How to upgrade to your new iPhone without losing data

The iPhone 12 lineup has started arriving in customers’ hands. Read on for a look at how to upgrade to your new iPhone without losing any data.

This year, the iOS 14 public release was a day before the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pros launched. We’ll look at a couple of ways to approach upgrading to your new iPhone without losing any data.

Also, we’ve got a tutorial on getting up and running with your new Apple Watch. But keep in mind you’ll need to upgrade to your new iPhone first (if you got one).

• How to upgrade to your new Apple Watch without losing data

How to upgrade to your new iPhone without losing data

Option 1: iCloud or Mac

Note: If you’re running the iOS 14.2 beta you may need to either update your new iPhone 12 to that before restoring from a backup, or downgrade your existing iPhone to the latest public release before backing it up and trying to use that to restore on your new iPhone.

1. Make a fresh backup with iCloud or your Mac, which will bring over all your new settings for iOS 13 features like Dark Mode and more (tutorial)
2. Power on your new iPhone
3. Follow the onscreen prompts, then choose Restore from iCloud Backup or Restore from Mac/PC Backup
4. Sign in with iCloud and choose a backup, or plug in your new iPhone to your Mac with a Lightning cable to restore from an Mac/PC backup

Option 2: Direct transfer feature

In some situations, a local direct transfer might be the best fit. This first arrived with iOS 12.4, so as long as your current iPhone is running that or later, check out our previous coverage for how it works.

• New iPhone set up: Transfer data directly to a new iPhone wirelessly, or using a cable

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