New iPhone setup, in the right order

Most new-phone advice is a list of apps. The order matters more than the list. Do it in this order and you never hit the moment where the app you need to sign in with is the one you haven't set up yet.

0. Before you wipe the old phone

Some things only move phone-to-phone. Do these while the old iPhone still works:

• Authenticator codes. If your 2FA codes live in Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator, turn on their cloud sync or export them now. Codes stored in 1Password or Bitwarden come along by themselves.
• WhatsApp and Signal history. Both transfer during setup with the old phone next to the new one. Without the old phone, the history is gone.
• Your eSIM. Most carriers let you move it during Quick Start; some make you call. Find out which before you are without a phone number.
• Banking apps. Several tie themselves to the device. Keep the old phone alive for a week so you can approve the new one from it.

1. Restore, or start clean

Quick Start (the two phones next to each other) copies everything, including the mess. A clean start is the whole reason this site exists: you install fewer apps, on purpose, and every home screen page is one you chose. If you go clean, sign in to iCloud first so Photos, Contacts, Notes and Passwords are already there before any app is.

2. Password manager first

Everything after this step is a login. Install 1Password or Bitwarden, sign in, and turn it on under Settings, General, AutoFill & Passwords. Now every other app fills itself.

3. Authenticator second

Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator, restored from the sync you turned on in step 0. Half of the logins in step 4 will ask for a code.

4. Mail and calendar

Gmail or Outlook, then Calendar. Password resets and verification emails land here, so this comes before anything social.

5. Messaging

WhatsApp, Signal, whatever your people use. This is where the old phone earns its keep: put it next to the new one for the history transfer.

6. Everything else, from your list

Now the browser, the streaming apps, the rides, the money. Pick them on the list; it sorts your picks into exactly this order and gives you a Get button for each. Or start from a pack:

Duo, day one For my parents Privacy first Work phone

7. Ten minutes of settings

• Turn notifications off for every shopping and streaming app the moment they ask. You can always turn one back on.
• Settings, Privacy & Security, Tracking: leave "Allow Apps to Request to Track" off.
• Set the default browser and mail app if you changed them (Settings, Apps, Default Apps).
• Face ID for the password manager and the banking apps, not for everything.

On an iPhone Duo

Open the phone. The list puts the catalog on one half and your picks with their Get buttons on the other, so you install from one screen while you browse the other. Nothing sits across the fold.

Written by @protosphinx. Nothing on this site is paid for.