iPhone 3 upgrade to iPhone 4 - Good Experience ?

[KidKruger]

This is a question about the technicalities of upgrading to iPhone 4, ie. getting all your stuff from old device to new one.

Can I assume that all apps can be moved from one to t'uther via iTunes ?

My questions are basic as you can see - any advice ?

[StraferJack]

If you have back up your 3 on iTunes, your 4 will (eventually!!) synch that backup and even open on the same screen as you last saw on your 3

So for me it was painless and impressive. But iTunes is fickle and I know people who had bother (some apps not copying etc)

[Horsebox]

I did exactly this on Monday evening and it couldn't have been easier. The only minor niggle was the 4S itself needing an update to latest iOS so as to be compatible with latest version of itunes - it took longer to update the phone than it did to install everything from the backup.

It's pretty much an idiot-proof process and (so far) I haven't noticed any missing apps etc as SJ mentions.

Usage wise the difference between the 3GS and 4S in terms of speed and definition is quite remarkable.

[Salsaboy]

My OH has an Iphone4 so I decided to upgrade it IOS 5 so that she could use the 'find my phone' option.

Big mistake. The upgrade deleted years of work and home contacts, including email addresses and phone numbers. Apparently a backup is taken to itunes and once the upgrade is completed itunes deletes the backup without asking you.

Known problem with the upgrade which you only find out about after spending hours on Google trying to find out what the fcuk happened.. Nice one Apple.

[KidKruger]

OK so mixed experiences. This worries me slightly if it's possible to lose some or all of what's on existing handset. Any methods for ensuring back-up is not lost ?

Perhaps a setting on iTunes for NOT deleting it ?

[Salsaboy]

Looked but there isn't one. All you can do is a manual backup to itunes just before you start the upgrade to ios5. That way if it goes wrong you have a backup to restore as the upgrade only deletes it's own backup. Not much use now of course :(

[KidKruger]

Oh, so there IS a way around the problem you encountered then - I just make sure I have a back-up first (which I presume is created just by doing a synch, right ?).

Yes, clearly it doesn't solve your experience, sorry to hear of the nightmare you had, what a drag !

[Annette Curtain]

No "synch" doesn't do it all

Hook up to i-tunes and your device will come up "KidKruger-i-phone" (it's a slim bar on the left) Right click on that and another menu pops upwards. Choose option "Back Up" and it will copy all of your data. Once this is done you can register your phone and add your new device, then copy all the backed up data over.

( you should do the BackUp option regularly to save you texts etc )

Be sure not to click eject as you'll be starting all over again.

It should then look like your old phone (but better)

Also, you'll need all your e-mail/apple i-d details to hand, as the new device won't be recognised by your internet provider/host etc

Good luck, it just takes a little effort.

Netts(tu)

[Salsaboy]

One thing I did come away with was don't use icloud as this seemed (according to all the blogs and forums I looked at) to be a major cause of the problem. It's something to do with itunes expecting icloud to have a backup when it doesn't, hence itunes deleting the upgrade backup. Clear?

[KidKruger]

Thanks Nette and others.

I always wondered why when you synched you can't save your texts but I'm glad there's a way of saving them (albeit for direct porting to next iphone) by way of backup.

Nevertheless - I'll start doing backup now I know it exists, cheers.

[Siduhe]

Just to say I upgraded this week from a 3GS to a 4GS without any problems at all - everything got copied over without a hitch, including old texts, apps, contacts - except my music (which I manage manually rather than via iTunes).

I upgraded the software of the new 4GS first (over the air), then backed up the 3GS (not to iCloud, via iTunes to my laptop), disconnected the 3GS, then connected the 4GS to iTunes/laptop. iTunes asked if I wanted to restore everything to the new phone, I said yes, sorted. Hope this helps.

[KidKruger]

OK well sounds promising too, I'll obviously try do the backup first based what's been posted. I'll let y'all know how I fare. KK

[Applespider]

I've never had a problem either. I generally tend to plug in the old phone to back it up, plug in the new phone and do a software update (it is much easier now that you can do this over the air rather than having to connect to iTunes first) and then do the installation from the backup. I've never lost any contacts - even with MobileMe/iCloud running.

[KidKruger]

So i found the backup option as advised, when I selected it the phone said it was Synching.

Once it's all done I don't see anywhere for looking at the Contacts and Texts to check the back-up worked.

Am I assuming too much (ie. perhaps the back-up happens but you just have no vision of it's contents, it's just a mechanism for assuring the content and enabling upgrading to new phone) ?