lose my weight tracking ;  ) but seriously maybe there is some other mission critical data in there?! i mean, this is why i am asking this question!! is there a difference between some software which will store your data on the PHONE and some which will store it in the CLOUD? App data is only stored in a backup - not in the iCloud sync.

 

4. then there is ALSO the issue of the SETTINGS on my phone and all the SETTINGS for the APPS that are on my phone, yes? i mean, Dropbox and everything else will still be there but i will have to LOGIN and recreate it all? or will KEYCHAIN do something for me here? Settings are only restored via a backup.

One of the things that we recommend when there is a suspicion of corrupted data is to initially set the device up as a new device, and to then see if the issues are still present, or if they go away. Then erase the data (Settings>Reset>Erase All Content & Settings), and then restore it from your backup to see if the issue comes back.

If they come back only when you restore from backup, then you have proven that you have corrupt data somewhere in your backed up data. You have a couple of options:

1.     Back up the older phone again, but when you do, go to Settings>iCloud>Storage>Manage Storage>click on your device, and then turn off all of the Apps that are turned on for the backup except for the Photo Library. That would then leave your Settings, Messages, and Photos, then restore from that pared down backup to see if the problem goes away

2.     Set up the device as new and re-download or sync your data back

Cheers,

GB