Scenario
How to clone an iPhone to a new iPhone
“My iPhone 8 is too old and the system runs slow. With the 64GB storage, I can save only a few pictures, videos and I can’t install enough apps, too, so I want to change my iPhone into iPhone 12 with 256GB. I want to know, how to clone an iPhone to a new iPhone easily? Because I want to keep my old contacts, messages, pictures and so on.”
- Question from {macrumors.com}
Why do you want to clone an iPhone?
Usually, you will need to clone an iPhone mainly for the following main reasons:
◆ You just buy a new iPhone, like the iPhone 14/13/12/11/XR/XS. And you would like to keep all the old data like photos, videos, contacts, apps on the new device.
◆ After you input the wrong password many times, your iPhone is disabled. Before you erase your iPhone, you must clone the locked iPhone.
◆ Your iPhone may get stolen unexpectedly, and to protect your precious personal information, it would be a wise move to back it up ahead of time.
How to clone an iPhone effectively with 3 methods
Normally, iPhone can finish the clone job itself. The internal tools - iCloud and iTunes can do the clone job. Unfortunately, you will fail to clone iPhone when you tried to work with iCloud or iTunes. So, you can turn to another way to do the clone, such as third-party software like FoneTool
Method 1. Clone an iPhone with iCloud
We all know that iCloud is one of the internal tools of iPhone. We can use iCloud to clone the iPhone, but there is just it has 5 GB of storage, and this method requires a lot of time to download the package. And before you can clone the content from the old iPhone to the new device, the iCloud backup must have been enabled.
✍ Note:
1. You can’t use iCloud to clone all the content, iCloud can only clone some important data, such as contacts, SMS, pictures, and so on.
2. Please make your iCloud storage have enough space. If your iCloud storage is full, please turn to method 2 or method 3.
1. After you turn on the new device, you can follow the screenshots to get to the App & Data screen.
2. Then choose the “Restore from iCloud Backup”, tap your Apple ID and Password to sign in to your iCloud account.
3. At last, choose the backup to restore your iPhone.
With only three steps you can restore your data from old iPhone to the new one.
Method 2. clone an iPhone with iTunes
With the help of iTunes, you can also clone your iOS device. To clone your iPhone with iTunes, you must connect the iPhone with your computer, and backup the iPhone data on the computer. Compared with iCloud, you need a shorter time to do the clone. And you can clone all the data, including some settings.
Firstly, you must backup your old device to the iTunes library. Then launch iTunes, connect the old iPhone to your PC/MAC via a USB cable.
Secondly, click “Device icon > Summary > Back Up Now”.
After the backup, you can restore it now.
Step 1. Connect your new device to the PC.
Step 2. Click on the device in iTunes, and click “Summary > Restore Backup”.
Step 3. Then choose the correct backup and click “Restore”.
Method 3. Professional iOS transfer tool to clone an iPhone to another in one click
iCloud and iTunes are the traditional ways to backup and restore data from one iDevice to another. They usually work well. But you may fail to clone iPhone data because of iCloud storage full or other reasons. Besides, lots of users reported that iTunes runs slow when backup and restoring iPhone. And it does not support selectively backup and restoring data if you don't want to migrate all content.
Here, we would like to recommend a professional and powerful iOS cloning tool named FoneTool. It is easy-to-use software. You can easily and quickly migrate all content, like app settings, personal data, etc. from an iPhone to another iPhone. Besides, it supports custom backup allowing you to selectively transfer items like "Photos", "Videos", "Messages", and "Contacts" to another iPhone/iPad.
Now, click the download button to download and install this tool. Refer to the following content to see how to clone an iPhone to a new iPhone.
Directly clone all iPhone content:
Step 1. Connect your old and new iPhone with USB cables. Tap “Trust This Computer“ on your iPhone.
Step 2. Run FoneTool. And click "Phone Transfer" on the main interface. Move the mouse to "iPhone to iPhone" transfer mode, and click "Start Transfer".
✍Note: If there is only one USB data cable, you can use the "Full Backup" function in FoneTool to back up the whole iPhone to your computer, and then "Restore" to the new iPhone to complete the cloning process.
Step 3. Make sure the source iPhone and the destination iPhone are placed in the correct places. Then click "Start Transfer".
Then wait for the process to get finished.
Selectively clone data from one iPhone to another
Step 1. Run FoneTool. Choose "Phone Transfer“ on the left pane> choose "Selective Backup”.
Step 2. Choose the file types you need, and you can select the specific items. Then click "OK".
Step 3. You can click "Backup Storage Path" to decide where to save the backup files. Click "Start Backup" button.
Step 4. When the backup is finished. Disconnect the old device, and connect the targeted iPhone. Then on the "Backup History" to restore backup to the targeted device.
Conclusion
Now, you have known how to clone an iPhone to another iPhone easily. You can choose one according to your need.
iCloud requires only a WIFI to build the connection, but it takes more time to clone the files and restore them. iTunes needs a shorter time, but the operation is too complex. By contrast, FoneTool is easier to use and provides a much fast transfer speed, and it provides 2 methods of sending iPhone data to meet different demands. And it also helps you select data to clone, like transfer contacts from iPhone to iPhone.
FoneTool Runs Perfectly on
iOS Versions
- iOS 16/15/14/13/12/11 and former
- iPadOS 16/15/14/13/12/11 and former
iOS Devices
- iPhone 14/14 Pro (Max), 13/13 mini/Pro (Max), iPhone 12/12 mini/Pro (Max), iPhone 11/11 Pro (Max)
- iPhone X/XR/XS/XS Max, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 6/6s/6s Plus
- iPhone SE (1st, 2nd, 3rd generations)
- iPod touch 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
- All models of iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad Pro and iPad