According to the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Apple had reportedly been considering a feature for Apple Upgrade that would’ve made setting up your iPhone nearly seamless: where Apple would’ve already copied your data over. This feature never ended up seeing the light of day, though.
The concept was simple: if people are going to be upgrading their device every so often with fixed monthly payments, why not make the switch as easy as possible? Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the following:
I’ve now learned there was more discussed when this idea was conceived years ago. Apple had contemplated a so-called white-glove component, where your new device each year would arrive at home ready to go, preloaded with all of your data via your iCloud backup. Apple Upgrade doesn’t offer this feature.
There’s obviously a few flaws here. For one, your iCloud backup would be slightly outdated, as the data transfer only could’ve happened at the time it was shipped out. It’d be a few days behind – unless you did an in store pickup.
Beyond that, there’s the clear privacy concern. If you’re backing up to iCloud, the idea of Apple having your data shouldn’t be shocking. To the public though, there may be concerns of how the data was transferred to the new phone, and people may wonder if anyone snooped in the process.
Two years ago, Apple debuted a new ‘Presto’ system at its stores that allowed employees to update iPhones while they were sitting in the box. One could imagine this system could’ve been expanded to support iCloud backup transfer without any human needing to look at your data in the process.
Nonetheless, this feature didn’t end up shipping – and that’s probably for the better.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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