[flyinion]

Hi guys, only been using Apple/iOS stuff for about 18 months now and I'm not sure if what I'm trying to do is possible. I was able to back up my iPhone 7 locally (secure to get passwords/etc.) and restore that to my new iPad 9.7 I just picked up. All the apps that are not iPhone specific did load. What I'm wondering is if there is some way to restore the icon layout (folders etc) that I'm using on my phone or do I just have to deal with that myself? I have a lot of apps so was hoping I wouldn't have to sort everything manually again. Thanks for any insight.

[Ledsteplin]

Go to settings > General > scroll down to Reset > Tap on reset home screen layout.

[flyinion]

Won't that reset it to default? I was hoping to get it to restore to the layout I have on the phone

[TwitchyPuppy]

Won't that reset it to default? I was hoping to get it to restore to the layout I have on the phone

Restoring your iPhone layout on your iPad only works if appa have an iPad version.

[flyinion]

Thanks guys I think I've figured out after about a half dozen attempts that this won't work. Yes the apps and data got restored, but I realized my 7+ has a 4x6 icon layout and the iPad has a 4x5 icon layout grid so there's no way for it to restore that layout. So I'll have to manually organize everything into folders/etc. it seems. Ugh I have like 6 pages of stuff to sort through now lol. With folders everything fits neatly into one page on my phone.

[scruffypig]

Thanks guys I think I've figured out after about a half dozen attempts that this won't work. Yes the apps and data got restored, but I realized my 7+ has a 4x6 icon layout and the iPad has a 4x5 icon layout grid so there's no way for it to restore that layout. So I'll have to manually organize everything into folders/etc. it seems. Ugh I have like 6 pages of stuff to sort through now lol. With folders everything fits neatly into one page on my phone.

I doubt it has anything at all to do with icon grid. You should try a second restore from backup by right clicking (control clicking) on your device in the iTunes side bar and choosing "Restore from Backup". The next dialogue box should explain that this will restore only your data and settings and not iOS firmware and since your 3rd party apps should now be already on your device, they should get put where you intended. This can't restore the grid, but it should your restore app folders where it can.



What happens in a more detailed explanation when you do a regular restore from backup with iTunes: It restores the firmware (OS) and settings first and then finally installs your 3rd party apps from Apple's App Store, but doesn't know where to put them.

[flyinion]

Thanks, yeah I already tried that and it didn't work. I also had to reinstall a number of Google apps because they didn't seem to pop up the location services options and things like that. I suspect that's just a Google issue though since the rest of the apps seemed fine. I don't know if it was just a little quirky because I've never had an iPad before and was trying to set it up off of an iPhone backup or not. I actually ended up having to set it up as new first and do an iOS update before I could get the backup to restore. I think the tablet came with 10.1 or 10.2 on it. Once I did the update that's when I tried the restore a backup a few times. Both the right click and the other way. I figured "restore iPad" would wipe it so of course didn't try that. I've mostly got everything sorted into folders now anyway so it wouldn't really be worth it to reset and try again unless I notice any issues with anything that might need a wipe to fix.

[scruffypig]

Thanks, yeah I already tried that and it didn't work. I also had to reinstall a number of Google apps because they didn't seem to pop up the location services options and things like that. I suspect that's just a Google issue though since the rest of the apps seemed fine. I don't know if it was just a little quirky because I've never had an iPad before and was trying to set it up off of an iPhone backup or not. I actually ended up having to set it up as new first and do an iOS update before I could get the backup to restore. I think the tablet came with 10.1 or 10.2 on it. Once I did the update that's when I tried the restore a backup a few times. Both the right click and the other way. I figured "restore iPad" would wipe it so of course didn't try that. I've mostly got everything sorted into folders now anyway so it wouldn't really be worth it to reset and try again unless I notice any issues with anything that might need a wipe to fix.

If you do the right click restore from backup before doing a regular restore from backup, there won't be any 3rd party apps to restore the arrangement of from your settings. So it is important to do the right click restore from backup after all your 3rd party apps are installed so the right click restore from backup can put the 3rd party apps where you intended. The right click restore from backup doesn't wipe firmware or 3rd party apps. The regular restore from backup wipes everything.

[flyinion]

Yeah I'm pretty sure I did that because I found some info about doing it like that on a few websites and it just didn't want to work. No idea why.

[scruffypig]

Yeah I'm pretty sure I did that because I found some info about doing it like that on a few websites and it just didn't want to work. No idea why.

Sorry to hear that. It has worked for me. I wish you well.

[flyinion]

Sorry to hear that. It has worked for me. I wish you well.

Thanks. Yeah I don't know why it didn't work. Maybe now that I have it set up and have a backup created in iCloud and locally I'll try wiping it and play with reloading the backups (the iPhone one still) to see if I can get it to work or something if I'm bored one weekend.