How to migrate your phone’s data from Android to Apple iOS — and back

We know that our members who love Apple…REALLY love Apple, and the same goes for our Android customers, too. 

But some of our new members just joining CREDO, or our existing members who want to upgrade their devices, want to make the switch from Android to a new iPhone, or vice-versa, but they are hesitant because they think it might be too difficult to transfer all their data between the two different operating systems.

Well, never fear — making the switch between the two platforms is simple, and we’re here to help. Here are some tips for painlessly migrating your phone data from Android to iOS or from iOS to Android.

Migrating data from an Android device to iOS

We’ll be honest — migrating a phone from one platform to another, and saving all those precious photos, messages and music files, never used to be easy. But Apple has recently come to the rescue with a simple tool that makes moving from Android to iOS super easy with a tool called “Move to iOS.” According to Apple, this process will transfer contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, and possibly some free apps. You may have to download other apps and repurchase paid apps on your new device.

Note: These instructions only work if you’re setting up a new or newly erased iPhone device. If you have an existing iPhone, learn how to manually transfer data here.

1. Download the Move to iOS app to your existing Android device from the Google Play Store.
2. Make sure your Android and Apple devices are on a WiFi connection and are plugged into a power source.
3. As you’re setting up your iOS device on the “Apps & Data” screen, tap “Move Data from Android.”
4. On your existing Android device, open the Move to iOS app, agree to the terms to continue and tap Next on the “Find Your Code” screen.
5. Go back to your iOS device and tap continue to get a six or ten-digit code, and enter that code on your Android device.
6. On your Android device, choose the content you would like to transfer and tap Next. Make sure to leave both devices along for a while, even if one says that the transfer is complete, since this operation can take quite a while depending on the amount of data you are moving.
7. Wait for the loading bar on your iOS device to finish and tap Done on your Android device. Now you can finish setting up your iOS device.

That’s it! If you have any issues, check with Apple’s official Move to iOS instructions on its website.

Migrating data from an iOS device to Android

If you have a new Android smartphone, including some models from Samsung and Pixel, it may come with built-in, all-in-one tools, like special software or cables, to migrate from iOS, so we recommend you start the process here. Not all phones come with this option, so continue reading below if you fall into another category.

1. Plug in and fully charge both devices and ensure they are connected to WiFi.
2. Download Google Drive to your iOS device (or update to the most current version). If you don’t yet have a Google account, you can create one in the app — and you’ll probably be using it a lot on your new Android device.
3. Open the Google Drive app on your iOS device. Open settings and tap Backup.
4. Choose the items you’d like to backup (contacts, calendar, photos & videos) and tap Start Backup.
5. On your iOS device, go to Settings and turn off iMessage and FaceTime since you may not be using those services any longer.

Unfortunately, your apps won’t migrate to your new device, so you will have to download them manually from the Google Play Store. Luckily, many apps are available on both platforms. For additional information about setting up your email account or transferring music files, check out this comprehensive guide from Computer World.