Migrating from one iDevice to another

[Commodore]

I've been told that if I go from one iPhone/iPad to another (say, from iPhone 4S to 5S), I can save the old one's backup and restore it on to the new one, and get the exact same layout of icons, folders, and installed apps+settings there? Is this usually a bug-free procedure?

How about keeping the apps, layouts, settings etc. in sync among selected iDevices, is something like that possible (yet)? For instance, say I have an iPad and an iPad Mini, with the same storage capacity, and would like to have the same apps and the same layout+settings on both of them -- can it be done automatically?

 

[J. A.]

You can keep apps, music, books in sync between devices, if you enable this feature in Settings - iTunes & App Store:

When you download an app on one device, it will automatically do so on the other device, if it's turned on (unlike my screenshot).

 

[twerppoet]

When I got my iPhone 5 replaced I had to restore it from the iCloud backup. There were some minor issues, but for the most part it looked just like the old iPhone 5 did when everything was finally restored.

The restore itself doesn't take terribly long, but then all the apps start downloading, and that took about an hour, even on the Apple Store's reasonably fast wi-fi.

So yes, if you are patient and use the old phones iCloud backup to restore, it should look about the same.