If you’re making the switch from Android to iPhone, one of your biggest concerns is certainly transferring all your data from one device to the other. Luckily, Apple offers a free app you can use to automatically transfer most of the data.
We’ll show you exactly how to use the Move to iOS app to transfer contacts, messages, photos, and more from Android to iPhone.
What Data Can I Transfer From Android to iPhone?
Unfortunately, you can’t transfer everything from Android to iPhone. However, using the free Move to iOS app, you should be able to transfer:
- Contacts
- Message history
- Photos and videos
- Web bookmarks
- Mail accounts
- Calendars
- Free apps (if they’re available for iOS)
It’s important to point out that not all apps are available on both the Android and iOS platforms. Also, even if you purchased a cross-platform app on the Google Play Store, that doesn’t mean you can download it again at no charge on your iPhone. You’ll need to speak to the app developer about transferring your purchase, which they may not do.
To transfer local music, books, PDFs, and documents, you’ll need to sync both your Android device and your new iPhone to a computer. We’ll show you how to do that at the end of the guide.
Step 1. Prepare Your Android Device and iPhone
The Move to iOS app works with Android 4.4 (KitKat) or later and iOS 9 or later. Check the software on your Android phone and iPhone to ensure they’re compatible.
You also need to make sure there is enough storage on your iPhone for all the data on your Android device (and microSD card, if your Android phone has one). If not, you won’t be able to transfer everything from your Android phone.
If you already started using your new device, you need to erase your iPhone before you can transfer data using the Move to iOS app. Be sure to back up your iPhone before erasing it if you don’t want to lose any data already on there—although you can’t restore this backup without then losing the data you transfer from your Android device.
Finally, make sure both devices have sufficient charge or are plugged into power.
Step 2. Start Setting Up Your iPhone
After powering on your new iPhone, you should be greeted with a “Hello” screen prompting you to start setting it up. Swipe up (or click the Home button), then follow the prompts to choose your language and region.
On the Quick Start page, choose to Set Up Manually. Then, connect to the same Wi-Fi network your Android device is using and keep following the setup prompts until you reach the Apps & Data page.
When you reach the Apps & Data page, tap Move Data from Android.
Step 3. Download Move to iOS on Android
On your Android device, open the Google Play Store and install the Move to iOS app. Make sure you use the Apple version of this app, as there are also a handful of imitations on the Play Store.
If you can’t access the Google Play Store on your Android phone, download Move to iOS directly from Apple’s website instead.
After downloading and installing it, open the Move to iOS app on your Android device. Tap Continue and read the Terms and Conditions. When you reach the Find Your Code page, tap Next in the top-right corner.
On your iPhone, tap Continue to generate a numerical code.
Type this code into the Move to iOS app to link your Android device and iPhone together.
Step 4. Choose What Data to Transfer
After your Android device connects to your iPhone, you should see a list of all the different types of data you can transfer. Select or deselect the different types of data that you do or don’t want to transfer.
Make sure you don’t try to transfer more data than you have space for on your iPhone. You can see how much space each type of data takes up below each item in the list.
When you’re ready, tap Next on your Android phone to start the data transfer.
Step 5. Wait for the Transfer to Complete
A progress bar appears on both your Android phone and your iPhone while Move to iOS transfers data between the devices. Make sure you leave both devices alone, keeping them connected to Wi-Fi, until this process is complete.
Even if your Android phone says the transfer is complete, leave Move to iOS open until the progress bar fills up on your iPhone as well.
The length of time for this transfer to finish varies based on your Wi-Fi speed and the amount of data you need to transfer. If necessary, connect your Android device and iPhone to power to keep them charged up until the transfer is done.
Step 6. Check Your Data and Manually Transfer the Rest
When Move to iOS finishes transferring data from your Android phone to your new iPhone, tap Done in Move to iOS on your Android phone and close the app.
Now follow the prompts on your iPhone screen to finish setting it up. You need to create or sign into an Apple ID account and decide on various iPhone settings.
After finishing the setup process, your iPhone should prompt you to sign in to your Apple ID account to download free apps from your Android device.
Take a few minutes to check all the data transferred from your Android phone successfully. You need to manually move across anything that’s missing.
How to Manually Transfer Music, Ebooks, PDFs, and Other Documents to Your iPhone
If you use a third-party app to play music, read books, or store documents online—such as Spotify, Kindle, or Dropbox—you should be able to download that app for free from the App Store and sign in to access all your content again.
On the other hand, if you keep locally saved music, books, PDFs, and other documents on your Android device, you need to transfer them to a computer, then sync your iPhone to the same computer.
On a Windows PC: Connect your Android phone to the computer and use File Explorer to find and copy the media on your device. Download and install iTunes, then connect your iPhone to the computer and use iTunes to sync that media to your iPhone.
On a Mac: Download and install Android File Transfer, then connect your Android phone to the Mac and use Android File Transfer to copy the media from it. Afterward, connect your iPhone to the computer and use Finder (or iTunes on macOS Mojave and earlier) to sync that media to your iPhone.
Learn How to Start Using Your iPhone
By now, you should have successfully transferred all the data from your old Android device to your new iPhone. Move to iOS isn’t perfect, so be sure to confirm everything is there before getting rid of your old phone.
Once you’re happy you’ve got everything, it’s time to start making the most of your iPhone. You’re bound to find a lot of differences between Android and iOS, but for the most part, an iPhone is easy to get to grips with. Before long, you’ll probably know all the secret tricks you can do with an iPhone that weren’t possible on Android.