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How to upgrade to your new iPhone 13 without losing data

The new iPhone lineup is on its way to the first customers. Read on for a look at how to upgrade to iPhone 13 without losing any data, including what to do if you’re running the iOS 15.1 beta.

This year, the iOS 15 public release was four days before the new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro officially land but Apple also made the first iOS 15.1 beta available this week. We’ll look at a couple of ways to approach upgrading to your new iPhone without losing any data.

And if you’re upgrading to iPhone 12 or a different model, the same steps apply.

How to upgrade to iPhone 13 without losing data

Option 1: iCloud or Mac

Note: If you’re running the iOS 15.1 beta you may need to either update your new iPhone 13 to that before restoring from a backup, or downgrade your existing iPhone to the latest public release before backing it up and trying to use that to restore on your new iPhone.

  1. Make a fresh backup with iCloud or your Mac
  2. Power on your new iPhone
  3. Follow the onscreen prompts, then choose Restore from iCloud Backup or Restore from Mac/PC Backup
  4. Sign in with iCloud and choose a backup, or plug in your new iPhone to your Mac with a Lightning cable to restore from an Mac/PC backup

Option 2: Direct transfer feature

In some situations, a local direct transfer might be the best fit. This first arrived with iOS 12.4, check out our previous coverage for how it works. But you should see an option during the setup of your new iPhone to transfer the data from your old iPhone.

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