How to ditch your Android for an iPhone—and take your files with you

Switching from an Android phone to an iPhone, data migration is crucial. Data transfer from Android to iOS (or reverse) is particularly complicated.

If you are an Android user and are ready to purchase your first iPhone, you can still retain your apps and data. It just takes a few more steps. Here is how to transfer your emails, contacts, calendars, movies, music and everything else you want to put on your new phone.

Are you planning to continue using Google or Microsoft apps?

Your data transfer process depends on whether you plan to start using Apple's apps, or stick to Google and Microsoft services you already rely on. If you want to use Apple in full, skip to the next section to learn how to move your data. However, if you plan to continue using the same Google app you use on your Android device, it's actually quite easy for you to migrate to iOS.

This is because all major Google apps (Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Drive, etc.) are also available for iOS. Simply launch your new iPhone, install these services from the App Store, and log in with your existing account. You can even get the Google Assistant on your iPhone, although it doesn't integrate as deeply as it does on Android. This means you can activate it by saying “Hey Google” just like on Android, even if your iPhone is locked. Apart from that, you will be able to continue from where the interruption is.

Same goes if you invest heavily in the Microsoft ecosystem. Apps like Outlook, OneNote, Word, Excel, and OneDrive have iOS versions, so you can easily switch between devices.

For email, contact calendar, you do not need to stick to Android apps to access your files. You can keep your data on a Google or Microsoft server, but you can interact with it through a native iPhone app. On your new iPhone, go to Settings > Password & Account > Add an account . Select Google or Outlook.com (for Microsoft) and fill in your credentials. You can now sync your original email, contact calendar to your new device's app. You can manage settings via the same settings > password and account screen.

Try using the "Move Profile to iOS" tool

To attract users to switch platforms, Apple has developed a special Android application to help. The "Move Profile to iOS" tool is the easiest way to transfer pictures, videos, text messages, Google contact calendars to a new iPhone. It makes the process easy and seamless, and we recommend that you try this before trying other options.

To make this work, you need to do this when the new iPhone is launched while you are still starting to set up. First, pick up your old Android device, install the app, connect to a Wi-Fi network, and plug your phone into a power outlet.

Plug your new iPhone into its own power supply, turn it on and start setting up. In the process, connect it to the same Wi-Fi network as the old device. When you arrive at the Applications and Data screen, select Move data from Android and then select Continue . A code will be displayed on the screen.

At this point, go back to your Android phone and open the "Move Profile to iOS" app. When prompted, enter the code on the iPhone screen. Select the type of content you want to move, click Next, and then prepare to wait for a while. A loading bar should appear on the screen of an iOS device - let it finish before touching any phone.

After the transfer is complete, you will find your text messages in the Apple Messages app, find your email account in the Apple Mail app, find your photos and videos in the Apple Photos app, and more. The tool also allows you to download the iOS version of any third-party app you use on your Android phone. However, it only works with free apps available on both platforms, and once the download is complete, you must log in or configure them yourself.

What if you missed the time window using the Move Profile to iOS tool? Read on to learn more ways to transfer valuable data.

Mobile music and movies

You can easily carry standalone apps like Spotify and Netflix when you switch from Android to iOS. Simply install the relevant app on your new device and log in to your account. In fact, you can also find most Android apps for streaming music, movies, and TV on iOS. For example, Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Google Play Movies and TV, Plex, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

However, if you want to start streaming media via Apple's own iTunes, you may run into obstacles. This app does not allow you to play movies and TV shows purchased through Google. So if you want to stream these files, you have to do it via the iOS version of Google Play Movies and TV. For your MP3 files, the situation is slightly different: As long as they don't have DRM protection to lock them to a specific device, you can import them into iTunes via your computer. Log in to iTunes on your Windows or macOS computer, go to Files > Add files/folders to the library and select the MP3 you stored. Then log in to the mobile version of iTunes and the files will be synced to your iPhone.

Of course, you can start buying new music and videos through iTunes at any time and ignore old content. But remember that if you do decide to return to Android, your iTunes movies and TV shows won't be able to return. You can only keep your music, which can be moved through the Android version of the Apple Music app.

Mobile documents and other files

Since most media is stored in the cloud, you can access your data immediately regardless of whether the software is on Android or iOS devices. So to transfer documents and other fragmented files, you can use cross-platform applications similar to Dropbox and Google Drive.

On your old device, move your files to one of these apps. Then pick up your iPhone, download the iOS version of Dropbox or Google Drive, log in, and you will find all the same files waiting for you. You can also access your cloud storage through iOS's native "File" app: open the app, click to edit , and enable Dropbox or Google Drive (when installed to iPhone, these apps should automatically appears).

Speaking of synchronization, "built-in iCloud" allows you to easily access computer files from your iPhone. On a macOS computer, open System Preferences > iCloud, view the content next to the iCloud Drive, and then click the option to set the content you want to add to the cloud. On Windows, install the iCloud client for Windows, open File Explorer, and copy the relevant files or folders to the new iCloud Drive entry. After moving your computer files to the iCloud Drive, you will be able to open them through the Files app on your iPhone.

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