Use Quick Start to move everything at once

The fastest way to transfer data between iPhones is Quick Start, Apple's built-in wireless setup tool. When you turn on a new iPhone for the first time, it detects nearby iPhones running iOS 11 or later and offers to transfer your data automatically. You hold the new phone near your old one, scan a pattern that appears on the new screen with the old phone's camera, then enter your Apple ID password. The transfer happens over Wi-Fi and takes anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on how much data you have.

Quick Start copies everything: your apps, photos, messages, contacts, calendar events, settings, and even your home screen layout. You don't have to select what transfers — it's all or nothing. The old phone stays on and connected to power during the process, and both phones need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. If your old phone is too damaged to turn on, or if you don't have it anymore, you can restore from an iCloud backup instead, which takes longer but works the same way.

Key Takeaways

  • Quick Start is the built-in wireless transfer method that copies everything from your old iPhone to your new one in one process.
  • Both phones must be on the same Wi-Fi network, and your old phone needs to be powered on and able to display the pairing pattern.
  • The transfer includes apps, photos, messages, contacts, settings, and home screen layout, but you cannot pick and choose what transfers.
  • If you don't have your old phone available, you can restore from an iCloud backup instead, though it takes longer and requires your Apple ID password.
  • Transfers typically take 15 minutes to an hour depending on the amount of data, and both phones should stay plugged in during the process.

What happens during a Quick Start transfer

When you start Quick Start, your old iPhone generates a unique code and displays it as an animated pattern on the screen. You hold your new iPhone above the old one and point its camera at the pattern — the new phone reads it and confirms the connection. This step prevents someone else's phone from accidentally connecting to yours.

After the pairing is confirmed, your old phone sends your Apple ID information to the new phone wirelessly. The new phone then downloads your apps from the App Store, your photos and documents from iCloud, and your settings from Apple's servers. Messages, contacts, and calendar events sync through iCloud as well. The entire process happens in the background while you watch a progress bar on the new phone's screen.

Once the transfer finishes, your new iPhone is set up and ready to use. Your old phone remains unchanged — nothing is deleted from it. You can keep using the old phone, sell it, trade it in, or erase it later if you want.

Set up iCloud backup before transferring if you want to be safe

Quick Start works best when your old iPhone has a recent iCloud backup. If something goes wrong during the wireless transfer — your Wi-Fi drops, the phone loses power, or the connection breaks — you can start over and restore from that backup instead. To check if your old phone is backing up to iCloud, go to Settings, tap your name at the top, select iCloud, then tap iCloud Backup. Turn it on if it's off, and make sure "Back Up Now" shows a recent date.

If your old phone hasn't backed up in weeks, tap "Back Up Now" before you start the transfer. This takes a few minutes and requires Wi-Fi, but it's worth doing. If the wireless transfer fails partway through, you'll be able to restore everything from that backup on your new phone instead of starting completely over.

Transfer data manually if Quick Start doesn't work

If your old iPhone won't turn on, the screen is broken, or Quick Start keeps failing, you can transfer data through iCloud instead. Sign into iCloud.com on any computer or phone, go to your account settings, and download your photos, contacts, and other data manually. This is slower and more tedious than Quick Start, but it works when the wireless method doesn't.

A better option is to restore from an iCloud backup on your new phone. During the initial setup, when the new phone asks "Do you want to restore from an iCloud backup?", choose yes and sign in with your Apple ID. Select the most recent backup from your old phone, and the new phone downloads everything from iCloud — apps, photos, messages, settings, and all. This takes longer than Quick Start (sometimes 30 minutes to several hours) because it's downloading from Apple's servers rather than transferring directly between phones, but the end result is the same.

Make sure both phones have enough battery and a strong Wi-Fi connection

Plug both phones into power before you start Quick Start. The transfer uses a lot of battery, and if either phone dies partway through, you'll have to start over. Leave them plugged in until the progress bar on the new phone reaches 100 percent.

Connect both phones to the same Wi-Fi network — not a mobile hotspot, and not two different networks. If your Wi-Fi is slow or unstable, move both phones closer to the router. If you have a 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz network with the same name, make sure both phones connect to the same one (usually 2.4 GHz is more stable for this process). If your Wi-Fi keeps dropping, restart the router, wait 30 seconds, and try the transfer again.

What to do if the transfer stalls or fails

If the transfer stops partway through or shows an error, force-quit the setup process on both phones by holding the power button and swiping to power off. Wait 30 seconds, turn both phones back on, and start Quick Start again from the beginning. The new phone will remember where it left off and resume the transfer.

If the same error keeps happening, try moving both phones closer together, restart your Wi-Fi router, and make sure no other devices are downloading large files on your network. If Quick Start continues to fail after three attempts, restore from an iCloud backup instead — it's slower but more reliable when Wi-Fi is unreliable.

Verify your data transferred correctly after setup

Once the new phone finishes setting up, check that your most important data arrived. Open your Photos app and scroll through a few albums. Open Messages and look for your recent conversations. Check your Contacts app for a few people you know. Open one of your most-used apps to make sure it installed.

If something is missing — a specific app, a folder of photos, or old messages — it may not have transferred. Check your old phone to see if it's still there. If it is, try the transfer again, or restore from an iCloud backup on the new phone. If the data is gone from both phones, it may have been deleted before the transfer started, and you'll need to restore from a backup that's older than the deletion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Quick Start if my old iPhone is cracked or the screen doesn't work?

No. Quick Start requires your old phone to display the pairing pattern on its screen and have a working camera to read the code from the new phone. If the screen is broken or the phone won't turn on, restore from an iCloud backup instead. This takes longer but doesn't require the old phone to be functional.

Do I need to erase my old iPhone before transferring to the new one?

No. Quick Start copies data to your new phone without changing your old phone at all. Your old phone keeps all its data after the transfer finishes. You can erase it later if you want to sell it or recycle it, but that's optional and separate from the transfer process.

How long does a wireless transfer usually take?

Quick Start typically takes 15 minutes to an hour depending on how much data you have and how fast your Wi-Fi is. Restoring from an iCloud backup takes longer — usually 30 minutes to several hours — because it downloads from Apple's servers instead of transferring directly between phones. Keep both phones plugged in and on Wi-Fi until the process finishes completely.

What if I don't have my old iPhone anymore?

You can restore from an iCloud backup instead. During setup on your new phone, choose "Restore from iCloud Backup" and sign in with your Apple ID. Select the backup from your old phone, and everything downloads to the new phone. This works as long as your old phone backed up to iCloud at some point before you lost it.

Can I transfer data between an iPhone and an Android phone wirelessly?

No. Quick Start only works between iPhones. If you're switching from Android, Apple offers a "Move to iOS" app that you can download on the Android phone to transfer some data, but it's limited and slower than Quick Start. You may need to manually transfer photos, contacts, and messages, or use a computer to help with the process.