How to Switch from iPhone to an Android Phone

There are a lot of reasons why one would want to make the switch from iPhone to Android — it could be the full range of customization options or the highly capable cameras that many Android phones sport nowadays. Regardless of your reason for ditching your iPhone to join the Android army, one fact remains: you’ll have some adjusting to do.

Right now, you might be thinking, “they’re all just phones — how hard could it be?” We won’t be writing this article if there’s no demand for the info we have here. Switching from iPhone to Android might be a complicated process for some, particularly if there are several things on your iPhone that you want to keep and take with you as you move to Android. With this article, we will help you go through the transition faster and more smoothly. We will teach you how to transfer your most important data and files, and give you other tips.

What Makes Transitioning to Android from iPhone so Challenging?

iPhones have stable operating systems. For instance, the user interface and functions of an iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 that both have iOS 11.2 will all look and work the same way. Android phones, on the other hand, are developed by different manufacturers, who each have their Android versions. It means every Android phone can provide different levels of user experience.

Before Anything Else

So, it seems you’re determined to make the switch. Before you begin, keep these in mind:

• You need to turn off iMessage – When you send an SMS from your iPhone to another iPhone, it will be sent as an iMessage whenever you’re connected to the Internet. If you’re going to use the same mobile number when you switch to Android, and you leave iMessage on, text messages might still be routed through iMessage. Since iMessage is an Apple service, you won’t be able to receive messages from it on your Android phone.
• Let go of your paid iPhone apps for now – If you’ve been an iPhone user for quite a while now, you probably have purchased a couple of paid apps. Unfortunately, even if it’s possible those apps have an Android counterpart, you can no longer use them on your new device. To continue enjoying those apps, you need to buy and install them again from Play Store.
• Goodbye iCloud, hello Google – It’s typical for iPhone users to sync their contacts, calendar, photos, and more synced with iCloud. When you switch to Android, you’ll likely need to re-sync, this time with Google.

Transferring Your Contacts

To quickly move contacts between your iPhone and Android, you’ll have to rely on both iCloud and Google. For you to do this, you need to ensure that your iPhone is synced and backed up to iCloud.If you haven’t yet, here’s a quick guide from Apple.

Once you’ve linked your iPhone to iCloud, the next step would be to export your vCard. Here’s how:

1. Open Firefox or Safari on your computer. Note that this won’t work on Chrome.
2. Go to iCloud.com.
3. Sign in using your Apple account username and password.
4. Go to Contacts > All Contacts.
5. If you have a Mac, press Command + A. If you’re using a Windows PC, press Ctrl + A.
6. Click on Settings (gear icon) at the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Click on “Export vCard.” Your contacts will then be saved as a .vcf file, which you can find in your Downloads folder. In case a new window pops up, just select all the contacts again (Command + A or Ctrl + A), right-click, then export.

Now that you have your vCard, it’s time to import it into Google Contacts. Here’s how:

1. On your computer browser (Google will work this time), go to accounts.google.com and sign into your account.
2. Click on the Google apps button — the square made up of mini squares — at the top right corner of the window.
3. Go to Contacts > Import Contacts.
4. Click on Choose File.
5. Find the .vcf file you exported and downloaded from iCloud. Click on it.
6. Click Import. You should now be able to see your imported contacts.
7. If a message telling you that some of the contacts are duplicates appears at the top of the window, click Find and merge duplicates. Then, click Merge on the pop-up.

Now, it’s time to copy your contacts to your Android phone. If you haven’t turned on your new phone yet, you can now do so. When asked if you want to sync an account during setup, go ahead and log into your account and agree to sync contacts. But if you have already turned your phone on, follow these steps:

1. Launch Settings, then go to Accounts.
2. Tap Google and look for Contacts. Toggle on the switch beside it.
3. Go to the More options at the top right corner of the screen. It may appear as three vertical dots on some phones.
4. Tap “Sync now.”

Syncing Your Calendar

Another important factor that you want to take with you as you transfer from iPhone to Android is your calendar and every event you’ve ever saved. You can also do this with the combined help of your iCloud and Google accounts. Here are the steps how:

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
2. Tap “Add Account,” then log into your iCloud account.
3. Allow your iPhone to sync calendar files to iCloud.
4. On your computer, open Firefox or Safari, then log into your iCloud account.
5. Click Calendar.
6. On the left pane, click “Share Calendar” beside the calendar that you want to copy to your Android phone.
7. On the pop-up, check Public Calendar. Copy the sharing URL that will appear below it.
8. Open a new browser tab or window. Paste the copied URL. Make sure you change “webcal” to “HTTP.” Press Enter.
9. A download of your calendar file will start. You can choose to rename the file and as you do, add .ics extension. For example, ics.
10. On the browser, go to calendar.google.com.
11. On the left pane of the Calendar’s interface, click on the + button, then choose Import.
12. Click on Select file from your computer. Find the calendar file you previously exported.
13. Click Import. Once importing is finished, your Android phone’s calendar will also be updated.

Transferring Your Photos

Of course, you’d want to take your memories with you. The fastest and easiest way to make sure you always have a copy of your photos is to upload via an online cloud service, such as Google Drive. You can also sync your iPhone photos to iCloud, but because of the limited free storage, you’ll have to pay extra for the bigger room. But, the most natural method of all is using the Google Photos app, which is also available on the App Store. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Install iOS Google Photos on your iPhone.
2. Allow backing up of your photos during the setup. Your photos will start uploading. Make sure you’re connected to a secure and stable Wi-Fi network.
3. Once all your iPhone photos have been uploaded, install or launch Google Photos on your Android phone.
4. Sign into your Google account if you haven’t yet. Once signed in, you will see the photos you saved on your iPhone.

Switching from iPhone to Android Using Manufacturer Tools

To make the transfer from iOS to Android as hassle-free as possible, Samsung, LG, and Google itself have developed programs to assist users in the transition. Probably these manufacturers were so confident about the products that they anticipated the influx of new users. Let’s take a brief look at their programs:

• Samsung Smart Switch – This requires the installation of the desktop client and copying your iPhone data to your new Samsung phone like you would when moving files around on your computer. However, with Samsung Smart Switch, the data will go straight to your phone and automatically organized.
• LG Bridge – This also requires connecting your new LG phone to your computer, so you can easily transfer data from your iPhone.
• Pixel Switch – With Google’s Pixel Switch, you can easily transfer data to your new Pixel phone via USB-OTG. It even allows transfer of iMessages!

Get Your New Android Phone Ready

Aside from the tips, we shared in this article, the best way to get started and enjoy the experience of having a new phone is to explore simply! Don’t be too afraid to check out every menu and option on your new Android. We also suggest installing tools such as Android cleaner app to make sure that your phone will always be free from junk so that you can use it in its optimum efficiency and performance.