How to transfer Messages from iphone 5s to iphone 11-Pro????

[agingresearcher]

Hello,
I'd like to transfer Messages from iphone 5s to iphone 11-Pro,
I do not wish to run a full backup, and I do not wish to keep any messages on icloud.
And I'd like to avoid third-party software installations.

Then, from the 4 options in the two-month-old article at
How to Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone?
only "Part 2" seems to be a good option;

Part 1: How to Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone without iCloud/iTunes
-> seems to require third-party software installation
Part 2: Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone using iCloud
-> see below
Part 3: Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone via iTunes
-> full backup only?!
Part 4: How to Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone without Computer
-> doesnt seem to work, as there does not seem to be a way to select messages
for transfer?!

However, according to
icloud message sync is so confusing.
it seems that messages are not downloaded in full; like Photos, they reside
on the icloud to be downloaded as needed; that seems to explain the
"messages have not been fully downloaded to this iphone" notification
via the icloud interface.
Any ways to resolve this?? Thanks a lot!!
(I investigated other hits of
messages have not been fully downloaded to this iphone disable and download messages - Google Search
but no obvious solution.)

Thanks in advance!
Georg

 

[J. A.]

Welcome to iPhone Forums!

The discussion you’ve linked to is almost 2 years old. The feature was new back then, it’s possible that is has been buggy because of that.
I’m using 3 iPads and 2 iPhones, and iCloud syncs messages between all of them without problems.

If you don’t want to use third party software or backup, Messages in iCloud is your only possibility to get all of your messages from the iPhone 5s to the new device.

 

[agingresearcher]

Welcome to iPhone Forums!

The discussion you’ve linked to is almost 2 years old. The feature was new back then, it’s possible that is has been buggy because of that.
I’m using 3 iPads and 2 iPhones, and iCloud syncs messages between all of them without problems.

If you don’t want to use third party software or backup, Messages in iCloud is your only possibility to get all of your messages from the iPhone 5s to the new device.

Dear J. A.,
I'm very thankful for the response! Is there any way to force the full download of all the messages in the iCloud to the new iphone 11, so that I can disable iCloud therafter??
Thanks again!

 

[J. A.]

Dear J. A.,
I'm very thankful for the response! Is there any way to force the full download of all the messages in the iCloud to the new iphone 11, so that I can disable iCloud therafter??
Thanks again!

That’s possible. When you go to Settings on the new device, then select your name/Apple ID and go to iCloud, then disable Messages there. You’ll get this:

 

[agingresearcher]

Yes, thanks, but I learned from some other Internet posts that the
"messages have not been fully downloaded to this iphone"
notification tells me that if I disable iCloud, not all messages
will be on the new device:-(
This may make sense for thousands of Photos, but in my
case, I really do not need iCloud storage. Thus, is there
any chance to get a full download done?
Your help is very much appreciated.

 

[scifan57]

iCloud storage space is not used when using iCloud to sync messages between devices.