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iPhone 11 Migration tool versus itunes restore

B

boscoji

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 12, 2012
8
1
Hello

Opinions needed. Which is a better method to setup your new iphone 11? Using the built in migration tool to copy over all your data or restoring from an itunes backup. Advantages/ disadvantages? Is using the migration tool the same as setting up as new and manually installing all your stuff?
I have always used the itunes restore method.

Thanks in advance!
 
Wonder what they will do if you pick up at Apple store? Since the times I have done that they keep your trade in order to provide you credit on new one. Used to do cloud restore but now ??
 
Edit to add: the 9to5Mac video says the wifi transfer is peer to peer, so that part of the process shouldn't be affected by available bandwidth on the store's wifi.
CTHarrryH said:
Wonder what they will do if you pick up at Apple store? Since the times I have done that they keep your trade in order to provide you credit on new one. Used to do cloud restore but now ??
Click to expand...

I think that's the big and important issue if you're giving your current/old phone to Apple as a trade-in or under the IUP. It wouldn't be practical if it's slow, and even if it's respectably fast in theory using the migration tool on the Apple store's wifi could be slow in real life due to bandwidth issues in the store. [see top of this post for a correction]

Last year I took my MBP with me, made a down-to-the-minute iTunes encrypted backup, then restored it to the new phone. (You could do the same with an iCloud backup.) Downloading the apps was still fairly time-consuming, but that's going to be the same whether you use an iTunes backup, an iCloud backup or the migration tool, I think.

I wonder how the wired version of the migration tool shown in the video compares to restoring an iTunes backup? They might turn out to be basically the same because the Lightning port is probably the data bottleneck? Would be interested in confirmation or correction.
 
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Does the new migration feature transfer apps directly or are they downloaded from the App Store? I'm planning on doing an iTunes restore to force all of my apps to be re-downloaded because that's supposed to improve performance on iOS 13. According to Apple's iOS 13 page:

With iOS 13, apps from the App Store will be packaged in a new way that makes them up to 50 percent smaller the first time you download them, up to 60 percent smaller on average when apps are updated, and up to twice as fast to launch.​
 
Which way is better to assure no lingering issues from the previous phone?
 
boscoji said:
Which way is better to assure no lingering issues from the previous phone?
Click to expand...

If you want to be totally, absolutely sure that you're starting fresh, start fresh. I used to set up every new phone as a new phone. I don't do that any more and I don't see any difference.
 
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CTHarrryH said:
Wonder what they will do if you pick up at Apple store? Since the times I have done that they keep your trade in order to provide you credit on new one. Used to do cloud restore but now ??
Click to expand...
I recently traded in my 15 inch MBP for a 13 inch. They didn't take my old system at the store. They sent me a box to return it in, and I didn't get the trade-in credit until they received my old system. So, I had plenty of time to use the Migration tool, which worked very well. When I got my iPhone X, I had my old iPhone 6+ with me in the store, and they just took that. It was broken with a dead screen controller, and they still gave me $175 for it, although that was applied to my credit card and didn't reduce the price of the new phone at all. Anyway, I could restore my iCloud backup to the X when I got home, and that worked well.

Which brings up the question of why an iPhone backup is so much quicker than a Mac using Time Machine. The iPhone takes a minute, the Mac can take 20 hours. So I stopped using Time Machine and now rely on files being kept in iCloud as my backup. But this is a discussion for another thread.
 
IMO always best to set up a new phone as a new phone. If you only upgrade every couple of years or so, then take the extra bit of time to give yourself a clean experience and think if you really need that app you haven't opened in 20 months and forgot you had installed.
 
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Khedron said:
IMO always best to set up a new phone as a new phone. If you only upgrade every couple of years or so, then take the extra bit of time to give yourself a clean experience and think if you really need that app you haven't opened in 20 months and forgot you had installed.
Click to expand...

It used to be that if you set up as new you lost all your iMessage history, but Apple has fixed that.

What about your Health and related data, like workouts? Can that be synced without actually migrating or restoring?
 
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FWIW, I was at Apple store last Friday and the person I spoke to indicated that if you use the migration too it will move everything to the new phone.
 
I guess the real question, is speed and how long the corded migration tool with take going from iPhone to iPhone. Not to mention, isn’t there a dongle required?
 
CaptMarvel said:
I guess the real question, is speed and how long the corded migration tool with take going from iPhone to iPhone. Not to mention, isn’t there a dongle required?
Click to expand...

You can do migration with or without a cable, but the cable version does need a US$40 dongle.

Isn’t the Lightning port limited to USB2.0 speeds? How fast is a peer to peer WiFi connection?
 
newellj said:
You can do migration with or without a cable, but the cable version does need a US$40 dongle.

Isn’t the Lightning port limited to USB2.0 speeds? How fast is a peer to peer WiFi connection?
Click to expand...

I think I read somewhere that wired iPhone migration tool copies Apple Pay and a few other things, does wireless do that? Or do they both just transfer the exact same data?

Then what about health data and whatnot? Would an encrypted backup be better? Or does the migration tool cover that as well?
 
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lockerc18 said:
Which brings up the question of why an iPhone backup is so much quicker than a Mac using Time Machine. The iPhone takes a minute, the Mac can take 20 hours. So I stopped using Time Machine and now rely on files being kept in iCloud as my backup. But this is a discussion for another thread.
Click to expand...
TM backs up apps and a lot of other system settings as well as a lot more data than exists on most phones
 
CaptMarvel said:
I think I read somewhere that wired iPhone migration tool copies Apple Pay and a few other things, does wireless do that? Or do they both just transfer the exact same data?

Then what about health data and whatnot? Would an encrypted backup be better? Or does the migration tool cover that as well?
Click to expand...

iCloud backups are always encrypted now, so will copy Keychain, Wallet, Health and everything else as much as permitted. You'll still have to authorize the cards in your Wallet app again. And all but the native apps have to be re-downloaded. An encrypted iTunes backup does all the same things but needs a computer running iTunes and a cable.

I assume that the migration tool will do the same as the encrypted iTunes backup and the iCloud backup, but I haven't searched Apple's website to confirm. I know that it still requires you to add your cards to the Wallet app, and non-native apps need to be downloaded. There's a page that describes what the migration tool -doesn't- do here.
 
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shinemoon said:
Anyone aware if the migration tool transfers the Google Authenticator data to the new phone.

Apart from rescanning the qr code is there any way to transfer the same. I think both iCloud & iTunes restore to new phone does not transfer the data.
Click to expand...

This would be handy to know. I'd be surprised if it did.... happily surprised, but surprised nonetheless.
 
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shinemoon said:
Anyone aware if the migration tool transfers the Google Authenticator data to the new phone.

Apart from rescanning the qr code is there any way to transfer the same. I think both iCloud & iTunes restore to new phone does not transfer the data.
Click to expand...
Good question, I have the same.
 
slippery-pete said:
FWIW, I was at Apple store last Friday and the person I spoke to indicated that if you use the migration too it will move everything to the new phone.
Click to expand...

That’s not completely accurate, per Apple’s website.
[doublepost=1568589224][/doublepost]
imlynxy said:
Good question, I have the same.
Click to expand...

I don’t know, but I know with the RSA version you have to reimport a token. MDM also has to be set up again.
 
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newellj said:
There's a page that describes what the migration tool -doesn't- do here.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that page describes what you think it does. It hasn't been updated since March for one, when the migration tool was introduced in July.
 
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