New iPad?

Make the transition from your old iPad to your new iPad as painless as possible with these few tips.

Before you migrate all your data from your old iPad, you should have a clearout first, there's no point waiting hours to transfer a load of video/images/apps that you should have removed form your device anyway.

Make sure you're on the most current version of everything, on your Mac, especially iTunes before you start.

Make a note of your Apple ID (iCloud account), you will need it, this is critical for using/managing any Apple device. this might be the same as your App Store account, but not necessarily.*

  1. Clear out, download to PC, or delete any media you don't need on your new device, you can use the Image Capture App or Photos/iPhoto to manage all your camera roll content.

  2. Delete any Apps you no longer use/need, daily games, these can be HUGE in size, you can delete these one by one from your old device.

Quick Start

As long as your version of iOS is up to date, you have the option of wireless 'device-to-device migration' transfer - assuming your new iPad has the same storage as your old iPad or more this is the easiest solution.

Turn on your new device and place it near your current device that's using iPadOS 13.4 or later. The Quick Start screen appears on your current device and offers the option of using your Apple ID to set up your new device. Make sure that it's the Apple ID that you want to use, then tap Continue.

Or use a cable connected to a laptop that has your last iPad backup....

  1. Make sure you have backed up your iPad to your Mac, connect with a cable and let MacOS take care of the rest. You should be doing this regularly anyway.

  2. Switch on your new iPad, tap through the first through a few simple setup screens, until you get to the screen that gives you the option to 'Restore from backup'.

  3. If you aren't already connected to your computer containing your backups, your iPad will prompt you to do so now.

  4. Follow the prompts in order to select your most recent backup.

  5. Set back and wait, when it's finished your new iPad will restart, you will have to run through a security gauntlet with your Apple ID etc, and then your new iPad will be ready, with all the old data you wanted to keep from your old iPad.

  6. Assuming you want to gift/sell your old iPad, wipe the hard drive first, just go to Settings > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

* If you are sharing purchased apps with family members for instance, you may have an Apple ID for your own personal data, and you might purchase Apps with a different App Store account belonging to someone else in your family, ie, your partner/spouse/child.

** you can backup/restore using iCloud backup instead of iTunes, but in my experience this is almost useless, too little storage (without paying) and too slow.

Here are some other site guides, with lots of pretty pictures for this process that might be useful:

Apple:

Transfer content from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a new device