Quick Start is convenient for transferring data to a new iPhone but sometimes there is problem like iPhone migration not working. When the issue occurs, you can follow this passage to easily solve it.
Why does my iPhone migration keep failing?
I’ve bought an iPhone 15 and need to transfer data from my iPhone 7. I used Quick Start to do data migration but it keeps failing. The error message is Unable to Complete Data Transfer iPhone. I would like to listen to some advice to fix this issue or other ways to transfer iPhone data.
- Question from Apple Community
It is a great pleasure for an Apple fan to unbox a brand-new iPhone. You do not want to suddenly switch to an empty iPhone, so you need to transfer data from old iPhone to new iPhone.
After iOS 12.4, users could directly import settings and data to another iPhone by Quick Start. Most of the time, this feature works perfectly, but iOS is not perfect.
You tried to force restart iPhone several times but only got stuck on “transfer directly from iPhone not working loop". If the issue has not been fixed, the loop won't end. Technically, the iPhone migration failure is often caused by poor network conditions or system glitches. You can start by checking the following main reasons to know why the new iPhone transfer is not working:
You might have problems with transferring iPhone data with Quick Start. Follow this section to know how to fix it.
※Before you use Quick Start to do iPhone migration, you need to do some preparation: ●Factory reset the target iPhone if it has been set up. ●Turn on Bluetooth on the source iPhone. ●Put the two iPhones close to each other. ✍Note: If the two iPhones get far from each other during data transfer, you would get the prompt message that Move Device Closer to Continue, and sometimes the process gets stuck.
Video tutorial:
As we mentioned above, Quick Start works on an iPhone running with iOS 12.4 or later version. If your iPhone is still running with an old iOS version and can’t see the Transfer from iPhone option, you need to update the target iPhone to iOS 12.4 or later. iOS 11 just supports migrating iPhone settings. Follow the steps to update the system.
1. Go to "Settings" on your iPhone, and tap "General".
2. Tap "Software Update". If there is any newer iOS version, follow the guide to update it.
If you could not see the prompt on the source iPhone, there might be system bugs on the source iPhone preventing it from answering the calls of iPhone migration. Restarting iPhone will refresh the system.
If the source iPhone is brand-new and has not been activated, you need to insert SIM card into it. iPhone cannot be activated without a SIM card. This may be able to restart the iPhone migration after setup.
Why is my move to iOS transfer stuck at 1 minute? It may be because your iPhone doesn't have enough power. The power supply should be stable to do wireless data transfer. Users reported that they could complete data transfer after connecting the old iPhone and new iPhone to power.
The wireless connection might not be stable between the two devices and cause iPhone migration to take hours, so you need to try a wired migration. Use a Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter and a Lightning to USB Cable to connect both iPhones and then try transferring data again.
If it still does not work, please check the cable. Please make sure that the cable is working well and no physical damage to it. You can try another cable or use a cable that Apple recommends.
After trying all the methods above, if you are still unable to complete data transfer on iPhone 15/14/13 or you find your new iPhone data transfer cancelled, you can turn to another tool to manually transfer data to a new iPhone on computer.
Tool 1. Powerful iOS transfer /migration tool - FoneTool
FoneTool, which is known as iOS data transferring software. With this tool, you can easily make a full iPhone migration to another iPhone on a computer within a few clicks.
> Steps to how to do iPhone migration after setup with FoneTool:
Step 1. Download FoneTool and connect both iPhones to a computer.
Step 2. Run FoneTool on your computer, choose "Phone Transfer" and select "iPhone to iPhone" > Click "Get Started" to continue. (You can also choose iPhone to PC/PC to iPhone feature to transfer part of data between iPhones, like contacts.)
Step 3. Confirm your source device and target device > Click "Start Transfer" to complete the data transfer.
Tool 2. Backup and restore iPhone data with iTunes
iTunes is an official tool that helps you back up an old iPhone and restore it to a new iPhone. In this way, you can transfer data to a new iPhone when iPhone migration takes hours or failes. you can see what iTunes backup includes to know more details about it.
Then you can check the upside and downside before using iTunes to transfer.
Pros: ●Transfer most of the data to a new iPhone. ●Stable data transfer between devices.
Cons: ●This process is a bit complicated. ●Can’t preview data or select data to transfer. ●Can’t view iPhone backup files on computer. ●Create more than 8G backup files to boot drive every time.
> Steps to migrate iPhone with iTunes:
Step 1. Open iTunes and connect the source iPhone to computer with a USB cable. Click the device icon in the upper-left corner.
Step 2. Click Summary in the sidebar. Click Back Up Now and wait for about 15 minutes to finish backup.
Step 3. Disconnect the source iPhone and connect the target iPhone to iTunes. Enter Summary and click Restore Backup.
Saving old iPhone data and transferring old iPhone to new iPhone is necessary. When you have the problem of iPhone migration not working in iOS 17/16/15, you can follow the 6 solutions in this passage to fix it.
If new iPhone directly transfer not working, you can also turn to FoneTool or iTunes to complete the iPhone 15/14/13 data migration. But by contrast, FoneTool can be the best choice. This free iPhone data exporter supports full or partial transfer to meet different needs.