Starting over: Setting up as New

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decafjava

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Ok I'd like to set up my phone as new (iPhone 6 bought in November 2014). Basically had some battery weirdness (larger than normal percentage jumps mainly and the impression of less usage). Just came back from the Apple store for the 2nd time in as many months. They said my diagnostics check out - battery is fine - as is the hardware. Think it might be a good idea to clean things up and "start over" so what do I need to do?

This is my plan to prepare:
1)Took screenshots of every page and ever folder's page - hough I'll likely rearrange and not reinstall some apps anyway.

2)I backup all my contacts to outlook on my PC should be easy to restore.

3) Messaging apps. Will iMessage be restored? What about others like Telegram or Whatsapp? I presume it depends on the app?

3)Settings and passwords will need to be entered again - that's ok - I assume I'll have to setup touch ID again?

4)Photos, all backed up on my computer by habit (no iCloud thanks). Anyway to put them back on my phone after restoring as new?

5) Music. No worries about my ripped and iTunes or elsewhere purchased and downloaded music, I backup my iTunes library anyway and it will be simple, if time consuming to put it back. I wonder about my Apple Music preferences would I need to redo them or are they linked to my account?

6) Apps: well I’ll have to sign-in to some apps again etc. Some apps use iCloud or their own cloud backup so no problem. I don’t understand why apps can’t be backed up on the Mac or PC but anyway.

Anything else I should be aware of?
 

cjmnews

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If you are starting as new, then nothing is restored.

You will lose all your messages, contacts, photos, settings and passwords.

A full restore, with restore from backup would retain this data, but then you are not starting as new then.

Your Outlook backup of Contacts is perfect.

Messaging apps will not have any old messages if you set up as new. Setting up as new make a new key for the encrypted nature of the iMessages. My guess that What's App end to end encryption would have the same effect of not being able to access the old messages due to lack of a key. Telegram would probably be the same.


Yes you will have to set up Touch ID again.

The Photos, you should have them outside of the iTunes backup, in a folder or a photo management software system so you can sync them as external photos from the computer to the phone again.

I am unsure what Music preferences you are referring to. As long as your music and playlists are in iTunes, you can sync them to the "new" phone.

Apps: If they use a separate email and password from your Apple ID then you'll need those written down somewhere. If your Game Center ID is not your Apple ID or is an alternate Apple ID you'll need that address and password too.

Other items:
Browser saved passwords will be lost. Be sure you have those written down.
iCloud Keychain will be lost. Be sure you have the data from there captured elsewhere.
Contacts, Reminders, Notes, Bookmarks, Wallet, and Calendar can be synced to iCloud, and after you get your new phone set up, connect it to iCloud to get them back. Then disable the iCloud connection and retain them on your Phone.
Hundreds of little settings like Calls on Other Devices, Text Message Forwarding, etc will need to be captured or remembered.

Have fun.
 

rockmyplimsoul

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iCloud Keychain will be lost.
All good except this one ... restoring as new does not empty out your Keychain since that is in iCloud. Once you re-establish your iCloud account on a wiped device, and then activate Keychain, your saved passwords will be returned.

I've done a fresh start a few times, more than I care to do. As mentioned, there are a myriad of things to re-do so here are a few more things to be aware of that will be lost, some not so obvious:

- Saved Wi-Fi networks
- Bluetooth pairings
- Apple Pay/ Wallet (these are not saved in iCloud)
- Health app data
- Apple Watch backup
- For multiple accounts, the default one for email, calendar, etc.
- Email signature
- Hotspot password (if you set your own)
- Cellular Data settings (may apply for VOIP usage)
 

decafjava

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Thanks for the advice and tips folks. My question about music preferences was regarding Apple Music, I know my playlists and etc. from my downloaded and ripped files are fine. When you setup an AM account it asks you what genre/artists you like using bubbles but I know now that is linked to my account and not on my phone.

I may bite the bullet this weekend but will keep a fully encrypted iTunes backup in case something goes south. I believe iTunes keeps previous backups (same ios version) if I'm not mistaken.

Just a word to thank cjmnews and rockmyplimsoul as you two (especially cjm) seem to be the most active in answering user questions here. Even if the forum has been pretty quiet this is still one of the best Apple sites around. The detailed reviews of products/accessories and especially new offerings from Apple are the best bar none.
 

rockmyplimsoul

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Thanks decaf, glad to help but you're right in that cjm does all the heavy lifting around here, I just chime in when I can.

I'm not an AM user so can't be sure, but I imagine that your genre/artist preferences are linked to your account, not your device.

About backups, yes doing a local (encrypted) backup is always best, just be sure to remember your backup's password (or save it to Keychain). When you perform a backup, you can Archive it from within iTunes to keep it from being over-written by subsequent backups. When you do that, your next backup will be a separate file, otherwise another backup will overwrite your previous one, which can be problematic if something went south with an iOS update and you don't notice it right away. Even restoring as new may overwrite a prior backup if you chose the same device name when restoring, then backup again after restoring (pretty sure on that one, but could be wrong).

To Archive a backup, just go to iTunes' preferences and on the Devices tab you'll see your local backups -- just right-click on the most recent copy (if you have multiple) and select "Archive". If you need to, you can later restore your device and select the archived backup with assurance that it will be exactly what it was when you archived it.
 

decafjava

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Well, that was ... painful. Very slow but all the most important stuff - contacts and calendars came back without a hitch. Most of my apps - including those with paid premium options linked to my Apple ID or the dev's company also came back.

A few glitches that had me scratching my head. Notes I thought I had backed up to icloud, but only a few came back. I tried looking at them with ibackupbot but none of the notes I created or edited in 2016 were there??

Really irritated some app developers can allow transfers of consumable items with cloud saves and others not...

MY music and playlists have not been transferred yet, I think to clean it up a bit - some of my older ripped music came from subpar CDs (eg. some Bach I got when a student from a budget shop with pretty poor mastering) and some other cleanups. It can be done anytime.

Left many apps off as well...so a good chance to clean up overall. Will like to avoid in the future though. Thanks again.
 

funkyg

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You have mentioned that you have used Outlook to backup contacts.
Have a look in Outlook as you can also sync Notes in there too.
I have two lots of Notes in my iPhone, the iCloud ones are personal but I have Notes synced with Outlook as well for my work stuff.
 
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