Start up as new phone or restore from iCloud?

[BlazingGold]

So I just spent a few hours on the phone with Apple. I called about 2 issues :

1.) Our 2 new iPhone 6+s on the AT&T account seem to be using cell data when connected to wifi. iMessage seems to be the culprit for some reason
2.) Overall lag and sluggishness when multitasking and opening apps in general compared to my iPhone 5 running iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s running iOS 8

That being said.....When setting up our iPhone 6+s on release day, we restored from iCloud backup and did not set up as new. In general, the phone was laggy and stuttered and quite frankly.....didn't function, in my opinion, like Apple's new flagship top of the line phone should. Eventually, I just gave up and assumed it was just either an issue with iOS 8, or possibly even the hardware unable to handle itself given 1gb RAM.

HOWEVER, the Apple rep advised me to do a restore through iTunes, refreshed the software and all, and then once the iPhone restarted and was given the option to "set up as new phone" or "restore from backup", we chose to set it up as new phone. Lo and behold, the phone immediately seemed zippier and peppier. Double clicking the home button opened up the multitasking menu immediately with no lag! Multiple Safari tabs opened without issues. I used it for a good 15 minutes to make sure I wasn't imagining it.....It was true. It ran perfectly smooth as butter !

But, this was to test, as now I needed to get back all of my photos, apps, contacts, notes, calendars, etc. So, with the rep on the phone, we chose to erase all content again and restore it from iCloud backup. Unfortunately, now it is back to how it was before I called. Noticeably slower and laggy compared to how it was when set up as a new phone ! No doubts here, no imagining it. It was DEFINITELY functioning much better like a brand new top of the line phone should be. So here's the dilemma. How can I set it up as a new phone again, yet still keep all of my info that I want to keep ?! And another thing.....what exactly is it about restoring from iCloud that makes it run so much slower ? Is a part of the backup corrupted, and if so, which part ? An app? A photo file? This is a tough one and I'm not sure what to do exactly. They weren't too sure either

 

[bamf-hacker]

You can backup all your data to iTunes then wipe and restore as new. Reinstall all your apps and configure all your settings again.

Backups can contain cruft from all the iOS installs before it. Sometimes that can cause issues. I usually reninstall as new once a year just to clean shop.

 

[Just_Me_D]

In my personal opinion and experience, setting up as new, although an inconvenience, almost always yield better performance. Technically speaking, iOS is designed to run smoothly when restoring from a backup, and in a majority of instances, it does. Having said that, there are times when corrupt settings, apps, and even a bad update can create an awful user experience, and when you restore from a backup, that bad experience can carry over. With that in mind, it's always good to have your precious data backed up to a computer, external drive or to a cloud service like Dropbox where you can easily put it back on the device, if necessary. Calendars, contacts, reminders and notes (depending on the email services) can easily be restored by simply configuring the service with the device. That is why I opted to make iCloud my primary email account. It contains my calendars, reminders, notes, contacts that I never have to worry about losing. Copies of my documents are often kept via Dropbox, certain notes are kept via Evernote and my photos and videos are kept via Microsoft OneDrive. I also have copies kept on an external drive. So you see, when prepared, restoring as new can be a great thing. The only thing that I lose, and it's not a big deal for me, is game data (with the exception of those that have an option to save to iCloud.

 

[BlazingGold]

You can backup all your data to iTunes then wipe and restore as new. Reinstall all your apps and configure all your settings again.

Backups can contain cruft from all the iOS installs before it. Sometimes that can cause issues. I usually reninstall as new once a year just to clean shop.

How exactly can I do this ? I'm not good with iTunes because I've avoided it for years lol. What I basically want to do is setup as a new phone but still have my photos, contacts, Safari bookmarks and notes. The apps I can re download. My fear though is that there is something wrong with something in some part of the data causing the lag. No way to really isolate the issue ? Thanks in advance!

Also, if I back up everything to iTunes but want to set up the iPhone 6 plus as new, how then would I get the contacts, photos, etc back on the phone?

 

[Ledsteplin]

How exactly can I do this ? I'm not good with iTunes because I've avoided it for years lol. What I basically want to do is setup as a new phone but still have my photos, contacts, Safari bookmarks and notes. The apps I can re download. My fear though is that there is something wrong with something in some part of the data causing the lag. No way to really isolate the issue ? Thanks in advance!

Also, if I back up everything to iTunes but want to set up the iPhone 6 plus as new, how then would I get the contacts, photos, etc back on the phone?

You can still get your contacts and calendar info from iCloud. Put your photos in Box, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. Then sign in to them on the new iPhones. Your photos will be there. Or in iTunes.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

 

[Shan S.]

Another thing I have done that seems to work really well is to restore from backup (my backup is in iCloud)... And then do a reset of all SETTINGS.

By doing this you get all your content, apps, and photos back. However you set the operating system settings back to default IOS 8.x.

This way you are erasing any old settings that may be causing issues with ios8. Which can cause the stuttering, etc.

So you will have to enter password, and all your settings again...

But the performance will be like a new phone.

Best way of setting up a new iPhone.

Shan

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BlazingGold]

You can still get your contacts and calendar info from iCloud. Put your photos in Box, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive. Then sign in to them on the new iPhones. Your photos will be there. Or in iTunes.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

Ok I am going to try to just re download all of the apps after I set up as new. The photos I am going to do a backup to OneDrive app (hopefully secure!) The notes I'm going to try to email the important ones to myself. Only issue is.....How can I pull my phone contacts from iCloud without having to choose the restore from iCloud backup option when setting up the phone as new. I can't seem to find an option in iCloud to just pull certain things such as contacts

 

[Shan S.]

Restore from the iCloud backup is all or nothing... As you stated only after the reset.

Unfortunately you can't choose what to restore.



Shan

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

All this can be backed up to your icloud and restored even when restored as new.

It is the backup file on icloud that you're restoring that just seems to be the problem.

View attachment 67672

 

[qbnkelt]

What ab awesome thread. Learned a lot here.
I always restore from an iTunes backup but this is a very informative read.
Sent from my SUPER HOT Nokia Lumia 1520 via Tapatalk

 

[pink2]

I wish there was a way to save text/iMessages threads separately like you can with other important sections (notes/contacts/etc.)

 

[Nanci]

Don't forget to back-up your audiobooks and ringtones to iTunes on a computer, because you can only download those once, unlike apps and music/TV/movies. (Apple was kind enough to restore mine, though, after I had to do an emergency restore of my phone.)

 

[konjis1]

So my mother wants the iPhone 6 (which i currently have) and i will get her iPhone 6 plus when it comes in (she currently has an iPhone 5). Are these the steps i need to follow to get both phones back up and running:

1. Take iCloud backups of both the the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5
2. "Erase all Contents and Settings" on the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5
3. Insert the iPhone 6 sim card into the new iPhone 6 plus and insert the iPhone 5 sim card into the iPhone 6
4. Restore each phone from iCloud backup? Will i be prompted to do so?
5. Use phones

Do i have this correct?

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

I'm confused about who is getting what phone, but here's an example.

If you have a 6 you're going to give to her to upgrade from her 5, then she'll do an iCloud backup of her 5 and restore it to the 6 you gave her. This of course after you've erased all contents and settings from the 6. And yes. All she has to do is pop her sim card from her 5 to the 6.

 

[bgl321]

Ok I am going to try to just re download all of the apps after I set up as new. The photos I am going to do a backup to OneDrive app (hopefully secure!) The notes I'm going to try to email the important ones to myself. Only issue is.....How can I pull my phone contacts from iCloud without having to choose the restore from iCloud backup option when setting up the phone as new. I can't seem to find an option in iCloud to just pull certain things such as contacts

Go to settings, then iCloud. When you sign in here and turn on your contacts on they should appear. Let me know if that works.

 

[BlazingGold]

So, I've done what you all recommended and deleted all content and settings, set up as new phone, and restored my contacts, notes, etc (Thank you Heisenberg and Led).....all but the photos and apps. Photos I now have stored on Microsoft onedrive (I highly recommend it - thank you JustMe) and apps I screenshotted to download again, weeding through what I really needed anyway.

So, the phone definitely feels less laggy and more responsive. Hopefully it also fixes the extreme data use issue, which I'll be able to tell in a day or two. Funny thing is, despite being laggy, my phone never really crashed. Since doing this clean restart as new phone, it has crashed twice in a few hours. As far as battery life, I don't think it made a difference with that. All in all I'm happy I did it though

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

Deleting all content and settings may or may not resolve an OS issue.

If you're starting off as new again, you might as well restore the phone as new on iTunes so that it installs a fresh iOS 8.0.2 and THEN set up as new after that. This way you're guaranteed to start off fresh.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Deleting all content and settings may or may not resolve an OS issue.

If you're starting off as new again, you might as well restore the phone as new on iTunes so that it installs a fresh iOS 8.0.2 and THEN set up as new after that. This way you're guaranteed to start off fresh.

Yep, and you beat me to it...

 

[Just_Me_D]

Photos I now have stored on Microsoft onedrive (I highly recommend it - thank you JustMe)

You're very welcome...

 

[BlazingGold]

Deleting all content and settings may or may not resolve an OS issue.

If you're starting off as new again, you might as well restore the phone as new on iTunes so that it installs a fresh iOS 8.0.2 and THEN set up as new after that. This way you're guaranteed to start off fresh.

Yeah that probably would have been better. Well I did speak to AppleCare again this morning as they called back to research the data use issue. I advised them that I did a wipe and start as new phone. They sent me a link that I clicked on to run a diagnostic report and it showed that I had no issues. I guess that means it's clear ? Though obviously there's some type of issue of its crashing. Say I wait until 8.0.3 and install that OTA through my phone, will that also be a fresh new OS that you were speaking of ? Or would that just still carry the same issue I have, assuming there is one?