You have got a new iPhone in the box and an old one in your hand, and for the next hour only one question matters: does everything actually make it across. Knowing how to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone is not the hard part. Apple has made the button obvious enough that most people get through it without reading anything.
The hard part is the short list of things that quietly stay behind while the progress bar tells you it all went fine. In my experience it is almost never the photos. It is the Health data that disappears because of one unticked box, the eSIM that leaves you with no signal on a Monday morning, and the Apple Watch that decides it wants setting up from scratch.
So this is the version I wish the top results gave you. Three ways to move your data, which one I would actually use, the free storage lifeline Apple barely advertises, and the four things you have to sort out separately.
How to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone: the three routes
Every guide lists the same three routes, and then leaves you to guess which is right for you. They are not interchangeable. The difference is how long you are without a working phone, and how much iCloud storage you need to have spare.
Quick Start, phone to phone: the one I use
Turn the new iPhone on and hold it near the old one with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on. Apple's Quick Start instructions take you from there. The choice that matters comes a few screens in, when it asks where the data should come from: an iCloud backup, or straight across from the phone in your other hand.
Direct is the better answer for most people. Nothing has to be uploaded first, nothing depends on your broadband, and the copy is complete rather than a backup plus a long tail of downloads. The cost is that both phones are tied up. Apple's own wording is that Quick Start "occupies both devices", and it is not being dramatic - keep the pair together and plugged in until it finishes.
One exception worth knowing about: if the new iPhone is enrolled in Apple School Manager or Apple Business Manager, Quick Start is off the table entirely and your IT team owns the process instead.
Restoring from an iCloud backup
This one frees your old phone the moment the backup is done, which matters if you are handing it over or posting it the same day. The trade-off is that your new iPhone comes to life looking finished while apps are still arriving in the background for hours. Photos in particular trickle down at whatever pace iCloud feels like.
It also depends entirely on having enough iCloud storage to hold a full backup, which is where most people come unstuck. More on that in a moment.
A computer backup through Finder or Apple Devices
The forgotten option, and the fastest one if you have a genuinely enormous photo library. You back up over a cable, then choose Restore from Mac or PC on the new phone. Apple's guide to this route is straightforward, and it never touches iCloud, so storage limits do not apply.
It has one trap in it, and it is a bad one. I will come back to it below, because it is the single most common way people lose years of data without noticing for weeks.
The 5GB problem, and the 21 free days Apple does not advertise
The free iCloud tier is 5GB. A phone that has been in use for three years is not backing up into 5GB. So the standard advice at this point is to go and pay for storage you did not want, in the ten minutes before you wanted to set up your phone.
You do not have to. Apple gives you temporary iCloud storage for exactly this situation: enough to hold a full backup, free, when you are moving to a new iPhone or iPad. You turn it on from Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Get Started.
The terms are more generous than you would expect. You get 21 days to restore that backup onto the new phone, and you can ask for another 21 if the new one is delayed. Once you have restored it, the temporary backup sticks around for seven more days before it is deleted for good.
None of the pages currently ranking for this search mention it. Apple's own page on it was last updated in October 2024 and is buried several clicks from anywhere you would naturally look. It is the single most useful thing on this list.
What does not come across
Four things need handling separately. Three of them will not warn you.
Health and Activity data, if your computer backup is not encrypted
This is the trap in the Finder route. Apple states it plainly on its own support page: an unencrypted backup leaves your Health and Activity data behind, from both the iPhone and any Apple Watch. No error, no prompt, no second chance once the old phone is wiped.
The fix is one tick box. Select Encrypt local backup before you run the backup, set a password, and write it down somewhere real. There is no recovery process for a forgotten backup password - the backup simply becomes unreadable.
Years of workouts, cycle tracking, medications and health records live in that database. It is worth thirty seconds of care.
Your eSIM
Physical SIMs are a non-issue: move the tray across. eSIMs need eSIM Quick Transfer, and Apple's requirements are specific - iOS 18.4 or later on both phones, both signed into the same Apple Account, Bluetooth on, and the old phone open at the Home Screen rather than sitting locked.
If it does not offer itself during setup, you can start it afterwards from Settings, Mobile, then Add eSIM and Transfer From Nearby iPhone.
The catch is that not every network supports it. When yours does not, you get handed off to the provider's own app or website mid-setup, sometimes waiting on a QR code you have to request. Apple keeps the list of providers that support the transfer. Check yours the night before rather than at 8am on a work day, and never wipe the old iPhone until the new one is showing bars.
Your Apple Watch
Order matters here. Apple's sequence is: update both phones, back up the old iPhone, set up the new iPhone, and only then open the Watch app. Backing up the iPhone backs up the Watch along with it.
If the new phone asks you to pair a watch that is already paired to the old one, unpair it from the old phone first. Unpairing takes a fresh backup on the way out, which is what gets restored when you pair again. And if you are using a computer backup, that encryption tick box decides whether your Watch history survives too.
Authenticator apps, banking apps and anything with its own login
This one is not Apple's fault, which is why no Apple support page will save you. Authenticator apps that do not sync to iCloud arrive on the new phone completely empty, and the accounts inside them are the accounts you need in order to fix the problem. That is a bad loop to be in.
Export or re-enrol your codes while the old phone still works. Banking apps will usually just make you re-verify, which is fine, but do it before you wipe anything.
The order I would do it in
If you want the short version, this is the sequence that avoids every problem above:
- Update both phones to the same iOS version the night before.
- Check whether your network supports eSIM Quick Transfer.
- Export or re-enrol your authenticator codes while the old phone is still yours.
- Turn on temporary iCloud storage if your backup will not fit in 5GB, or plug into a computer and tick Encrypt local backup.
- Run Quick Start with both phones plugged in and leave them alone.
- Move the eSIM, then confirm you have signal and can make a call.
- Open the Watch app, then check Health has your history in it.
- Only now wipe the old iPhone.
That last line is the one people get wrong. The old phone is your only rollback, and it stops being one the moment you erase it.
Is it worth paying for iCloud+ just to move?
Usually not. UK iCloud+ pricing today is 99p a month for 50GB, £2.99 for 200GB and £8.99 for 2TB, from apple.com/uk. So the tempting move is to buy one month of 200GB, restore, and cancel.
My arithmetic on that: £2.99 buys you roughly four taps of convenience over the free temporary storage, which is sized for the job and lasts three weeks. If you cancel straight after, you have paid for nothing. If you were going to keep paying anyway because your phone nags you about backups every week, then it is £2.99 well spent and the move is just a good excuse.
The one case where I would pay first is a very large photo library on slow broadband, where you want the backup running for days in advance rather than in a panic. If that is you, the full breakdown of UK iCloud storage prices is worth a look before you pick a tier.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone?
A direct phone-to-phone transfer on a well-used 256GB device typically runs somewhere between 20 minutes and an hour, and both phones are unusable for the duration. An iCloud restore hands you a working phone much sooner, but apps and photos keep downloading for hours afterwards, so do not judge it by the first ten minutes.
Can I transfer data to a new iPhone after I have already set it up?
Not directly, which is why so many people search for it. Quick Start only runs during initial setup, so the honest answer is to back up the new phone if anything on it matters, then go to Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings, and run setup again properly. It feels drastic and it takes twenty minutes, but it is cleaner than manually chasing data app by app.
How long should I keep the old iPhone?
Until you have confirmed four things: Health has your history, the eSIM is live and calling, the Watch has paired, and your authenticator codes work. Give it a week of normal use. Trade-in quotes have their own clock running, so check that window before you decide to sit on it much longer than that.
My take
The transfer itself is a solved problem. Quick Start, plugged in, both phones left alone, and you will be fine. What is not solved is that Apple documents the four failure points on four separate pages, none of which you will find while standing in a shop with a new phone in your hand.
So do the boring twenty minutes the night before: check the eSIM, sort the authenticators, and either turn on temporary storage or tick the encryption box. Get those right and the actual transfer is a progress bar you can ignore.
Source: Use Quick Start to transfer data to a new iPhone or iPad, Apple Support
The Lovelock Log
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