How to set up and start using your new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus

BY Gautam Prabhu

Published 19 Sep 2014

If you’ve just got your shiny new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and dying to use it, here’s our step-by-step guide on how to set up and start using it.

Turn on your iPhone by pressing the Sleep/Wake or Power button at the top right-hand side.

You will be greeted by the Hello screen as seen below. Swipe from left to right on the screen to begin the set up process.

If you haven’t put the SIM card, then it will prompt you to put the SIM card to activate your iPhone. Put the SIM card to proceed further.

You will be prompted to select the Language. Tap on your preferred language. It will set up the language.

Next select your country or region from the list.

You will be prompted to choose a Wi-Fi network. Tap on the preferred Wi-Fi network.

Next enter the password for your Wi-Fi network (if it is a secure network), and tap Join to proceed.

Then choose if you want Location services to be enabled or disabled. If you want to use services like Find my iPhone, enable it, which is highly recommended.

Here you can set up your iPhone as a New iPhone, or restore from iCloud Backup or from iTunes Backup. For the purpose of this guide, I’m setting up the iPhone as a New iPhone. Refer to this guide, if you want to transfer data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6.

You will then be prompted to sign in with your Apple ID or create a Free Apple ID. If you already have an Apple ID, select sign in with Your Apple ID.

You will prompted to Verify your identity, if you’ve two-step verification enabled. You can tap on the device to receive a verification code to select it, and then tap Send.

This will send the 4-digit verification code to your other device. Enter the verification code on your new iPhone to proceed.

You will be prompted to agree to the Terms and Conditions. Tap on Agree in the bottom right corner of the screen. You will again prompted with a popup asking you to agree to the Terms and Conditions. Tap on the Agree button to proceed.

It may take a few minutes to set up your Apple ID.

Next, you will get an option to either use iCloud or Don’t Use iCloud. iCloud lets you access your music, photos, contacts, calendars and more on all your iOS devices automatically. I would recommend using it, so tap on the Use iCloud option.

You will be prompted to Use or Don’t Use Find my iPhone. Find My iPhone is a free service that allows you to locate, lock, and erase your iPhone if you lose it. With iOS 7, Find My iPhone also includes Activation Lock, so someone will need your Apple ID and password to erase or reactivate your iPhone. I would recommend you to use Find my iPhone, so tap on Use Find my iPhone option.

Tap on Next to proceed.

You will now get the option to select the email ids and phone numbers that can be used to contact you via iMessage and FaceTime. Deselect the ones you don’t want and tap on Next.

It will prompt you if you want to upgrade to iCloud Drive. iCloud Drive is currently in beta, so it is recommended to avoid upgrading to iCloud Drive. Tap on Not Now to proceed. It will again ask you if you’re sure you don’t want to upgrade to iCloud Drive. Tap on Continue to proceed without upgrading to iCloud Drive.

It will now update iCloud settings.

The next step is to set up Touch ID finger fingerprint sensor, one of the major new features of Apple’s new iPhone. Touch ID allows you to use your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone without needing a passcode. If you don’t want to set it up immediately, select Set Up Later Option, otherwise tap on the Set Up Now option.

Next you will be prompted to Set Up FingerPrints. Scan the finger or thumb you normally use on the Home button.

Now place the finger or thumb on the Home button. Lift and rest your finger on the Home button repeatedly. You will see that the fingerprint animation on the display fills up with red color as you progress. It should take less than a minute to set it up.

After the entire fingerprint animation turns red, it will prompt you to adjust your grip to capture the edges of your fingerprint.

Again place your finger on your Home button, this time however, lift and rest the edge of your finger on Home Button repeatedly.

After the entire fingerprint animation turns red, it will inform that Touch ID was successfully set up, and your fingerprint can now be used for unlocking your iPhone. Tap on Continue.

You will be prompted to create a Passcode. Enter four-digit passcode, and then re-enter it.

You can also use Touch ID to approve purchases on iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store. Tap on Use Touch ID for Purchases if you want to use this feature or Set Up Later.

You will now be prompted to setup iCloud Keychain on your new iPhone. You can do this by approve from other device or use iCloud security code or choose not to restore passwords. If you tap on Approve from Other Device, it will inform you that the Approval Request has been sent to the other device. You can continue setup and approve this iPhone at any time from the other devices using iCloud Keychain.

Next tap on Automatically Send if you want to send diagnostics and usage data to Apple. If not, tap on the Don’t Send option.

You will get the option to choose Display Zoom. You can choose how you would like to view your iPhone. Zoom shows larger text and controls. Standard fits more on screen. Please note you can always change it in the Settings app later. Tap on Choose a View.

You can choose between Standard and Zoomed in this screen.

You will now be greeted by the Welcome to iPhone screen.

Tap on Get Started to go to the Home screen, and start using your new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

If you use multiple iOS devices, then it is also a good idea to change the name of your iPhone as by default it will use your first name and append iPhone, for example: Gautam’s iPhone. I prefer to change it to the model name so I can easily identify it.

You can also check out our video walkthrough of the entire setup process:

Let us know how it goes. Please feel free to drop us a line if you’ve any questions.

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