Did you just unbox a new iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro? Or perhaps you got a great deal on an earlier model? Now it’s time to make it your own.
The process of bringing over everything on your existing iPhone or Android phone seems daunting, but it can be a smooth transition.
During the setup process, you’ll be asked if you want to directly transfer apps and information from your old iPhone to your new one using Quick Start. This feature was first rolled out with iOS 12.4, so if it’s been several years since you’ve upgraded phones, it’ll be the first time you’ve seen the option. The easiest and quickest method to set up your new iPhone is to restore from a recent iCloud backup. As you walk through the initial setup process, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, sign in with your Apple Account (previously called Apple ID before iOS 18) and then pick the most recent backup of your old iPhone.
If the backup is more than a day or two old, take an extra few minutes to create a new backup. To do so, open the Settings app on your old phone, search for iCloud Backup in the Search field at the top of the screen and then click the matching result. Click Back Up Now to update the cloud backup.
Once that finishes, go back to your new iPhone and select the backup you just created as what you want to use to restore from.
Your phone will then restore your settings and preferences, and you’ll be able to start using it in about 15 minutes. It will continue downloading your installed apps in the background.
Once everything is restored, you’ll need to sign back into any accounts you added to your phone, as well as go through your apps and make sure you’re still signed in.
Apple made an Android app called Move to iOS that makes moving your messages, photos, videos and more from an Android phone to an iPhone easy.
Apple doesn’t have many Android apps listed in Google’s Play Store, but Move to iOS is one of them. This free app will connect your Android phone to a new iPhone and allow you to transfer the most important information from one phone to the other.
Here’s the entire step-by-step process, as well as some caveats, like the fact that it won’t transfer any locally stored music or PDF files.
Apple said it has redesigned Move to iOS to make it faster and easier to migrate from your Android phone to your new iPhone. Apple it has sped up Wi-Fi migration with transfers speeds up to 5GHz, and you can use Wi-Fi on your iPhone to connect to your Android phone. You can also connect your Android phone to your new iPhone with a USB-C or USB-C to Lightning cable to move everything over more quickly, Apple said.
No matter the process you used to set up your new phone, you’re in for excitement and fun as you explore what it can do.
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