How to switch from iPhone to Android

So you’ve decided that maybe the grass is greener on the other side, and you’re ready to ditch your iPhone for the promised land of Android.

But before your embark on your Apple detox, let’s take one last look around. There are a few things you’ll have to leave behind.

Many of the cases, docks, and other accessories you bought for your iPhone are not going to be compatible with Android smartphones. And most importantly, when an iPhone user texts with a non-iPhone user, , those outgoing texts are in a harsh green… so say goodbye to your calm blue bubbles.

Now let’s take a look at how to transfer contacts, deal with your music, photos, and videos.

Transferring contacts

One of the most annoying aspects of changing phones is ensuring all your contacts are transferred over to your new device. In the olden days, this meant manually typing in countless names and phone numbers. But things changed for the better.

If you’ve been an iPhone user for a while, odds are your contacts are synced to iCloud. That makes it easy to log into iOS devices and have your address book readily available, but it also makes it easier to get it into Google’s ecosystem.

If you already turned on your Android phone and didn’t sync it with a Google account, head to the Settings menu and find the Accounts or Accounts & Sync option that shows you every account synced with your phone. At the bottom of the page you will see a button labeled Add account, where you can now enter your Google login.

If you have enabled iCloud on your iPhone, backing up contacts is incredibly easy. Turn on Contacts in Settings > iCloud on your iPhone. Log into the iCloud website on your computer. Tap the gear icon at the bottom left and choose Select All > Export vCard. Now log into Gmail, tap Contacts, or head to Google Contacts in your browser and tap Import.

If you are in a pinch and need to transfer your contacts fast, it’s also possible to do this with the free My Contacts Backup app. Install it on your iPhone, launch it, tap backup, and then email the backup file to an email account on your Android phone. You’ll get a VCF file which you can import into your Android contacts app.

Moving your photos and videos

There are various ways of getting your precious files from your iPhone onto your Android, but we’ll start with the most obvious and basic. You can plug your iPhone into your Windows PC via USB and then choose Import pictures and videos for an automatic transfer.

Google has also launched a new photo and video manager app on both Android and iOS, so this one is easy. All you need to do is grab the Google Photos app from the App Store and log in with your Google account. Once you are logged in, turn on “Backup & sync” and continue. Once your photos have fully synced (which might take a long time!) you can view them from your Google account on your Android device.

Moving your music

To sync your music onto your Android device, make sure you have already synced your iPhone with your iTunes library, then install Google Play Music Manager.

Welcome to Android.