Restore a new backup in an old phone?

[NoSole]

To make a long story short, my iphone 6 took a swim, and I've now reverted back to my iphone 4 until I can get it fixed. I'm trying to find a way to restore my 6's most recent backup on my 4. Is this possible?

Since the 4 is ancient by today's demands, I'm not loading any photos, apps, etc. I just need to basics. Specifically, my contacts and notes. The problem is, in itunes when I try to restore the 4, it only offers me the backups previously saved from the 4 when it was my primary phone. How do I find the backup from my 6 and put it on my 4?

 

[C DM]

Mainly it's the iOS versions that will matter. What iOS version was the 6 running, and which one is the 4 running?

 

[eyoungren]

To make a long story short, my iphone 6 took a swim, and I've now reverted back to my iphone 4 until I can get it fixed. I'm trying to find a way to restore my 6's most recent backup on my 4. Is this possible?

Since the 4 is ancient by today's demands, I'm not loading any photos, apps, etc. I just need to basics. Specifically, my contacts and notes. The problem is, in itunes when I try to restore the 4, it only offers me the backups previously saved from the 4 when it was my primary phone. How do I find the backup from my 6 and put it on my 4?

If you truly have an iPhone 4 and not a 4s then right away I can say that what you want to do is not possible.

The higest version of iOS that the 4 can run is iOS 7.1.2. When released the iPhone 6 was running iOS 8. So, even if you never updated your iPhone 6 it would still not be possible because the 6 would be running at minimum one version higher than what your 4 is capable of.

Now if you actually have a 4s (some people get this confused) and not a 4 then there is a little more leeway, but not much.

Assuming both devices are fully updated that puts you on iOS 10.2.1 on the 6 and iOS 9.3.5 on the 4(s). You cannot restore a backup from a version higher than what the phone currently runs so this would still not be possible.

If both devices are on the same major version number things are possible. But I highly doubt your 4 is on a version higher than your 6.