How to switch from Android to iPhone

Apple’s Move to iOS app copies most of your Android phone to a new iPhone during setup. The steps below follow Apple’s guide (Apple Support).

Before you start

• Don’t finish setting up the iPhone first. Move to iOS runs during setup. If you’ve already finished, you’ll need to erase the iPhone and start again.
• Plug both phones into power and turn on Wi-Fi on the Android phone.
• Make sure everything fits on the new iPhone, including anything on a microSD card.
• Update Chrome on Android if you want your bookmarks.
• Optional: connect the two phones with a USB-C cable for a faster transfer.

The steps

1. Install Move to iOS from Google Play on your Android phone.
2. On the iPhone, go through setup until you see Apps & Data, and choose Move Data from Android (the wording may differ slightly).
3. On the iPhone, tap Continue and wait for a six- or ten-digit code.
4. Open Move to iOS on Android and enter the code. Ignore a “weak connection” warning if you see one.
5. Join the temporary Wi-Fi network the iPhone creates.
6. Choose what to transfer and wait. Leave both phones alone until both bars finish, even if Android says it’s done first.

What moves

• Contacts, message history (SMS), call history
• Camera photos and videos, photo albums, files and folders
• Mail accounts, calendars, web bookmarks, voice memos
• Accessibility and display settings
• WhatsApp messages and media
• Some free apps that exist on both stores (you download them from the App Store afterwards)

What doesn’t

• Music, books and PDFs: move them by hand. Streaming services like Spotify just need you to sign in.
• Apps that aren’t on both stores, and paid apps: you’ll buy or reinstall them.
• Your phone number: your SIM or eSIM is set up separately, sometimes with your carrier. See What is eSIM?

After the move

• Sign in to your Google account on the iPhone (Settings > Apps > Mail or Contacts > Accounts) if you want Gmail, Google Calendar and contacts to keep syncing.
• Install Google Photos on the iPhone if that’s where your library lives.
• Don’t factory reset the Android phone until you’ve checked that your photos and messages arrived.

Our take

Move to iOS does a good job with the things people worry about most: photos, messages and WhatsApp. Plan for an hour with both phones plugged in, and don’t touch them while it runs. The only real work afterwards is reinstalling apps and signing in again.

Prices checked on 2026-10-23.

Sources

• Official Apple Support: Move from Android to iPhone or iPad (checked Oct 23, 2026)