Switching from Android to iPhone? We have a great guide for a smooth transition

by qassem 10:11 AM 0 comments

Switching from Android to iPhone? We have a great guide for a smooth transition

 LOS ANGELES—You invest a lot of time, energy (and money) into the relationship, but sometimes things just don’t work out. It’s time to break up … with your phone.

Consumers are wildly loyal to the two main smartphone operating systems, Android and Apple iOS. But for Android users, that loyalty takes a hit right after a new iPhone comes out,says a recent study by Ericsson.

If you're one of those people who are ready to take the plunge to Android from Apple, you're in luck. With just a few tools and some patience, you can be up and running on your iPhone without missing a beat.

As you prepare to abandon Android, wave goodbye to home screen customization you won’t really find on iOS. Now, all you will need to do is wipe your old phone and sell it, because you’ll need some cash for that new iPhone.

Transferring your contacts and calendar

Naturally you’ll want to take your contacts with you, and there are various ways you can do that.

It used to be a pain to switch from one mobile platform to the other, but now it's easier with Apple’s recently released Android app called "Move to iOS." It's all about one thing: getting you to switch to the iPhone.

To make the move from Android to iPhone, download the Move to iOS app on both devices and the app will transfer all your important data. Here’s what Move to iOS will actually move from your old phone to your new one:

• Contacts
• Message history
• Camera photos and videos
• Web bookmarks
• Mail accounts
• Calendars

The transfer process won't work if you've already fired up your new iPhone and set it up. So if you run into any problems or are at a complete loss, remember that Apple offers free in-store help at its retail locations for transferring data to your new iPhone.

Alternatively, if you have enabled iCloud on your iPhone, backing up contacts is incredibly easy.

If you’ve been using an Android device, it’s very likely that you have a Google account. First, make sure you have Sync enabled on your Google account. Hop on your new phone, and go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Google. Enter your Google login info and your iPhone will automatically sync the contacts housed within your Google account. If you want it to stay synced and include any new contacts you add, then you’ll also need to go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Contacts > Default Account and select your Google  

 Switching from Android to iPhone? We have a great guide for a smooth transition

If you’re a Mac user and don’t want to use the Gmail method, you can export your contacts into vcard. Sign into iCloud on your computer as you would normally and click Contacts. Once you get to the next screen, select All Contacts in the top-left corner and hit Command+A or CTRL+A to select all contacts. Afterward, click the gear icon at the bottom of the page and click Export vCard.  Choose Export vCard, name the vCard, and choose your desired save location.

Your contacts will download as a VCF file you can either email to yourself, or directly import to Google. Once you activate your new phone — of any type — set up your email account and import the vCard from your email to upload all the contacts.

Now that you have your contacts in Google organized exactly how you want them, it’s time to put them on your phone. If you haven’t powered up your new phone yet, the transfer will be easy. When you first boot up your new phone, it asks if you want to sync your phone to a Google account.

If you are in a pinch and need to transfer your contacts fast, there’s My Contacts Backup for iOS and Android, an efficient and easy-to-use app.

Moving photos and videos

Backing up your memories and music are essential. The easiest way to get your photos over to your new iPhone would be to use an app like Google Plus Photos,Amazon Cloud Drive, Dropbox, or a similar app that is available on both Android and iOS. You can also upload your photos to your computer and manually transfer them to your iPhone.

For everything else, Google has a ton of apps available for free on the Apple's App store.

Alternatively, you can also use iTunes. First connect your Android phone to your computer via USB cable. Next find where you have photos and video stored on your Android device.

On a Windows PC, it will likely be found under This PC > Phone name > Internal Storage > DCIM > Camera.

Android File Transfer is an application for Mac (running Mac OS X 10.5 or later) that you download and you can use to view and transfer files between your Mac and an Android device (running Android3.0 or later).

Use the USB cable that came with your Android device to connect it to your Mac. Double-click Android File Transfer to open it the first time. Browse the files and folders on your Android device, add folders, copy files up to 4GB to or from your Mac, delete files, and more.