Problems with upgrading to iPhone 11 Pro

First of all, the reason I upgraded to the new iPhone 11 Pro from my iPhone XS was that I was on the iPhone upgrade program. The new feature everyone was talking in the reviews was the ultra-wide-angle camera. As a photographer, I rarely shoot on a 13mm, so I didn't think that was something I needed. I would confess that I upgraded because I needed my retail therapy fix.

Since the upgrade, I have been taking a lot of photos everywhere I go. The night mode is impressive, and I was able to capture some cool images with the feature! While shooting in New York, I found the ultra-wide-angle lens was much more useful than I thought. I loved shooting the architecture, indoor space with it.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I can say about my new iPhone 11 Pro. From the first day of using this new iPhone, I have been having issues. I am not sure it's the hardware or the software since we all know the iOS 13 has been problematic; even my iPad Pro has some issue after installing the iOS 13. Airdrop feature between my iMac and my iPhone isn't working either.

If you are curious about buying iPhone 11 Pro, you may want to hold off and read more real-life reviews first. With my iPhone XS, it has 256GB of storage space, and I used almost half of it storing the photos I took. I never checked how many images I had, and I was surprised to see I had over 20K of photos. Since I had used half of my storage space on my old phone, I thought it was a great idea to upgrade to a 512 GB option.

I synced and backup my iPhone XS on my iMac using iTunes. Then I went to the Apple store to pick up my new iPhone 11 Pro, came home, set it up, and restored from my backup. This was the same procedure I did with every iPhone upgrade. However, I don't know what went wrong this time, and my iPhone 11 Pro has been giving me headaches.

My new iPhone 11 Pro freezes and crashes every day! On average, I have to reset/restart my phone at least once a day. The camera app is particularly problematic. I can't tell you how many times I missed my shot because the camera app froze and crashed! I hate the feeling, and I hate the experience using it.

Naturally, when you have issues with your iPhone, you contact Apple support, and that's what I did. I chatted with them online and called them on the phone. I was advised to reset my iPhone 11 Pro to the factory setting and then restore it from my backup. Which I have done twice, and took me over 12 hours because I have over 100 GB data to restore to my phone. After all that time spent, my phone wasn't fixed. Restarting my iPhone 11 Pro became a daily routine that frustrates me.

Even with my hectic schedule, I couldn't wait anymore. Frustration mounted up, so I scheduled an appointment and went into the store for repair. I waited, and then a support person checked my phone, ran a diagnosis, and told me that was nothing wrong with the hardware and recommended not to replace my phone. "It's the software." He said. I asked him what's wrong with the software and he couldn't tell me. He said I had to reset my new iPhone 11 Pro to the factory setting and use it as new to know if it's the hardware issue. So I guess he wasn't sure what was the problem? At this point, I was even more frustrated. It's like buying a new house, and I have to spend so much time to renovate and redecorate it. He advised me to sign up iCloud storage and backup my photos before I reset my iPhone.

I paid for iCloud storage and then realized that somehow, my photos are not uploading even though I did all the correct settings. To keep my story short, I had to call Apple support for the iCloud problem. The support person asked to take over my phone and my desktop screens without even trying to help me figure it out first. I refused, and I was told to try doing a backup on my iCloud. To back up my iPhone to iCloud, it took 20 hours, and my iPhone had to be plugged into power all those times!

Finally, my iPhone is backed up on iCloud, and now my photos are uploading slowly. I don't know how long it takes to upload 20K pictures to iCloud, or if starting my iPhone 11 Pro fresh new would fix the problem. Software or hardware problem? I don't know, and I don't care. I want my new iPhone 11 Pro to work, but Apple has failed to provide that. If you are in a similar situation, with a lot of apps and photos on your phone, you may want to reconsider before handing off your cash in exchange with endless problems.