How to Borrow ICloud Storage for Free to Transfer Data to New IPhone
Are you migrating from an old iPhone to a new one? The online backup process usually runs smoothly if you have enough free space in iCloud or computer to use iTunes for backup and restore. However, if you don’t have enough iCloud spaces, you no longer need to use your computer.
You can now temporarily borrow iCloud storage from Apple to perform an online backup and restore to your new iPhone. Apple lets you borrow that iCloud storage for free, but the catch is your data only stays in iCloud for 21 days. (If you can’t restore an iCloud backup within 21 days, you can contact Apple Support and ask them to extend their temporary iCloud storage for another 21 days, but hopefully that’s not a problem if you’re just transferring your data.)
It’s an easy way to back up and restore your iPhone online without spending a dime. Here’s how to set it up.
How to get temporary iCloud storage for free
Before you start, please first update your iPhone or iPad to iOS 15 or iPadOS 15. You cannot access this temporary iCloud storage on older versions of iOS or iPadOS. After updating, make sure you remember your Apple ID and password, because without them you won’t be able to access your iCloud account.
With the basics in mind, create a temporary backup of your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings> General and scrolling down. Click ” Transfer” or “Reset iPhone” .
At the top of this page, you’ll see a box titled ” Prepare for Your New iPhone . “ Click Start to start the process.
If you haven’t used iCloud backup, you may see a message stating that iCloud backup is disabled. Click Turn On Transfer Backups to turn on iCloud backups. You cannot proceed without enabling it.
At this point, you will see a message stating that you are eligible for free additional iCloud storage. Click Continue to start backing up your iPhone or iPad to the borrowed iCloud storage. It’s worth noting that you won’t see this message if you have enough storage space in iCloud.
After the backup is complete, you can go ahead and erase the data from your iPhone or iPad. When your new Apple device appears, follow the onscreen instructions, and on the Apps & Data screen, click Restore from iCloud Backup . Your temporary iCloud backup will appear here and you can select it to download all your data to your new iPhone or iPad. Once that’s done, you’re done.
Apple says that once you finish setting up your new device, your temporary iCloud backup will be permanently deleted within seven days. For most people, this is more than enough time to redo the recovery if something goes wrong.