Other Upgrading iPhone and Apple watch

[Juanefny]

I’ll be getting the iPhone XS and Apple Watch series 4 delivered today. I’ve never upgraded both the phone and the watch on the same day before.
Which one should I set up first? Should I set up the iPhone and then sync the new watch with the new phone, or should I set up the new iPhone and meanwhile sync the new watch to the old iphone?

 

[Newtons Apple]

I use iTunes

I’ll be getting the iPhone XS and Apple Watch series 4 delivered today. I’ve never upgraded both the phone and the watch on the same day before.
Which one should I set up first? Should I set up the iPhone and then sync the new watch with the new phone, or should I set up the new iPhone and meanwhile sync the new watch to the old iphone?

I use itunes.

First unpair your current watch from old phone if you have one paired.
Do an ENCRYPTED iTune back up with old phone
Do a restore to your new phone.
pair your new watch with your new phone.

 

[adammull]

[doublepost=1537545376][/doublepost]

I use iTunes


I use itunes.

First unpair your current watch from old phone if you have one paired.
Do an ENCRYPTED iTune back up with old phone
Do a restore to your new phone.
pair your new watch with your new phone.

Why do some people insist on using iTunes? Explain it to me like I'm 5. I haven't even opened iTunes in like 5 years.

 

[Newtons Apple]

[doublepost=1537545376][/doublepost]

Why do some people insist on using iTunes? Explain it to me like I'm 5. I haven't even opened iTunes in like 5 years.

I use the cloud for daily back ups but iTunes once a week.

iTunes will restore a phone quicker and completely in only a few minutes with all passwords and health data ready to do. It took way too long using the cloud, the poor phone is also trying to index at the same time.

You do not need to use iTunes but it is faster and complete!

 

[adammull]

I use the cloud for daily back ups but iTunes once a week.

iTunes will restore a phone quicker and completely in only a few minutes with all passwords and health data ready to do. It took way too long using the cloud, the poor phone is also trying to index at the same time.

You do not need to use iTunes but it is faster and complete!

Thanks! Makes sense. I'm not a backup guy but that makes sense.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Thanks! Makes sense. I'm not a backup guy but that makes sense.

You should at least use the cloud. No effort required, it will back up every night when plugged in

 

[adammull]

You should at least use the cloud. No effort required, it will back up every night when plugged in

No I do, but I'm a clean install guy. Everything I care about is tied to my AppleID. Contacts, email, passwords, bookmarks, music, movies. Lol They've made it easy.

 

[TimFL1]

Use iCloud Backup, it's the easiest method.

Also, use the device setup feature they introduced in iOS 11. I did it today (for my X to XS transition), it is as painless as it gets and super fast (no need to enter AppleID credentials or set up Wifi etc.). Bonus points: you can even use the setup feature without grabbing a backup (for the start from scratch crowd)!

Follow these steps and you're golden:
- Open the Settings app on your old phone, go to iCloud settings and make sure all your data toggles are turned on (Health, Messages and so on) to ensure they all get backed up and synced properly
- Unpair Apple Watch from your old phone (this is essential, it'll reset your Watch for resale and grab a backup that is stored on your phone for future use)
- Hold your old iPhone up to your new iPhone and it should show a popup card for device setup
- On your new iPhone it should ask you whether you want to restore via an iCloud backup -> it gives you several options, the most prominent one forces an iCloud backup on your old iPhone and waits for that to complete before restoring to the freshly taken backup
- Finish the new iPhone setup process (a few confirmations for a few features)
- Your iPhone will pull data from iCloud and restore / index stuff (probably a good idea to hook it up to a charger to get things done quicker -> photos indexing etc)

Now onto your Watch:
- Hold your new Watch near your iPhone and you should see a card pop up to initiate the pairing process (or open the Watch app on your iPhone if nothing seems to happen)
- Pick the most recent Watch backup (or start from scratch, health data should be securely stored in iCloud)
- Enjoy your Watch

 

[Juanefny]

Use iCloud Backup, it's the easiest method.

Also, use the device setup feature they introduced in iOS 11. I did it today (for my X to XS transition), it is as painless as it gets and super fast (no need to enter AppleID credentials or set up Wifi etc.). Bonus points: you can even use the setup feature without grabbing a backup (for the start from scratch crowd)!

Follow these steps and you're golden:
- Open the Settings app on your old phone, go to iCloud settings and make sure all your data toggles are turned on (Health, Messages and so on) to ensure they all get backed up and synced properly
- Unpair Apple Watch from your old phone (this is essential, it'll reset your Watch for resale and grab a backup that is stored on your phone for future use)
- Hold your old iPhone up to your new iPhone and it should show a popup card for device setup
- On your new iPhone it should ask you whether you want to restore via an iCloud backup -> it gives you several options, the most prominent one forces an iCloud backup on your old iPhone and waits for that to complete before restoring to the freshly taken backup
- Finish the new iPhone setup process (a few confirmations for a few features)
- Your iPhone will pull data from iCloud and restore / index stuff (probably a good idea to hook it up to a charger to get things done quicker -> photos indexing etc)

Now onto your Watch:
- Hold your new Watch near your iPhone and you should see a card pop up to initiate the pairing process (or open the Watch app on your iPhone if nothing seems to happen)
- Pick the most recent Watch backup (or start from scratch, health data should be securely stored in iCloud)
- Enjoy your Watch

Wow! I’m glad I asked and I’m sooo thankful for your amazing and thorough response! I do have one quick question. when you say “hold your new watch near your iphone” I’m assuming you mean the new one?

 

[derekg]

I'm on the same boat (upgrading iPhone and watch) and was considering the same process described here, except I have an LTE watch (both my current series 3 and new series 4). Here's where I have conflicting information: do I need to remove the cellular plan or not during unpair process of old watch? I simply want to end up with the same cellular plan on the new watch (I'm also considering re-pairing the old watch with the new phone first to make sure everything works fine, and then do the whole watch upgrade process).

 

[jarrodldavis]

I’m having an issue with setting up my Watch on my new phone. I selected the backup I created when I unpaired my old watch, but it’s asking for all of the settings like it’s setting up a new Watch. Should I wait until the iCloud restore is fully complete or is there some other issue I need to investigate? I did this last year with Series 3 and iPhone 8 and I don’t remember it being an issue immediately pairing the new Watch after comp,eating the initial new phone setup.

EDIT: it looks like I just had to wait for some of the iCloud Health data to restore. The setup appears to be working better now.

 

[Jordan921]

I use the cloud for daily back ups but iTunes once a week.

iTunes will restore a phone quicker and completely in only a few minutes with all passwords and health data ready to do. It took way too long using the cloud, the poor phone is also trying to index at the same time.

You do not need to use iTunes but it is faster and complete!

Do you happen to know if I can sort my photos in the cloud? Like right now I have iPhoto’s on my Mac and when I sync my new photos to my MacBook Air I like to sort them into folder that’s I have. With iCloud photos will I be able to sort them into pre existing folders I have already? Don’t know how long my MacBook Air is gonna last and kinda wanna just use the cloud.

 

[TimFL1]

Wow! I’m glad I asked and I’m sooo thankful for your amazing and thorough response! I do have one quick question. when you say “hold your new watch near your iphone” I’m assuming you mean the new one?

Yes, you first do the iPhone upgrade and then from there on out "iPhone" refers to the new one.