I’m just posting this as a separate thread because the answer is not easy to find AT ALL, and I knew I’d seen the solution on the forum somewhere but it took a long time to discover.
The 12.9 iPad Pro is shipping with iPadOS16.6, and will not load backups from iPadOS17. This is a ridiculous bug by Apple - it means Quick Start is freezing, and would be easily fixed if the OS updated before the two devices tried to transfer data. It’s a terrible onboarding experience.
Anyway what it means is Quick Start doesn’t work because it can’t transfer the old iPad’s contents to the new iPad. Quick Start stalls and all you can do is reset the device and set it up as a brand new device (resetting the device and trying Quick Start again doesn’t work). It’s not easy to figure this out and there is little advice online for what to do when Quick Start fails.
Here is the solution:
- Set up as a new device
- Update the OS
- Wipe the device and then restore with your old device
That works and saves a lot of pain!
Thanks to @pantulis and @ACautionaryTale for raising this issue earlier in the year and posting the solution!