How To Transfer A App To Another Phone

Using an iCloud backup, you can transfer all of your apps to a new iPhone at once, without paying anything extra.
You can also use the App Store to pick and choose which apps you'd like to download on your new iPhone.
Before you get rid of your old iPhone, make sure that you've made an iCloud backup to restore on your new phone.
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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.

iCloud lets you perfectly 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.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699 at Apple)

How to transfer apps to a new iPhone using iCloud

To transfer your apps and data using iCloud, you need to have a recent backup of your old iPhone. You probably already have your phone configured to perform automatic, daily backups to iCloud.

To make sure you have a current backup, see how to back up your iPhone with iCloud in our article "How to backup an iPhone to iCloud, to a computer through iTunes, or to an external hard drive."

Once you know that you have a backup of the old phone, 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."

During the initial setup of your new iPhone, you can restore your apps from your older phone.

3. When your iPhone asks you to sign into iCloud, use the same Apple ID that you used on your previous iPhone.

4. Tap "Next," and choose the most recent backup to install.

After a few moments, your phone will be restored with all the apps from your previous iPhone.

If you've already set up your iPhone without restoring your old apps, you can still restore the apps from a backup, but it will erase any apps and data you have since installed on the new phone.

To do that, follow the instructions for how to factory reset and restore your iPhone in the article "How to restore your iPhone from a backup after taking the 'nuclear option' of a factory reset."

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. Start 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 have installed that app in the past. Tap the cloud to install the app. You won't need to authorize the download with Touch ID, Face ID, or a password, since you already own it.

You can re-install apps from the App Store on your new iPhone.

4. Repeat that process for any other apps you want to install.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

How to backup an iPhone to iCloud, to a computer through iTunes, or to an external hard drive
How to restore your iPhone from a backup after taking the 'nuclear option' of a factory reset
How to recover deleted photos from your iPhone, through the Photos app, cloud storage services, and more
'Why won't my iPhone charge?': How to diagnose and fix common iPhone charging problems

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

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.