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Simon89

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 8, 2015
323
212
Yorkshire, UK
Hi all,

picking up my 12 Pro Max tomorrow and looking to set this up as ‘fresh’ as possible.

Is it possible to have photos, messages etc showing but without downloading all of my apps etc.

Thanks
Simon
 
Hi all,

picking up my 12 Pro Max tomorrow and looking to set this up as ‘fresh’ as possible.

Is it possible to have photos, messages etc showing but without downloading all of my apps etc.

Thanks
Simon
It's all or nothing.

There are some third party apps out there that may allow you to do this using a computer, but with Apple this isn't possible.
 
When I setup as new (without using backup) and sign into iCloud I only get contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, safari preferences, messages and health...
 
Hi all,

picking up my 12 Pro Max tomorrow and looking to set this up as ‘fresh’ as possible.

Is it possible to have photos, messages etc showing but without downloading all of my apps etc.

Thanks
Simon
Why don't you just delete the apps you don't want, back up your iPhone, and then restore from backup on the 12 PM?

I set up my 12 PM as a backup from iCloud. Was super easy and seamless.
 
I always set my phones up as new and have everything available when I enter my Apple ID. To me, it's just cleaner to do that with a new device. Plus I'm running the public beta on my XS and don't want the beta on my new phone. I've never had a problem setting it up as new and then just adding apps as I need them!
 
Hi all,

picking up my 12 Pro Max tomorrow and looking to set this up as ‘fresh’ as possible.

Is it possible to have photos, messages etc showing but without downloading all of my apps etc.

Thanks
Simon

If you have iCloud photos and iCloud messages enabled currently on your old phone, you can set your new phone up as new and turn them on in iCloud Settings and they will download.
 
I caved. For the first time ever I did not set a phone up as new. Well, I set it up as new and then realized how much work I still had to do. I had contacts, photos, text messages, etc. but I would have had to pair my watch and reconfigure it in addition to reloading all my apps AND my passwords didn’t transfer over. I set it next to my old phone and left the transfer happen, didn’t take too long and didn’t automatically reinstall the beta so I am happy!
 
This was the first time in about 5 years I did a set up as new and it was incredibly smooth. In the past I was restoring from backup because I didn't want to lose Apple Watch fitness/activity stuff.

Paid 99 cents to get 50gb of iCloud backup this time and just did an iCloud backup (safety net) but otherwise set up as new, let the iCloud messages/health/contacts etc restore, and otherwise set up completely as new. Unpaired Apple Watch, repaired with the new phone. It went really smooth and it was great to see all the apps that use iCloud over the years to where I could just install the app fresh and it pulled my data back down from iCloud.

Definitely will set up as new on the next phone -- a lot of annoying little quirks seem to have been fixed for me by starting fresh this time.
 
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