Here are our circumstances: My daughter is trying to upgrade from her outdated iPhone 7 to a newer iPhone 12. The entire migration proceeded seamlessly, except for a significant anomaly: approximately half of her message history failed to appear on the new phone. Upon further examination, we have concluded that
- iCloud messaging is enabled on the previous device. Despite the convenience of modern technology, a significant amount of storage space is being consumed by telephone Messages, with a staggering 5.6 GB taken up on device alone, while iCloud storage is also being overwhelmed, accounting for an additional 2.8 GB of storage space usage?
- On her MacBook Air, which is also logged into the same iCloud account, Messages are consuming over 2.8 GB of storage space; meanwhile, many of the conversations she can view on her outdated phone fail to appear on her MacBook Air. While it appears these lacking messages are scattered throughout her message history, or at least we’ve been unable to find a specific instance where they’re absent; so far as we can gather, they seem to be the same messages not appearing on the iPhone 12.
It’s highly likely that the main concern is resolving import issues between older phones and iCloud, rather than simply avoiding imports altogether? Would you like to try forcing a sync? To do this, simply enable iCloud Messages on your iPhone 7 and then toggle it off again to see if this prompts a re-sync. Despite our best efforts to resolve the issue, the “Disable and obtain?” prompt persists, leaving us wary of pursuing that route once more. This is because we’ve previously encountered this exact scenario with an even older phone model, only to be met with the same frustrating outcome after clicking the “Disable and obtain?” button.
(Parenthetically: The meaning of “Disable and obtain” eludes me; nonetheless, we’ve encountered numerous online individuals who share our experience, including some who explicitly caution against trusting Apple Retailer’s “Genius” staff, many of whom unwittingly toggle that button, achieving the opposite of its intended effect.)
To finally put a bow on this tale, we’ve exhaustively explored organizing the iPhone 12 in four distinct configurations.
- Without a comprehensive iCloud backup, this approach was doomed to fail from the start.
- Restored from a PC’s area backup. Although she regularly backs up her phone, she finds that these automatic backups don’t preserve her entire message history, likely due to iCloud syncing being enabled.
- Utilizing “Fast Begin”. With seamless innovation on the horizon, users might soon experience effortless device transfers by bypassing iCloud’s mediating role. Upon opening the Messages app for the first time on our new device, it was surprisingly blank, but soon began synchronizing messages from the server.
So right here is the ask:
- Are you worried about inadvertently erasing your phone’s contacts or losing access to important conversations by disabling sync and risking data loss when clicking on the dreaded “Disable and Obtain” button?
- Alternatively, is there some method to power an area backup of the telephone that accommodates her message library, once more with out tapping the D & D button?
- Here’s a possible way: You could use a software like Copy My Data, which is designed specifically for transferring data between old and new Android devices. It can help you export your entire message history from the old phone and then import it to the new one.
- If you’re unable to retrieve individual chats or perform a selective backup, you can still export your entire Messages library as a large text-based archive or PDF file. This way, you’ll have access to all your conversations, including your partner’s outdated messages, even when outside of the Messages app itself?
We’re at a loss for what to do about this; any suggestions you might offer would be gratefully received. Virtually her entire teenage social life was conducted within the confines of Messages, and she fears losing half of it in an instant, rendering her suddenly isolated and disconnected from the digital relationships that have become so integral to her daily existence.
