How To Backup Your Iphone For A New Iphone

9 New Uses For Your Old iPhone

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Use Your Old iPhone as a Backup - Keeping Old iPhone - Tom's Guide

Save as a Secondary, Expendable Phone

Ever gone on a trip where you knew things would get rough? Rock climbing, several days at the beach, or a safari through some African jungle? These, and many more places, may not be the best places to take your brand-new phone, especially if there is a distinct possibility that you'll lose it. And chances are that if you go on such a trip, the main purpose of bringing your iPhone will be to use it as a phone and not as a do-everything device.

Having a backup is crucial, whether it's because your phone broke on the way to work or because you won't have access to a replacement for several days. But when it comes to phones, most of us are completely unprepared. Several Tom's Guide staffers have found themselves sitting in a carrier's local office for hours, waiting to replace their recently laundered, washed, dropped, stepped-on, driven-over, or smashed phones, as many of our readers have, only to hear that it would take a few days for a replacement.

Some of us don't want to wait and are busy, have important work to do, or have data on the phone that needs to be recovered immediately. Thankfully, Apple's own stores handle iPhone replacements very well, but relying on their 287 stores worldwide (221 nationwide, in 41 states) isn't always enough. Some of us need a contingency plan now.

That's a perfect reason to keep an old iPhone around. Not only can you sync everything your new iPhone has straight onto the older device thanks to iTunes backing up all your data, but your old SIM card can be reactivated within minutes with your own phone number. It'll be like you never lost or broke your phone at all, except for it feeling a bit sluggish. That peace of mind is priceless. Keeping that old iPhone can save hours of frustration, days of work, and keep your life revolving around you–not your cell phone.

James Pikover is the founder and CEO of More Voltage, a product development company helping deliver better products to consumers. He also teaches courses in user experience design and product management. Prior to that, he worked as a freelance tech journalist. His work has appeared on many sites, including Tom's Guide, Medium, IGN, Mashable, and more.