Stories
New Phone Setup: Why Does It Still Take So Long?
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News18•01-10-2026, 10:00
New Phone Setup: Why Does It Still Take So Long?
- •Initial phone migration transfers contacts, photos, and apps quickly, creating an illusion of completion.
- •Security-conscious apps like banking, UPI, and authenticators require re-authentication on new devices.
- •Users often receive OTPs on their old phone, which may have already been switched off, causing delays.
- •The setup process extends for days as various apps and services, including Bluetooth and less-used apps, need re-configuration or permission updates.
- •The complexity stems from phones now containing critical aspects of our lives, from banking to smart-home controls, requiring stringent security checks for each service.
Key Questions Answered
While modern phones easily transfer contacts, photos, and apps, security-conscious services like banking apps, UPI, email, and authenticators require individual sign-ins, re-registrations, and verifications to ensure the new device belongs to you, prolonging the setup process.
Users often receive One-Time Passwords (OTPs) on their old phone after they have already switched it off and put it away, turning the obsolete device into an urgently needed tool for authentication.
Phones now contain almost our entire lives—including banking, payments, passwords, health data, work accounts, and smart-home controls—whereas migrations previously only involved basic items like contacts, text messages, and a few photographs.
