- You can transfer all your apps to a new iPhone from an iCloud backup during initial setup.
- Before transferring the apps using iCloud, make sure you've made an iCloud backup of your old phone.
- You can also use the App Store to choose which apps you'd like to download on your new iPhone.
Moving your data to a new iPhone has become a fairly seamless process, thanks in large part to Apple's iCloud backup and restore process.
So before you start transferring apps to your new iPhone, it's recommended to backup your old phone to iCloud. That way, you can use the backup to duplicate your existing iPhone — apps and data included — on a new phone when you upgrade.
And if for any reason you don't want to use iCloud to restore your new iPhone via iCloud, you can transfer apps one at a time using the App Store.
How to transfer apps to a new iPhone using iCloud
With your iCloud backup ready, you can restore it during your new iPhone's initial setup.
1. Turn on your new iPhone and follow the setup instructions.
2. On the Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup.
Tap "Restore from iCloud Backup." Stefan Ionescu/Insider3. When your iPhone asks you to sign into iCloud, use the same Apple ID that you used on your previous iPhone.
4. You'll then need to enter the passcode that Apple sends to your old iPhone or any other Apple device linked to your Apple ID – you can also just have the code texted to you instead.
5. Agree to the Terms and Conditions by tapping Agree.
6. Tap the most recent backup on the Choose Backup screen.
7. Tap Continue.
8. Follow the rest of the instructions to finish setting up your new iPhone.
After a few moments, your phone will be restored with all the apps from your previous iPhone.
How to transfer apps to a new iPhone using the App Store
If you want to selectively restore apps to a new phone without transferring every app you had on the old phone, you can do that using the App Store.
That's because Apple keeps a record of every app you've ever purchased or downloaded for free, and you can re-install those apps at any time on the same phone or any iPhone you later upgrade to.
1. Open the App Store app on the new iPhone.
2. Search or browse to find the app you want to install.
3. Instead of Get or a price, you should see a cloud icon to indicate you already installed that app in the past. Tap the cloud icon to install the app again.
Tap the cloud icon in the App Store to download and install the app again. Stefan Ionescu/Insider4. Repeat that process for any other apps you want to install.
Dave Johnson
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Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
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How to get all my apps on the new iPhone
“I have a new iPhone 13. I want to have my old apps and data on my new iPhone. Is there any way to realize this? How to get all my apps on the new iPhone?”
You may want to transfer data from your old iPhone to the new one like the user above. When getting a new iPhone, iPhone users may be stuck transferring apps from the old iPhone to the new one. Some apps that they use frequently save a lot of important data like account information, chat history, game records, settings, and others.
Getting to know how to transfer apps from one iPhone to another can keep your app data safe and save time. There are kinds of effective methods for iPhone apps to transfer without data loss.
3 ways to transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone
Generally speaking, to transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone, you need to transfer everything from one iPhone to another, including all iPhone data and settings. Therefore, you could transfer apps and data before setup or use iTunes, iCloud, or iPhone data transfer software.
There are four available methods to help you transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone. Whether you want to transfer apps with or without iTunes/iCloud, here are the solutions.
Method 1. Transfer apps from one iPhone to another via Quick Start
Quick Start is a feature released in iOS 11 to make it easier for iPhone users to set up their new iPhones by putting them nearby. Users could transfer everything on the old iPhone to the new one wirelessly.
If you want to use Quick Start to move apps and data from one iPhone to another, you must confirm the iOS version of the two iPhones is iOS 11 and later. If the iOS version of your iPhone is below iOS 11, Quick Start can not be working and you could try the other two methods.
Besides, this feature relies on Bluetooth and Apple ID, you need to enable Bluetooth on both iPhones and log in with your Apple ID. Follow the steps below to get all apps to the new iPhone via Quick Start.
Step 1. Turn on your new iPhone and put it nearby your old iPhone. The Quick Start screen will appear on your old iPhone to offer the option of using your Apple ID to set up the new one.
Step 2. Ensure the Apple ID and tap “Continue”. Follow the instruction to set up your new iPhone.
Step 3. When comes to the “Transfer Data from [Device]” screen, tap “Continue” to begin transferring your data from your previous device to your new device directly.
Or you can tap Other Options to transfer apps, data, and settings from your most recent iCloud backup or transfer from a backup on your computer.
Method 2. Transfer apps data from iPhone to iPhone via iCloud/iTunes
If you are one of the users who are not able to use the Quick Start feature or you don’t have both the old iPhone and the new one, you could try to transfer iPhone apps data via iCloud or iTunes backup. If you have set up your iPhone, you need to erase the settings and set up it manually.
Tips:
- This method requires available iCloud/iTunes backup. Go to “Settings” > [Your name] > “iCloud” > “iCloud Backup” to check the last iCloud backup time.
- The time for restoring an iCloud backup to the new iPhone depends on the Internet connection status. It will cost more time than iTunes and iPhone data transfer software.
Step 1. Tap “Set Up Manually” option. If you have finished new iPhone setup, go to “Settings” > “General” > “Transfer or Reset iPhone”/ “Reset” > “Erase All Content and Settings” to reset.
Step 2. After setting WiFi, Face/Touch ID, and passcode, the “Apps & Data” screen appears. Choose “Restore from iCloud Backup” or “Restore from Mac or PC”.
Step 3. After selecting "Restore from iCloud Backup”, sign in to your Apple ID to check the iCloud backup list and tap the backup you want.
If you don't have an accessible iCloud backup, you could restore from your iTunes backup.
Step 1. Select “Restore from Mac or PC”. Connect your new iPhone to the computer where your iTunes backup is stored.
Step 2. Launch “iTunes”. Go to “Summary” > “Restore Backup”. Select the backup you want and enter the password if you want to restore an encrypted backup.
Method 3. Transfer apps to new iPhone after setup
If you don’t have available backup files to restore, you could try an easier way to transfer apps data from iPhone to iPhone. Using an iPhone data transfer tool to move apps from an iPhone to another.
Download the freeware-FoneTool to transfer everything from iPhone to iPhone quickly. With FoneTool, there are two ways to choose for iPhone data transfer: one-click iPhone to iPhone data transfer or full backup and restore iPhone data.
One-click to transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone
Step 1. Connect two iPhones to a computer and launch FoneTool.
Step 2. Click "Phone Transfer" > "iPhone to iPhone", and then click "Start Transfer".
Step 3. Enable backup encryption to encrypt data if you want to back up more private data. And then click “Start Transfer” to begin.
Full backup & restore iPhone data including all apps
Step 1. Connect the old iPhone with the computer. Select “Phone Backup” in the left Tools bar and click "Get Started".
Step 2. Enable Backup encryption if you need to copy Fitness records, Health, and Keychain data.
Step 3. Set a backup storage path to save the backup. Click “Start Backup”. The backup will be completed within minutes.
Step 4. Connect the new iPhone, and choose “Backup History” in the tool bar. And then select the backup files you want to recover to your new iPhone and click "Restore".
Bonus tips: Share apps from iPhone to iPhone by AirDrop
Hopefully, you have a better understanding of how to transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone in this post. But some users still wonder is it possible to transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone by AirDrop.
AirDrop is known to allow users to transfer photos, videos, contacts, locations, and other data between two Apple devices, like the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac. So can iPhone users transfer apps from iPhone to iPhone via AirDrop?
The answer is no. You couldn't transfer apps data from an iPhone to another but only use AirDrop to share apps from iPhone to iPhone. It means you need to install the apps in App Store after you received the airdropped app.
Tips: Make sure Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and AirDrop are enabled on two iPhones.
Step 1. On the source iPhone, hold on the app icon you want to share and select “Share App”.
Step 2. Tap “AirDrop" in the popup menu and select the name of the new iPhone.
Step 3. Click “View” on the other iPhone to download the app in App Store.