My husband Eddie and I both purchased our AT&T iPhones with a two-year contract, and at the end of our contract period, we are eligible to purchase a new phone at subsidized pricing. My contract was up in December and I asked Santa for an iPhone 6 for Christmas.
While the thought of purchasing a new generation phone is enticing, it can also be a daunting prospect. If, like me, you have invested time and effort in setting up your iPhone (or Android smart phone) exactly the way you want it, you want to transfer all your apps and data with you when you upgrade. Transferring apps and data to a new phone can be effortless if you follow a few, simple steps. The procedure I am going to outline is for iOS devices (it is the same for iPhones and iPads). If you use an Android device, instructions can be found online at the website cited at the end of this column.
The first, most important step is to back up your old device before getting the new one. An iPhone can be backed up to the iCloud, Apple's cloud storage which is available to all Apple users, or to you computer. If you use iCloud storage, only vital data is backed up – for a complete backup of everything on your phone, including apps, you must back up with iTunes software on your computer. Apple computers come with iTunes preinstalled, and it is a free download for PC users. The following instructions are for iTunes 12, the most current version of the software.
To begin, connect the phone to your computer with the USB cable that came with your device (it is the cable plugged into the power plug) and open iTunes. It may take a few minutes for the phone to be recognized, and once it is, a small device icon will appear in the upper left corner. Click on the icon and the iPhone Summary screen will appear. The screen will show information about your specific device in three informational boxes, labeled iPhone, Backups and Options.
On right side of the Backups box you will see the words Manually Back Up and Restore. If you have previously backed up the phone to your computer the date of your latest backup will be listed. Clicking on the Back Up Now button will commence a full back up of everything on your phone.
iTunes keeps a record of every app on your phone, and during the back up process you will be asked if you want to transfer all app purchases to your computer, a step you must complete. Once all your apps and data are saved to your computer, you are ready to go out and buy your new phone.
When you make the phone purchase, your sales person may offer to set up the phone for you, but if you do this you might not have all your apps transferred to the new phone. These instructions assume you are going to bring the phone home and set it up on your own.
Once the device is turned on you will be presented with a series of five screens. Follow the directions on the first four screens: a welcome screen, choose a language, choose a WiFi network, choose if you want to turn on location services.
When you come to the fifth screen you will be presented with a choice between three set up methods: Set Up as New iPhone, Restore from iCloud Backup and Restore from iTunes Backup. Select Restore from iTunes Backup and follow the instructions to plug the new phone into your computer and open iTunes. After a wait – the length depends on how much data needs to be transferred to the new phone – your new phone will restart and be ready to go, with all your apps and data. It is really that simple.
Instructions on setting up a new iPhone, complete with pictures of each screen, can be found at support.apple.com/en-us/HT202033. For instructions on upgrading an Android phone visit lifehacker.com/5843206/how-to-upgrade-to-a-new-android-phone-and-take-everything-with-you.
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