How to Set Up Your New iPhone

Updated Aug 12,2016 | by Mike

Hey there! Congratulations on your new iPhone. Whatever type of Apple device you just bought, mainly iPhone 6, iPhone 6s (Plus) or the latest iPhone SE, it’s high time that you activate it, customize it and experience the new cool functions of it.

You may get overwhelmed and confused by the large amount of options you are about to see since it’s very likely that you just switched from Android to iPhone OS. Don’t worry though- It’s actually rather easy to activate and customize it once you get familiar with them. In order to help you get the hang of it, we here on illustrate it thoroughly with the aid of screenshots (open images in a new tab for better viewing). We hope you find it somewhat useful.

Part 1: Back Up Data in Your Old iPhone Before Setting Up New iPhone 6/6s/SE

It’s of great importance to transfer data from old iPhone to new iPhone though it’s strictly not a part of initiating iPhone 6/6s/SE. However, if you were using an Android or Blackberry smart phone, you may just skip this part and proceed to Part 2.

We’ve previously written many detailed articles on how to backup iPhone, but I’m going to share the same in short words so that you can use this as a quick guide. You can either rely on Apple iTunes, iCloud or IOTransfer to back up iPhone with ease. Let’s see how it’s done:

Back Up Your Old iPhone With iTunes:

Connect your iPhone to the computer > Run iTunes if your iPhone doesn't open automatically > Click the “Device” button >Click > Choose “Back Up Now”.

Wait for some time for iTunes to finish “backing up”

Back Up Your iPhone With iCloud:

Open Settings on Home screen page > “iCloud” > Turn on backup. This will automatically backup data such as your accounts, documents, Health data, Home configuration, and settings when iPhone is plugged in, locked and connected to WLAN.

Back Up Your Old iPhone With IOTransfer

Compared to performing backup with iTunes or iCloud, IOTransfer is a better option when you just want to back up important iOS contents, like Contacts, Photos, Messages, Ringtones etc., or when you want to backup some data that are not supported by iTunes or iCloud backup, such as Apps, My Photo Stream, iCloud Photo Library, songs, and photos, videos, books synced from computer/iTunes, etc.

Launch IOTransfer on your computer and connect your iPhone to it > Select the content you want to backup > Export it to PC/Mac.

Part 2: How to Set Up and Activate Your New iPhone 6/6s (Plus)/SE

If you purchased your iPhone in the Apple Store, you may have already activated it with the help of an Apple Specialist. Whereas if you ordered your new device online or somewhere, or you chose not to activate it immediately, you are still able to activate your new iPhone 6/6s (Plus)/SE right away according this guide showed below.

(Images are from Apple.com)

1. Turn on your iPhone and drag your finger from left to right to launch Setup Assistance on Welcome Page.

2. Pick up your language and country.

3. Choose a Wi-Fi network.

4. Choose to enable “Location Services” or disable “Location Services”. This can also be altered in Settings App later.

5. Set up Touch ID, by which you can unlock your iPhone and purchase or download Apps from App Store by your fingerprint (unless your fingerprint suffered some disfiguration).

6. Create a passcode. For your sake, you need to set up a six- or four- digit passcode to protect your data, which is also the passcode of some of the new features , such as Touch ID and Apple Pay

7.  Fill your new iDevice with old backups you made or transfer your Apps or data to your new iDevice.

When setting up iPhone 6/6s (Plus) or iPhone SE in iOS 9, usually you have 4 choices: Restore from iCloud Backup, Restore from iTunes backup, Set Up as New iPhone, and Move Data from Android. To make sure you make the right choice and activate your iPhone successfully, here we offer detailed information about the 4 choices as below:

1) Restore from iCloud Backup

If you have a previous iDevice and you’ve made an iCloud backup in advance, it’s a good choice to restore your iPhone 6/6s (Plus)/SE from an iCloud backup you created before. Follow us to restore your device from iCloud backup: 

Select “Restore from iCloud Backup” > Next > Enter your Apple ID and password > Agree to the iCloud terms and conditions > Pick up the correct backup from the list of all the compatible iCloud-hosted backups > Stay connected and wait for the process to complete.

Note: Compared to restoring from iTunes backup, restoring from iCloud backup is much slower. Hence if you want to spend less time on restoring your device, read on our post to restore your iPhone 6/6s/SE from an iTunes backup.

2) Restore from iTunes Backup

If you have an iDevice and also have synced your device to iTunes, this option of connecting your iPhone 6/6s (Plus) to computer with USB cable is great for you. Please follow us to restore your new iPhone from iTunes backup: 

Select “Restore from iTunes Backup” when the screen shows " Set up Your iPhone as New Device or Restore from a Local Backup" > Choose “Restore from this backup” > Next > Enter your Apple ID and password > Select the desired backup by its size and date from pop-up menu > Enter password if you are restoring from an encrypted backup > Wait for the process to complete. Once the process is complete, the setup process follows.

3) Set up as new iPhone

If you intend to start fresh or you don't have any iDevice, the first thing you need to decide is whether to adopt an Apple ID. What’s more, if you want to buy Music, Apps, Books and other contents from App store, you must have an Apple ID. Of course, you can skip this step by tapping “Skip” link on the bottom of the screen, and add or create an ID from the Settings App later. However, you can't purchase anything from iTunes store or set up iCloud until you’ve added your Apple ID.

4) Move Data from Android

Apple has developed an App named “Move to iOS” to help Android users to transfer data to new iPhone 6/6s or iPhone SE just like iDevice users. So if you are still using an Android smart phone and just got a new iPhone 6/6s/SE, before transferring data to your iDevice, here are several things you need to do:

*Check if your Android smart phone is equipped with Android 4.0; if not, upgrade it.

*Download and install “Move to iOS” App on your Android device.

*Ensure both of your iPhone and Android smart phone have the access to a Wi-Fi network.

*Plug both of your iPhone and Android device into power source.

*Make sure the contents (including those on your external Micro SD card) you plan to move do not exceed the capacity of your new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s.

*If the Chrome bookmarks are in the to-transfer list as well, you need to update the Chrome to the latest version on your Android smart phone.

Subsequently follow the steps below to transfer data from Android  smart phone to new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s:

Select “Move Data from Android” 

> Open “Move to iOS” App on your Android device 

> Tap “Continue” > Read terms and conditions and click “Agree to continue” 

> Tap “Next” in the top-right corner of the “Find Your Code” screen 

> Wait for a ten-digit code to appear on your new iPhone 

> Enter the code on your Android device and wait for the Transfer Data screen to pop out 

> On your Android phone select the contents you want to transfer and tap on “Next”

> Wait for the process to complete and tap “Done” on your Android device after the loading bar finishes on your iDevice. 

Finally you can continue to the remaining setup.

Final Steps

Once you have restored your iPhone 6/6s (Plus)/SE or set up it as new iPhone, you only have a dozen more steps to take:

1) Set up a network connection and then sign in with your Apple ID. Besides, you need to agree to the terms and conditions and tap Agree twice.

2) Decide whether to use iCloud or not. If you choose not to use iCloud now, you can add iCloud account in Settings App later anyway.

We strongly recommend you to enable iCloud backup. Otherwise you can't back up your iOS contents and important settings to your iCloud account. Nor can you restore your device via Wi-Fi network when your computer is not around.

3) If you choose to use iCloud, “Find My iPhone” feature will be enabled automatically. All you have to do is to tap “Next” button to enter the next page.

4) Pick up the phone number or email address through which people can contact you via iMessages and Face Time.

5) Set up iCloud Drive.

6) Place your finger or thumb on the Home Button to set up Touch ID or you can do it later. Totally your choice.

7) Create a passcode(make sure your passcode is as complicated as it can be, and the most importantly you remember your passcode).

8) Set up iCloud Keychain.

9) Decide on whether to use Siri (intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator) or not.

10) Choose to send Diagnostics automatically or not.

11) Decide on how you would like to view iPhone as Standard or Zoomed.

As iPhone 6/6s (Plus) is fitted with larger screens than their past brethren, a new feature, called display Zoom that scales up the pixels on your device to enlarge basically everything (like text, touch targets, buttons, and keyword), is added to them . You can opt to turn it on during the setup process.

12) Tap “Get Started” on “Welcome Page” to enter “Home screen”.

Note: Since iOS 9 has added a new function  named Wi-Fi Assist, which will shift to cellular data automatically when the Wi-Fi connectivity is poor, after setting up your iPhone 6/6s Plus/SE, and activating it successfully, please go to Settings > Cellular to ensure the Wi-Fi Assist is off, or it will cost you more money.

It is easy enough to get started with your iPhone 6/6s (Plus)/SE with the help of this detailed how-to-do list. All the best!

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