Getting anew iPhoneis always such a good feeling. You get to unpack the shiny new device, still smelling like a factory and looking pristine. It’s such a thrill, and the anticipation about migrating from your beat-down phone to the shiny new one is so palpable every time you do that.
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With the holiday season approaching, many people are hoping for Santa tobring them something really great, and a brand-new iPhone is definitely a gift that keeps on giving thanks to all theuseful features! However, before you start playing around with it, you really should spend some time and set up your phone. This first setup is not only required but also contains some important decisions for you to make that will impact how you use your smartphone.
When your phone is already unpacked and you finally have some time to get through the setup, here’s how to do it:
How to set up a new iPhone
Setting up a new iPhone is really straightforward, and depending on how detailed you want to be at first, it can also be quite quick. If you want it to go even faster, you should have some things at hand — namely, your old phone and the SIM card you’ll be using (but these are not required if you don’t have access to one or both anymore).
Once you have everything, follow the steps below:
Start the setup process
Enter Quick Start or manual setup
Enable services and features
Restore data or start from a clean slate
Once you finish those steps, your new iPhone should welcome you to its home screen and be ready to use fully and as you choose.
While there might be quite a few steps above and plenty of hoops to jump through, from quite an early point in the process, you’ll be able to skip past any parts you either don’t care about or don’t really understand the need for.
There’s nothing wrong with doing so — anything you skip past can be set up later if you decide that you are interested after all.
Meanwhile, once you’re setup, there are plenty more things to do. Our list oftips and tricks for iPhone 15 usersis well worth reading to get some inspiration, as is ourround-up of the best appsyou should consider trying out.
What is the Quick Start option when setting up a new iPhone?
At the beginning of your setup, your new iPhone will ask you to either set up your phone manually or do it with the Quick Start option. But what exactly is the latter?
Using Quick Start lets you migrate your settings, data and apps from your previous iPhone to the new one, making the whole process faster and not requiring you to log into all your accounts again. All you need to do is turn on Bluetooth on your older device and navigate to the Quick Start option on the new smartphone, and the Quick Start wizard will guide you through the rest of the process.
That way you may quickly migrate everything that you need from your older iPhone, making the transition to the new phone that much quicker, and the phone itself instantly familiar — it will even remember the layout of your homescreen and all your widgets. Just remember that during the process, both of the phones will not be usable for the time of the transfer, so choose a convenient time to set them up, as it might take a while.
Can you set up a new iPhone with an eSIM?
SIM cards are starting to go out of fashion, witheSIM being the next big thing. These are, without a doubt, much more convenient — you just need to register them on your phone, no physical media is required to start calling.
In fact, in the US, the new iPhones support only eSIm, without the space for regular SIM cards. That’s why setting your iPhone up with an eSIM is not only possible but also required — and it’s straightforward. What’s more, you don’t have to do this during setup — you’re able to activate your phone without a carrier and get to your eSIM activation later. However, the eSIM setup process is different depending on what carrier you’re using, so check outthis guideor anApple articleabout eSIM activation.
Do you need a SIM card to activate your iPhone?
As we’ve mentioned before, a SIM card is not required during the setup process of your new shiny iPhone. In fact, you do not need a SIM card or an eSIM at all to use most of your smartphone’s features, and if you’d like to rely on Wi-Fi and different messengers to voice call and text, you could easily do it without ever accessing the mobile network.
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What are the setup options on a new iPhone?
When finishing up your iPhone setup, the wizard will let you turn on or off some of the most popular features of your new phone, but they might sound a bit confusing, especially if it’s your first time owning an Apple smartphone. Here’s a brief description of each of the features you’ll be asked to turn on or off to help you make an informed decision:
