You’ve unboxed the new iPhone and the setup screen is asking how you want your data. There are four ways to move everything over — Quick Start, iCloud, a cable, and a computer — and they differ far more than most guides admit, in time, in space requirements, and in what happens if you’ve already set the phone up without thinking.
Quick answer: for most people, Quick Start (hold the new iPhone next to the old one) is the right choice — it moves everything device-to-device with no storage limits. If your Wi-Fi is slow or your old phone is nearly full, a cable between the two phones is faster and more reliable. iCloud works when the old phone is out of reach. And if you’ve already set the new iPhone up and want to redo it properly: Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings, then start over. The comparison table and each method’s steps are below.
The four ways, compared
| Method | Needs old phone? | Needs iCloud space? | Needs gear? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Start (wireless) | Yes, nearby | No | Both phones charging | Most people |
| Quick Start (cable) | Yes, cabled | No | The right USB cable | Big libraries, slow Wi-Fi |
| iCloud backup | No | Yes (enough for the backup) | Good Wi-Fi | Old phone sold/lost/traded |
| Mac/PC (Finder or Apple Devices) | No (backup on computer) | No | Computer + cable, disk space | No iCloud space, private backups |
All four routes give the same end result for your everyday data — apps, photos, messages, settings. The differences are speed, prerequisites, and what happens when something’s missing. Per Apple’s transfer guide, the setup assistant offers these exact choices on the “Transfer Your Apps & Data” screen.
Method 1: Quick Start (hold the phones together)
- Turn on the new iPhone and place it next to your current one (unlocked, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on). A setup prompt appears on the old phone; tap Continue.
- Scan the pattern shown on the new phone with the old one, authenticate with your Apple Account password.
- Follow the prompts (Face ID, Wi-Fi, activation), then pick your route: Transfer Directly from iPhone or Download from iCloud (needs iOS 17.2 or later on both phones).
- Keep both phones near each other and plugged in until the transfer finishes. Apple notes direct transfer ties up both phones for its whole duration — the time scales with how much data you’re moving and your network.
If the prompt never appears on the old phone, restart both devices and try again — that single step resolves most invisible-prompt cases, per Apple’s Quick Start guide. If it stalls on “Preparing” or loops on “move devices closer,” plug the two phones together with a cable and restart the transfer; the wired path skips the radio flakiness entirely.
Method 2: The cable (faster, boring, reliable)
During the same Quick Start flow, you can simply connect the two phones with a cable when offered. Which cable you need depends on the phones involved (Apple documents the full matrix):
- iPhone 15 or newer → iPhone 15 or newer: a USB-C charge cable — the one in the box works.
- iPhone 14 or older → iPhone 15 or newer: a USB-C to Lightning cable.
- iPhone 14 or older → iPhone 14 or older: a Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter plus a Lightning cable, with the adapter powered by a 12W or higher power adapter.
Wired transfer avoids the Wi-Fi variable completely, and it’s the dependable fix for a wireless transfer that keeps failing at 80%. Apple doesn’t publish speed figures, so test pages claiming “2× faster” are guesses — but “no longer limited by your Wi-Fi” is just physics.
Method 3: iCloud (when the old phone isn’t around)
- On the old phone (if you still have it): Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Back Up Now, and let it finish on Wi-Fi.
- Set up the new iPhone; on the “Transfer Your Apps & Data” screen choose From iCloud Backup, sign in, and pick your most recent backup by date and size.
- Stay on Wi-Fi and power. Apps and photos refill in the background — Apple’s own wording is that a full restore may take several hours or days, so don’t judge the transfer by the first ten minutes.
The catch: your backup must fit in your iCloud plan, and the free tier is 5 GB — which a real phone outgrows in week one. If the backup won’t fit and you’ve just bought a new iPhone, don’t pay yet: Apple grants temporary free iCloud storage precisely for this. On the old phone go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Prepare for New iPhone — you get enough temporary space for one backup, 21 days to restore it (extendable via “Keep My Backup Longer”), and the copy is deleted after your restore settles. One warning Apple repeats for good reason: don’t erase the old iPhone until the new one has restored.
Method 4: A Mac or PC (no iCloud at all)
If you’d rather keep backups off the cloud entirely: on a Mac, back up the old iPhone in the Finder; on Windows, use the Apple Devices app (Microsoft Store) or iTunes. Then restore onto the new phone from that backup during setup — choose “From Mac or PC” on the transfer screen. The details are in Apple’s computer-transfer guide. You need enough free disk space on the computer for the whole backup.
One encryption footnote that matters: unencrypted computer backups leave out Health and Activity data. Tick “Encrypt local backup” (and remember the password) if you wear an Apple Watch or care about your health history.
Already set the new iPhone up? Erase and redo
If you clicked through setup as “new” and now want your data, the clean fix is to erase the fresh phone and migrate properly: Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings. The phone restarts to the hello screen, and you run Quick Start or restore from a backup as above. Re-doing setup is 15 minutes of your time; manually dragging photos and contacts across one by one is an afternoon you’ll never get back.
What doesn’t transfer (know before, not after)
- WhatsApp moves its chat history through its own transfer flow, not the iPhone migration — do it inside WhatsApp settings, and see our guide if you’re ever recovering WhatsApp messages without a backup.
- Apple Watch doesn’t hop over on its own — it re-pairs to the new iPhone and restores from its own backup.
- Anything already living in iCloud — iCloud Photos, Messages in iCloud, iCloud Drive, Notes — isn’t in the backup at all; it simply re-syncs when you sign in. That’s normal, not data loss.
- Banking and authenticator apps often need re-activation or their own export steps on the new device. Do this before you wipe the old phone.
- Your eSIM transfers during setup on supported carriers (both phones on iOS 18.4 or later for quick transfer; iOS 26 moves multiple lines at once). Keep the old phone powered until activation finishes.
After the transfer: two normal things that look like problems
First, the new phone runs hot and the battery plummets for a day or two while apps re-download, photos re-index, and the library rebuilds in the background — that’s the restore finishing its work, not a fault.
If the drain seems extreme after the dust settles, our guide to iPhone battery drain after an update covers the usual suspects. Second, apps sit in “loading” with grayed icons for hours. Leave the phone on Wi-Fi overnight and it catches up. If you’d rather keep a second copy of the photo library somewhere independent while everything settles, moving photos to Google Photos gives you a parallel library during the swap.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone?
Anywhere from 20 minutes on a cable to most of a day over congested Wi-Fi, scaling with your data. The transfer itself is only half of it — background restoring of apps and photos continues for hours or days afterward on Wi-Fi. Keep both phones plugged in until the transfer phase reports done.
Can I transfer data after I’ve already set up my new iPhone?
Yes, but not in place — erase the new phone first (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings), then run the migration from the hello screen. There’s no supported way to merge a migration into an already-configured phone.
How do I transfer everything without iCloud?
Use Quick Start’s direct transfer (wireless or cabled) with both phones together, or back up to a Mac or PC with the Finder or Apple Devices app and restore from that. Neither touches your iCloud plan.
Does Quick Start transfer everything, including WhatsApp?
It transfers apps, data, photos, messages, and most settings — but WhatsApp chats need WhatsApp’s own transfer step, Apple Watch re-pairs from its own backup, and some banking apps require re-activation. Plan those three before recycling the old phone.
Why is my new iPhone stuck on “Preparing to Transfer”?
Common causes: the old phone dropped onto a weak Wi-Fi network mid-handshake, either phone went to sleep, or a launch-week iOS bug. Restart both phones, keep them on the same good Wi-Fi, plug them in, or switch to a cable transfer — which sidesteps the wireless path’s failure modes entirely.
