How to Transfer Contacts From Android to iPhone

Use Apple's Move to iOS app, your SIM card, or Google

What to Know

  • App: Download the Move to iOS app at the Google Play Store and use it to transfer your contacts.
  • Android SIM card: Contacts > Settings > Import/Export > Export > SIM card > place SIM card in iPhone.
  • Google: Back up Contacts to Google > add the Google app to the iPhone > move Contacts slider to On.

This article explains three ways to transfer the contacts from your Android address book to iPhone. The information applies to smartphones or tablets with Android 4.0 or higher and iPhones with iOS 9.3 or higher.

Use the Move to iOS App to Transfer Contacts

Apple makes transferring data from Android to iPhone easy with its Move to iOS app for Android devices, which is available in the Google Play store.

This app pulls together all the data on your Android device—contacts, text messages, photos and videos, calendar, email accounts, website bookmarks—and then imports them to your new iPhone over Wi-Fi. The process couldn't be simpler. 

Download the Move to iOS app from Google Play and get started.

Screenshots of the Move to iOS App
Move to iOS App.

While Move to iOS transfers your data, it doesn't transfer your Android apps.

Instead, it makes suggestions from the App Store based on the apps you have on your Android device.

Move to iOS suggests matching free apps for download during the transfer, and adds matching paid apps to your App Store Wishlist for later purchase.

If you're switching from Android to iPhone, don't forget to transfer your music, photos, videos, calendar, and apps.

Use Your SIM Card to Transfer Contacts

If you're only interested in moving your contacts and not your other data, you can use the SIM card in your Android phone. Here's what you need to do:

Since you can store address book data on an Android SIM card, you can back up your contacts there and move them to your iPhone (the SIM cards need to be the same size in both devices, of course). All iPhones beginning with iPhone 5 use Nano SIMs.

  1. On your Android device, launch your Contacts app > tap on the menu button > and navigate to Settings. Find and tap the Import/Export setting and tap it.

    The following images show the steps on a Samsung device running Android Oreo. Your screens may look a little different, depending on the device you own, but the basic steps should be roughly the same.

    Three Android Contacts app screens showing menu button, Manage contacts and Import/Export contacts
  2. Tap the Export button. Then choose to export to the SIM card.

    Two Samsung screens showing Export button and SIM card storage option
  3. Wait for the contacts to be exported to your SIM card.

  4. When the export is complete, remove the SIM card from your Android phone and insert it into your iPhone.

  5. On the iPhone, tap the Settings > Contacts.

    On some older versions of the iOS, this option is called "Mail" or "Calendars."

  6. Tap Import SIM Contacts. When the import finishes, your contacts will be available in the pre-installed Contacts app on your iPhone. 

    Three iOS screens showing Settings app icon, Contacts button, and Import SIM Contacts button

Use Google to Transfer Contacts

You can use the power of the cloud to move your contacts from Android to iPhone. In this case, using your Google account is the best choice because of both Android and iPhone support for it.

For this to work, you need a Google account. You almost certainly created one for your Android device.

To transfer your contacts, follow these steps:

  1. On your Android device, back up your contacts to Google. You can also tap Settings > Account > the Google account you want to sync to > and then toggle Sync Contacts to On.

    The backup should happen automatically if you use your Google account on your device.

    Three Android screens showing Accounts, Sync account, and Sync Contacts toggle to ON
  2. With that done, add your Google account to your iPhone.

  3. When the account is set up, you may be able to enable contact syncing right away. If not, go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts and tap the Gmail account.

  4. Move the Contacts slider to the On (green) position, and the contacts you added to your Google account will sync to the iPhone. 

    Three iOS screens showing Passwords & Accoutns, Gmail and Contacts toggle to ON

From now on, any change you make to your iPhone address book syncs to your Google account. You'll have a complete copy of your address book in two places, safely backed up and ready to transfer to other devices as needed.

If you prefer, you can use Yahoo to sync your contacts with your iPhone rather than using Google. The process is similar.

FAQ

  • How do I transfer contacts from iPhone to iPhone?

    To transfer contacts from iPhone to iPhone, using iCloud is the easiest method. Ensure both iPhones are signed in with the same Apple ID/Apple Account. On both phones, open Settings > tap your name iCloud > slide Contacts to the On position. If asked, select the option to merge contacts so you don't lose anything.

  • How do I transfer contacts from Android to Android?

    The easiest method is using your Google account. On the old Android, go to Settings > Accounts > select your Google account > tap Account Sync. On the next page, enable Contacts if it's not already on. Log in to the same Google account on your new Android, and all your contacts will be accessible.

  • How do I transfer contacts from iPhone to Android?

    To transfer contacts from iPhone to Android with a Gmail account, turn on contacts syncing in the Gmail app on your iPhone, or use Google Drive backups. You can also use a vCard to transfer contacts from iCloud.com.

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