Other (IMPORTANT) Lost my iPhone, and restoring iCloud on an old iPhone

[Dark Ork]

Hello

I have an iPhone 7 with iCloud backup. I have lost my phone and will have to use an iPhone 5. I won't be able to restore the backup to the iPhone 5 because I have to use an earlier version of iOS, right? If later I buy an iPhone 7 or higher, assuming that the iPhone 5 has made a backup, will I be able to restore the copy of my old iPhone 7, or will the one of the iPhone 5 be restored?

 

[now i see it]

Correct. iPhone 5 can only run iOS 10 so it can’t be setup from a backup made from a newer version of iOS.

If you get another iPhone 7 or later model, you can set it up from your last lost iPhone 7 backup. Its possible to set up your 2nd iPhone 7 (you might get in the future) from the iPhone 5 backup too, so choose the correct backup to restore to - the one you made with the lost iPhone 7.

Newer phones can always be setup from older versions of iOS backups but not the other way around.

 

[Dark Ork]

Correct. iPhone 5 can only run iOS 10 so it can’t be setup from a backup made from a newer version of iOS.

If you get another iPhone 7 or later model, you can set it up from your last lost iPhone 7 backup. Its possible to set up your 2nd iPhone 7 (you might get in the future) from the iPhone 5 backup too, so choose the correct backup to restore to - the one you made with the lost iPhone 7.

Newer phones can always be setup from older versions of iOS backups but not the other way around.

The backup of the iPhone 5 would not replace the one of the iPhone 7?

 

[HDFan]

The backup of the iPhone 5 would not replace the one of the iPhone 7?

Not sure I understand. Are you asking if when you start using the iPhone 5 will it replace (wipe-out) your existing backup of the iPhone 7?

 

[Dark Ork]

Not sure I understand. Are you asking if when you start using the iPhone 5 will it replace (wipe-out) your existing backup of the iPhone 7?

No, I'm asking if when I buy the new iPhone, the backup of the iPhone 5 would replace the one I had in the lost iPhone 7

 

[HDFan]

Don't you mean yes - you don't want the iPhone 5 backup to wipe out the iPhone 7 backup?

Backups are tied to the phone. Not sure if it is the phone name or some other identifier, such as a serial number. Can't verify right now, but you get options when you do a restore. You see the backup for my iPhone12 on 9/25/21. It wasn't overwritten by my iPhone 13 backups.

But since I rarely use this feature hopefully someone who does this more frequently can confirm.