Setting up iPad for my wife

[Aggie88]

I bought my wife an iPad for Christmas and would like to have it set up as much as possible before Christmas but not have her know. I have her current iPad backed up to the cloud as well as her laptop. I do have the account information for her Apple account. I know that eventually in the setup process you are prompted to sign into your Apple account and you eventually receive a message that a new device is now using your account. I also know that a code will be sent to her phone to allow the iPad to connect to her account.

I'm trying to figure out how far I can get into the setup process before she starts to get messages. I should be able to restore from the backup on her laptop to get apps/etc loaded. How far can I get into the setup process before I ruin the surprise? We are leaving for a trip on Christmas day and I want her to have the new iPad for the trip and all ready to go. Thanks!!

 

[Davefevs]

Give it to her early

 

[Aggie88]

That is my option if I can't get it partially done before hand. Thanks!

 

[Newtons Apple]

I am thinking that you could not do too much before she would get the message. My iPad has so much on it that when I replace it, I always do an encrypted iTunes backup. That way the restore only takes minutes to complete.

 

[muzzy996]

Probably just me but I'd leave it unopened. A gift that has a potential to keep giving in that you don't rob her of the excitement of its first unboxing and then you get to swoop in as a white knight afterwards to assist her with setup. Win-win IMO.

 

[Aggie88]

Newtons Apple: I just did an encrypted backup so I'm ready in that regard.

muzzy996: Too late for the total unboxing. I wanted to get the screen protector on it so I did that this morning. It is wrapped up with the stuff they put around the iPad and back in the box. It doesn't have the wrap around the outer box any more.

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts/ideas.
[doublepost=1544734350][/doublepost]The posts above have me thinking that maybe it is best to give it to her on Christmas Eve and let her go through the initial setup and then I can restore everything from her current iPad. The only thing I will have done ahead of time is put on he screen protector.

 

[rui no onna]

Personally, given it's needed for an upcoming trip, just give it a week ahead so it's all set up and synced with battery normal. That way, you don't get caught by any nasty surprises during the trip.

When I get a new iOS device, it seems battery for the first few days is pretty crap while it's still doing all the syncing and stuff (and that's with restore from iTunes encrypted backup). Remember, can't restore apps from iTunes anymore. Have to download that from the cloud now.

That would also give you time to return and exchange in case there's an issue with the device.

 

[Pipper99]

The posts above have me thinking that maybe it is best to give it to her on Christmas Eve and let her go through the initial setup and then I can restore everything from her current iPad. The only thing I will have done ahead of time is put on he screen protector.

That's what I'd do

 

[Saurus504]

I bought my wife an iPad for Christmas and would like to have it set up as much as possible before Christmas but not have her know. I have her current iPad backed up to the cloud as well as her laptop. I do have the account information for her Apple account. I know that eventually in the setup process you are prompted to sign into your Apple account and you eventually receive a message that a new device is now using your account. I also know that a code will be sent to her phone to allow the iPad to connect to her account.

I'm trying to figure out how far I can get into the setup process before she starts to get messages. I should be able to restore from the backup on her laptop to get apps/etc loaded. How far can I get into the setup process before I ruin the surprise? We are leaving for a trip on Christmas day and I want her to have the new iPad for the trip and all ready to go. Thanks!!

Yeah I'm giving my wife the same but am leaving everything boxed up. I can help her set everything up after she opens it.

 

[JD2015]

Set it up as new and skip adding iTunes account. On the day can then sign in using Apple account. They won’t know then.

 

[HeatherA]

Ugh! I'd be so upset if my husband did that. I prefer my gifts new and un-opened.

 

[mofunk]

Set up is quick especially if you have an older iPad. I would give it to her on Christmas Eve and let her set it. You can do it with an iPhone or iPad. The only thing you would have to do is download music and videos oh and set up the fingerprint scan.

 

[rui no onna]

Set up is quick especially if you have an older iPad. I would give it to her on Christmas Eve and let her set it. You can do it with an iPhone or iPad. The only thing you would have to do is download music and videos oh and set up the fingerprint scan.

Settings and app data, sure. However, there's plenty of stuff that don't get transferred over. Depending on the trip planned, it might be prudent to allow some leeway for tech prep.

We typically go on month-long trips overseas for family reunions. Plenty of downtime and internet (ergo anything cloud) is extremely unreliable. One week before the trip, I'd have all the tech stuff ready. Smartphones (usually our old iPhones) with numbers for local contacts updated, Uber (or local equivalent) set up, preload tablets with new videos, music, comics, ebooks, etc. Doing all that night before the trip ain't gonna cut it.

 

[Mr.C]

Remember, can't restore apps from iTunes anymore. Have to download that from the cloud now.

I find that really annoying. I had to deal with that on my iPhone Xs Max and iPad Pro 11” and I think it might have been the same last year with my iPhone X too. Even on my pretty fast fibre optic broadband it took ages to download all my apps especially as I have so many.

 

[Aggie88]

I'm going to give it to her on the night of the 23rd so we have plenty of time to get everything restored and setup before we leave home.

 

[mofunk]

Settings and app data, sure. However, there's plenty of stuff that don't get transferred over. Depending on the trip planned, it might be prudent to allow some leeway for tech prep.

We typically go on month-long trips overseas for family reunions. Plenty of downtime and internet (ergo anything cloud) is extremely unreliable. One week before the trip, I'd have all the tech stuff ready. Smartphones (usually our old iPhones) with numbers for local contacts updated, Uber (or local equivalent) set up, preload tablets with new videos, music, comics, ebooks, etc. Doing all that night before the trip ain't gonna cut it.

My last two big purchases I had them replaced and had to restore them. The last one was my iPad. First I wanted to see if I could jam up the iPad that was replaced. I didn't have my iPad Pro backed up to the cloud so while in the store, I restored it from my defective iPad. That took about 3-5 minus the finger scan. Only thing I had to do then was put in a few passwords.

Later I got home and thought hmmm what would happen if I try to restore (again) on the same iPad with using iTunes? To my surprise, the backup went very well. There weren't any duplicates and the process didn't get stuck (idling). Yes, you can restore Apps using iTunes. lol So when I said its quick, its quick. I've used .Mac, MobileMe, and they were never this fast as iCloud with iOS 12.

@OP Awesome! Make sure you download the Apple Support app. Macrummors and AppleInsider have a few cool videos she could check out too for the iPad.

 

[rui no onna]

Later I got home and thought hmmm what would happen if I try to restore (again) on the same iPad with using iTunes? To my surprise, the backup went very well. There weren't any duplicates and the process didn't get stuck (idling). Yes, you can restore Apps using iTunes. lol So when I said its quick, its quick. I've used .Mac, MobileMe, and they were never this fast as iCloud with iOS 12.

If one doesn't have a lot of apps and content that need to be re-downloaded, sure it can be quick.

iTunes can't restore the apps (as in copy actual .ipa app files from PC/Mac local drive to iPad). However, it does know what apps you have installed as well as the layout, and it just tells the iPad to download apps in the background. Yes, the device is up and running quite quickly. However, it's not necessarily completely done upon disconnecting from iTunes. It's just downloading stuff from the cloud in the background which is fine if one has a reliable internet connection.

Given I'm usually traveling overseas to an area with poor internet connectivity, I need my stuff to be local. In my case, that includes ~200GB worth of comiXology favorites and TBR pile that has to be re-downloaded on top of all the other stuff I want on the device.

 

[Mr.C]

My last two big purchases I had them replaced and had to restore them. The last one was my iPad. First I wanted to see if I could jam up the iPad that was replaced. I didn't have my iPad Pro backed up to the cloud so while in the store, I restored it from my defective iPad. That took about 3-5 minus the finger scan. Only thing I had to do then was put in a few passwords.

Later I got home and thought hmmm what would happen if I try to restore (again) on the same iPad with using iTunes? To my surprise, the backup went very well. There weren't any duplicates and the process didn't get stuck (idling). Yes, you can restore Apps using iTunes. lol So when I said its quick, its quick. I've used .Mac, MobileMe, and they were never this fast as iCloud with iOS 12.

@OP Awesome! Make sure you download the Apple Support app. Macrummors and AppleInsider have a few cool videos she could check out too for the iPad.

No you can’t actually restore apps directly from your Mac or PC. You use to be able to do that but it changed a while back. When you do a restore the iPad knows what apps you have and the layout but you still need to download them using an internet connection which can be a real pain especially if you have a lot of apps and a lot of them are large in size like some games are. Rui No Onna explains it pretty well.

 

[mofunk]

No you can’t actually restore apps directly from your Mac or PC. You use to be able to do that but it changed a while back. When you do a restore the iPad knows what apps you have and the layout but you still need to download them using an internet connection which can be a real pain especially if you have a lot of apps and a lot of them are large in size like some games are. Rui No Onna explains it pretty well.

Wow Who told you that? Why is there a "restore" button there?" lol Who told you that was wrong. The reason you should back up your Apps to your Mac is because in the event that the Developer removes them from the Apps store or iTunes store you will still have access to them. When I was at the Apple store I synced my current iPad to my previous iPad. When I got home I was just curious to see what would happen if I restored it from Backup just to see how it will respond.

I'm sorry someone told you that you can't, but they are wrong. I've been doing this for years...back up using iTunes. Music is not saved including music videos aren't either. I have several music videos I have purchased that are no longer available to download from the iTunes stores. In fact it gives me a weird message when I try to add it to my iOS device. With other medias I've been manually backing them up. Finding the copy in my folder and saving it to the hard drive. Some of the apps I have on my Mac will not work, I'm assuming, is because they were formatted for 32bit device. For example Shrek Kart will not work. Its a great game but since the developer did not update it to the 64bit format it will no longer work. I can add it but it won't work. Another game I have that's not in my iCloud but on my Mac is Plants VS Zombies. This app doesn't not show up in the Apps store but other types do. I didn't purchase those in the app store because they have either a lot of ads or in app purchases.

Its funny cause I restored without Wifi access and with my Mac. How is that possible? I understand what Rui No Onna is saying but what I have is not in the Cloud and only on my Mac.

 

[rui no onna]

Wow Who told you that? Why is there a "restore" button there?" lol Who told you that was wrong. The reason you should back up your Apps to your Mac is because in the event that the Developer removes them from the Apps store or iTunes store you will still have access to them. When I was at the Apple store I synced my current iPad to my previous iPad. When I got home I was just curious to see what would happen if I restored it from Backup just to see how it will respond.

I'm sorry someone told you that you can't, but they are wrong. I've been doing this for years...back up using iTunes. Music is not saved including music videos aren't either. I have several music videos I have purchased that are no longer available to download from the iTunes stores. In fact it gives me a weird message when I try to add it to my iOS device. With other medias I've been manually backing them up. Finding the copy in my folder and saving it to the hard drive. Some of the apps I have on my Mac will not work, I'm assuming, is because they were formatted for 32bit device. For example Shrek Kart will not work. Its a great game but since the developer did not update it to the 64bit format it will no longer work. I can add it but it won't work. Another game I have that's not in my iCloud but on my Mac is Plants VS Zombies. This app doesn't not show up in the Apps store but other types do. I didn't purchase those in the app store because they have either a lot of ads or in app purchases.

Its funny cause I restored without Wifi access and with my Mac. How is that possible? I understand what Rui No Onna is saying but what I have is not in the Cloud and only on my Mac.

The removal of apps from iTunes was fairly recent (iOS 11 + iTunes 12.7).

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/12/apple-itunes-12-7-no-app-store/

Note, there are some apps that have been pulled from the App Store for new downloads/purchases, but are still available for re-downloads via cloud for those who have previously downloaded/purchased the app (e.g. MyScript Calculator v1).

 

[Aggie88]

I gave the iPad to my wife today and we got everything setup. She restored from the cloud and got tired of reentering passwords so I restored from an encrypted backup I had on my windows laptop. That worked great for her. There was one app that had a download from the icloud symbol on its icon. When we clicked it, we got a message that the app was no longer available from iTunes. We didn't have the ipa file on the laptop so we couldn't reload it. She rarely used the app and it was free so she isn't concerned about it. All-in-all everything went well and my wife was ecstatic to receive it.