Restore All Settings & Content to iPhone from iTunes/iCloud/Old iPhone

Last Updated on April 20, 2023 by Jack Robertson

Do you fancy the new iPhone 14? Go get it. And after the purchase, don’t forget to restore the data from the previous iPhone or backup files.

And thanks to Apple’s services, we can restore data from a previous iTunes/iCloud backup or even directly from your old iPhone. Simply follow the methods below and get your new iPhone functional.

Tip:

If you happen to reset your iPhone to fix some bugs and plan to restore this iPhone from backup, this article will help you do that no matter you have a PC around or not.

Part 1: Restore iPhone from Backup (iTunes or iCloud)

If you are someone that backs up your data pretty often, then restoring your iPhone is not a thing to you.

Pay attention that we have two options for iPhone backup, iTunes or Finder on computer and iCloud. So, below, I will show you the official methods to restore your iPhone.

Tip: iTunes and iCloud won't let you do any selection when you restore iPhone from them. You can only restore the whole backup file to your iPhone. All data, important and useless, will be all included. So, if you want a flexible restoration, try Method 3 - using a backup extrator.

Method 1: How to Restore iPhone from iTunes/Finder on Computer(PC or Mac)

It's pretty easy to restore data from your iTunes backup, or for macOS 10.15 and newer users, from Finder backup.

Tip: Apple has removed iTunes from macOS 10.15 (Catalina), so you will never find iTunes again on latest macOS like Monterey or newer. Instead, you will find Finder, the new backup option of Apple.

Before we start, there's one thing you need to know. If you restore iPhone from an iTunes or Finder backup, all the current data on your iPhone will be replaced by the backup. Everything like phone settings, apps, photos, videos, music, etc will be all gone. And what you find is the data and settings of the backup.

If this is okay to you, let's move on to the steps.

Step 1: Sync iPhone to PC/Mac

Take out a USB lightning and connect your iPhone to your PC or Mac. Once connected, iTunes on your computer will detect the device and launch automatically.

For Monterey, Big Sur, and Catalina users, you need to launch a Finder window yourself with this keyboard shortcut: Option+Command+Space.

Step 2: Start to restore

On iTunes screen, enter the Summary page, click Restore Backup. Choose the iTunes backup files on this PC and restore it back to your iPhone.

For Finder, simply choose the your device's name from the left panel. Then, look at the right, click the Restore Backup button and choose the target backup to restore your iPhone.

If you set a password to this backup before, enter the password and finish the bakcup then.

Then, wait for the restoration to complete. When it's done, you will see that this iPhone is filled with the data of the backup file.

Method 2: Restore your iPhone from iCloud Backup

To restore iPhone from iCloud backup, we can do it without a computer. But you need to make sure your iPhone is connected to a stable Wi-Fi network so that iCloud will restore the data on your iPhone from the cloud storage.

Step 1: Put your iPhone to factory settings

You need to reset your iPhone first before restoring the iCloud backup on it.

Tip: Try this path on your iPhone: Settings app - General - Reset - Reset All Content and Settings.

Step 2: Activate your iPhone

After finishing the reset, power on your iPhone. Choose the language after the Hello screen. Next, connect to a stable Wi-Fi network and follow the on-screen instruction to activate the iPhone.

Step 3: Restore the iCloud backup to iPhone

When it comes to the “App & Data” screen, choose to Restore from iCloud Backup. Sign in to your iCloud account on this iPhone as required.

After the login, choose the latest backup from the list. Wait for the restoration to finish. Then, continue to activate the iPhone.

Method 3: Restore iPhone from iTunes or iCloud More Flexibly

Restoring data from iTunes or iCloud on your iPhone is not really a good choice. After all, you may suffer from data loss. And your iPhone will be loaded with useless data and old settings.

To get rid of these flaws, you can find a backup extractor online to restore data from iTunes or iCloud backup without reset. To find out more, keep on reading.

Choose an iTunes/iCloud Backup Extractor to Restore Backup on iPhone Flexibly

How do you restore backup on iPhone without reset? Use echoshare iOS Data Recovery. It’s an all-rounded backup extractor that helps you restore anything you want from your backup files.

While restoring data from iCloud need a factory reset, you can simply use echoshare to restore any data like doing a regular transfer. All you need is to plug your iPhone in, do some clicks, not reset is required.

Moreover, it ensures users do a flexible restore. You’re able to choose the exact data or files and restore them to your iPhone without loading the whole backup. This helps a lot when you only need some data from the backup, not all of it.

To warp up, with echoshare iOS Data Recovery. You can have a quick and selective restoration. No reset is needed and only restore the important data! Interested? Come and give it a go.

Steps to Restore iTunes/iCloud Backup on iPhone without Reset

Step 1: Download and install echoshare iOS Data Recovery on a computer. Launch it and choose iOS Data Recovery from the three tabs on the interface.

Recover with Win NOW Recover with Mac NOW Recover with Win NOW Recover with Mac NOW

Step 2: Take out a USB cable, connect your iPhone and the computer. Complete the Trust This Computer process if prompted.

Step 3: Next, it’s time to make your choice. On the interface of the program, there’re three options for you:

  • Recover from iOS Device: Recover deleted, lost, invisible data directly from iPhone.
  • Recover from iTunes Backup: Restore data from iTunes backup files.
  • Recover from iCloud Backup: Extract data from iCloud backup.

So, choose the second or third option based on what backup file you have. Below, I will take Recover from iTunes Backup as an example. For those iCloud users,don’t worry, the steps are basically the same and the program is so easy to use as the interface is simple and intuitive.

Step 4:

After clicking that option, the program will display all the saved iTunes backup files on this computer.

Choose the one that you need based on the date and name. And click Start to scan this file.

Step 5: When the scan is complete, all the data inside this iTunes backup will be listed. Select the data you need to click Recover.

Part 2: Restore iPhone from Old iPhone

If you buy a new iPhone and still have the old iPhone in hand, simply restore the data to the new one from the old one.

Apple has released an update for iOS 12.4 and newer - while setting up an iPhone, users can restore data to this iPhone from another. Check this out:

Step 1: Connect the iPhones to the same Wi-Fi network

On the old iPhone, go to Settings and Wi-Fi, connect to a stable one. Also, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap on the Bluetooth to keep it on.

Then, power on the new iPhone and start to activate it. After selecting the language, connect it to the same Wi-Fi network.

Step 2: Set up the iPhone

Next, on the new iPhone, it will ask you how you want to set up this iPhone - Set Up Manually or set up with another iPhone.

Bring two iPhones close and on your iPhone, a pop-up that says “Set Up New iPhone” appears, tap the Continue button on your old iPhone.

Tip: If you can’t see the pop-up, lock your old iPhone and then unlock it, you’re supposed to see that.

Step 3: Restore data from old iPhone to new iPhone

When done, your old iPhone will start syncing all the settings to the new iPhone. It will stop on the Enter Passcode of Your Other iPhone. Here, you need to enter the passcode of your old iPhone to proceed.

Next, your new iPhone will stop at the Transfer Your Data screen, there, choose Transfer from iPhone. Then, enter the iCloud password to confirm.

Step 4: Complete the setup

Lastly, follow the on-screen instruction to finish the setup on the new iPhone.

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1How long does iTunes take to restore iPad

It depends on the size of your backup file. Normally, it will take at least 10 minutes to restore the iPad.

iTunes will download a firmware package that's over 2GB and then reset your iPhone, put this package to your iPad.

So, it will take quite a while to finish the process.

2Does Restore iPhone delete my photos/text message/everything?

Talking about restoring iPhone, you have two options: restore from a backup file and restore iPhone to factory settings.

While restoring from a iTunes or iCloud backup, both iTunes and iCloud will remove all the data on your iPhone, photos, text messages, videos, and everything. Then, they will import all the data from the backup to your iPhone. So, we can say yes, it will delete everything on your iPhone.

And restoring your iPhone to factory settings simply will erase everything - data and settings on your iPhone.