Congratulations! You now own a brand-new iPhone 12 mini, apple iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12, Pro Max. You'll just want to jump straight into the phone as soon as you get the package in your hands, but try to keep your excitement in check and do some preliminary work first!

We have some setup advice for you that you can take note of. Sure, it will seem to be an undue burden, but this information will save you a lot of time and stress in the long run.

Back up and restore

That's right, you'll want to back up your old iPhone after you get your new iPhone 12, because the backup is as current as possible. You should back up the data using iCloud, iTunes, or the Finder.

For a backup on a Mac (macOS Catalina): Connect your old iPhone to your Mac, launch a new Finder window, and pick your iPhone in the Locations section in the left column. You'll see a window that appears similar to the iPhone control window that was formerly available in iTunes. Select Back up all of the data on your iPhone on this Mac in the Backups portion. Checking Encrypt local backup ensures all the user passwords and Health records are backed up as well—just choose a password you won't lose. Back up now by clicking the button.

When the backup is complete, attach your new iPhone 12, and tell your Mac that you want to restore from the backup you just made. If you want, you can return to iCloud backups later by going to Settings > iCloud > Backup. However, it never hurts to do a backup on your own Mac regularly.

Update your old iPhone

Quick Start is a feature in iOS. It's almost magical. Simply place your new phone next to your old phone, and a small card appears, asking if you want to move all of your data to the new computer. After that, you'll aim your old phone's camera at your new phone (which will show a cloud of little dots) and enter your old phone's 6-digit passcode.

You'll finish the rest of the configuration process, such as activating Face ID, and your phone will be ready to use, just like your old iPhone. It would also remind you to update the backup of your old iPhone if it hasn't been backed up in a while.

Much of your settings, the layout of your home screen, and other preferences are transferred from when you set up your phone this way. It saves a lot of time. However, it includes iOS 11 or newer, so if you haven't updated your iPhone to at least iOS 11 (or the latest edition, iOS 14) for some reason, you can do so right away.