Hesitant to restore from iCloud Backup.

[DrWho]

The day of the official release of iOS 18, I backed up my iPhone 14 Pro (1TB) to the cloud, pressed the update button, and after 2 hours it had not progressed/finished it was stuck, I reset it, started again, it would get hot and drain the battery, give me the progress bar and refuse to finish, essentially bootloop (I think)


Took it to an authorized Apple reseller, they restored it fully back to the home screen, I attempted an iCloud restore, and it did it again, just got hot, battery drain, and progress bar never finishing. They said that the error could have been KGB or the logic board, they started the process of ordering another 14, and said they were going to "Frankenstein" my phone rather than give me a new one according to their policy (I have Apple Care) I finally cancelled this, got it back from them, took it to Apple, they restored it again, I took it to my phone provider (I have insurance with them) and now I am waiting for an iPhone 16 Pro (1TB)

When I get it, would there be a problem with me restoring from my iCloud Backup? I am hesitant after all I have been through? Surely it wouldn't be a problem with a brand new, out of the box phone... would it?

 

[Apple_Robert]

I wouldn’t restore from backup. I would put the two phones side by side and go through the automatic setup (older phone sending credentials and apps etc. to the new phone). That won’t take long at all.

 

[Iwavvns]

I wouldn’t restore from backup. I would put the two phones side by side and go through the automatic setup (older phone sending credentials and apps etc. to the new phone. That won’t take long at all.

I have done this on two different iPhones and it was much quicker than trying to set up a new phone from the iCloud backup of the previous model. I wonder if the OP’s iCloud back up is corrupted.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have done this on two different iPhones and it was much quicker than trying to set up a new phone from the iCloud backup of the previous model. I wonder if the OP’s iCloud back up is corrupted.

I agree. I think the OP may have a corrupt backup or it is also possible that the backup is almost the size of the phone storage. An automatic setup can be done in 10-15 minutes versus an hour+ via the restore method.

 

[Iwavvns]

I agree. I think the OP may have a corrupt backup or it is also possible that the backup is almost the size of the phone storage. An automatic setup can be done in 10-15 minutes versus an hour+ via the restore method.

Yeah, I would do a side-by-side set up of the new phone from the old phone. I set up my iPhone 15 that way from my iPhone 13 and it took under five minutes. Unless something has changed in the last few years, SSD‘s like to have 10% of the storage empty that it can use for wear leveling.. so the size of the backup would indeed make a difference.

 

[DrWho]

Thank you all for the advice, just to clarify...

My iPhone 14 Pro (1TB) has been fully restored, there is nothing on it, it is just on the Hello screen, and I need to leave it on there, to give to my phone provider, in order to get my new one. They need it to be functional and working, if I attempt to restore again, it will brick and i'll have to take it to Apple to restore it again... As I have written in my signature, I have a 2015 iMac, even though it is running Monterey I can't restore the phone myself, all I have is iMazing and I can't get it to complete.

I am currently using my old iPhone 11 Pro, until I get my new iPhone 16 Pro (1TB) but all I have is the iCloud Backup I did of the 14 before it bricked, and I do have the ability to transfer from my 11, when I eventually get my 16, that would technically be the most "up to date" I have, but I don't see how my iPhone 14 Pro (iCloud backup) could be corrupted? I don't know if it is? or how to find out? Shouldn't Apple have told me during the process? Would an error have come up?

In case you need further info

My backup (the last one I did for my iPhone 14 Pro) is 24.1GB
My Photos are in iCloud
I did have synced media on my 14, but an iCloud backup doesn't back up synced media, so that wouldn't matter
I never had any indication that I was running out of space, I have third party apps that said I was running slow, but then in General and iPhone Storage I had tons of space.

 

[Iwavvns]

Thank you all for the advice, just to clarify...

My iPhone 14 Pro (1TB) has been fully restored, there is nothing on it, it is just on the Hello screen, and I need to leave it on there, to give to my phone provider, in order to get my new one. They need it to be functional and working, if I attempt to restore again, it will brick and i'll have to take it to Apple to restore it again... As I have written in my signature, I have a 2015 iMac, even though it is running Monterey I can't restore the phone myself, all I have is iMazing and I can't get it to complete.

I am currently using my old iPhone 11 Pro, until I get my new iPhone 16 Pro (1TB) but all I have is the iCloud Backup I did of the 14 before it bricked, and I do have the ability to transfer from my 11, when I eventually get my 16, that would technically be the most "up to date" I have, but I don't see how my iPhone 14 Pro (iCloud backup) could be corrupted? I don't know if it is? or how to find out? Shouldn't Apple have told me during the process? Would an error have come up?

In case you need further info

My backup (the last one I did for my iPhone 14 Pro) is 24.1GB
My Photos are in iCloud
I did have synced media on my 14, but an iCloud backup doesn't back up synced media, so that wouldn't matter
I never had any indication that I was running out of space, I have third party apps that said I was running slow, but then in General and iPhone Storage I had tons of space.

Computers are not perfect, although they run great most of the time. This is why computer veterans will often say, when it comes to backups, “two is one, and one is none”. when you get your new iPhone, I wouldn’t even bother with the iCloud backup… I would just delete it now. I would restore the new phone from the old phone as they lay side-by-side. After that, you can make a new iCloud backup of the new phone. This may be a bit of a pain, but it’s better than going through the brick process all over again. I have been building computers and writing software for years, there is no such thing as a perfect computer.. not even the ones with an apple logo on them.