How to switch from Android to iPhone and iPad

Moving your photos, contacts, calendars, and accounts from your old Android phone or tablet to your new iPhone or iPad is easier than ever with Apple's Move to iOS app. Apple's first Android app, it hooks your old Android and new Apple device together over a direct Wi-Fi connection and transfers over all your data. While Move to iOS app transfers a lot of your data, it doesn't transfer your apps (as they're not compatible), music, or any of your passwords. Additionally, you can only transfer data from an Android phone or tablet to an iPhone or iPad running iOS 9 or higher. If you've got the new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max, you'll have no problem.

Products used in this guide

• Apple's new standard: iPhone 11 (From $699 at Apple)
• Transfer your files: Move to iOS (Android app) (Free at Google Play Store)

How to move your data from Android to iPhone or iPad with Move to iOS

1. Set up your iPhone or iPad until you reach the screen titled "Apps & Data".
2. Tap the "Move Data from Android" option.
3. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Play Store and search for Move to iOS.
4. Open the Move to iOS app listing.
5. Tap Install

6. Choose Open after it's installed.

   Source: iMore

7. Tap Continue on both devices.

8. Select Agree and then Next on the Android phone or tablet.

   Source: iMore

9. On your Android device, enter the 12-digit code displayed on the iPhone or iPad.

   Source: iMore

After entering the code, the Android device will connect with your iPhone or iPad over a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection and determine what data will be transferred.

It will ask whether you want to transfer your Google Account info (so that you can quickly log in on your new Apple device), Chrome bookmarks, text messages, contacts, and the photos and videos in your camera roll. Select everything you want to move over.

Your Android phone or tablet will transfer the selected data over to your iPhone or iPad and place the appropriate content into the correct apps. The two devices will disconnect, and Android will prompt you to take your old device to the Apple Store, where they'll recycle it for free.

Once the transfer process is complete, tap on Continue Setting Up iPhone or Continue Setting Up iPad on your device and carry on setting up a new Apple ID or logging into your existing one.

Once the setup process is completed, you'll be prompted to log in to the accounts you transferred from your old Android device. Do that, and then you're good to go!

How long the transfer process takes varies depending on how much data you're transferring — especially if you were storing many photos and videos. We transferred roughly 400MB of files, and it took about 8 minutes from starting to set up our iPhone to entering account passwords.

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If you're transferring your Android to an iPhone or iPad, you're going to need these tools to get you there.