Apple planned to make the iPhone upgrade process more seamless by shipping customers a new iPhone with all their data and settings preloaded.
While the idea sounded simple, the company eventually scrapped it due to privacy concerns and the complexities involved.
Apple Upgrade almost had a killer feature
Apple launched Apple Upgrade in late July, replacing the iPhone Upgrade Program. It allows you to lease an iPhone, Mac, iPad or Apple Watch, with an option to upgrade to a newer model at the end of the lease.
While Apple already makes it relatively easy to seamlessly transfer data between devices, it wanted to go a step further with Apple Upgrade.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, in his Power On newsletter, says Apple considered shipping Apple Upgrade customers a new iPhone with all their data and settings preloaded.
“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,” Gurman says.
The company eventually cancelled the plans due to security and privacy concerns. Not everyone would be comfortable with the idea of their new iPhone shipping with all their data from Apple’s warehouses.
Privacy and security issues led to the idea being axed
Another issue was that the data could already be outdated by the time the new iPhone arrived. Any new photos, messages, app data or other changes made after Apple prepared the device would still need to sync over iCloud once you turned it on.
That would somewhat defeat the purpose of having an iPhone arrive completely ready to use. Apple would also need access to customers’ iCloud backups. And then, it needed to figure out a secure way to restore them onto individual devices at its warehouses without exposing sensitive information.
Apple scrapped the idea for now. However, it could revisit it in the future once it finds a way to address the privacy and logistical challenges.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
You can reach out to him at mail[at]rajeshpandey.me.
