Someone holding an iPhone X
11/04/2024
Chris Smith

How to restore your iPhone

Photo by Bagus Hernawan on Unsplash

You've just bought a new iPhone (maybe even a refurbished iPhone from musicMagpie!)… but now you need to get all of your photos, settings, apps and everything else onto it.

The good news is the days of connecting your phones via USB and transferring everything over manually are long gone. All you need now is a backup of your data and a Wi-Fi connection!

These steps also apply if you've had to factory reset your iPhone for whatever reason, so read on to get all of that precious data onto whichever iPhone you need to.

In this blog:

How to restore your iPhone

As we said, you'll need a backup before restoring your data. Check out our 'how to back up your iPhone' post to find out how to do that if you haven't already.

With your backup ready, you have two options: restore your iPhone from an iCloud backup or a Mac/iTunes backup.

How to restore iPhone from iCloud backup

Restoring your backup from iCloud is as easy as pressing a couple of buttons. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Turn on your iPhone. Assuming its reset to factory settings, you should see the Hello screen.
  2. Follow the steps until you reach the Transfer Your Apps & Data screen.
  3. Select 'From iCloud Backup' and sign in to your iCloud account.
  4. Choose a backup to restore from. The date and size of the backup should help you pick the right one.
  5. Your transfer will start. You may get prompted to update to a newer version of iOS. If so, just follow the steps on screen to update.
  6. Sign in with your Apple ID to restore your apps and purchases.

Stay connected to Wi-FI while the process completes. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the speed of your connection and how much data you're restoring. The setup will finish and you should be able to use your iPhone as usual, although some content like apps, photos and music will restore in the background. It's a good idea to stay connected to Wi-Fi and a power source where possible.

How to restore iPhone from iTunes backup (or any Mac backup)

If you've kept your backup on your computer rather than iCloud, follow these steps instead:

  1. Turn off Find My iPhone
  2. Go to Settings and tap your name
  3. Go to Find My iPhone > Disable Find My iPhone > Turn Off
  4. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
  5. Select the phone icon and click 'Restore Backup'
  6. Make sure you have the right backup selected. If not, choose it from the drop-down menu.
  7. Click 'Restore' (you'll need to enter your encryption password if you encrypted your backup).

If you're planning to upgrade, take a look at our huge range of refurbished phones! We're cheaper than buying new and better for the planet, plus every iPhone we sell goes through up to 90 checks and comes with a free 12-month warranty for your peace of mind. Oh, and you can make your upgrade even cheaper when you sell iPhone with us too!

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