How to Easily Migrate From iOS to Android and Transfer Data Between Smartphones

In this tutorial, I'll show you how you can save time and frustration when you switch from one smartphone operating system to another. Or, indeed, transfer data between smartphones on the same operating system.

This means you can easily migrate from an iPhone to an Android smartphone. Or from an Android to an iPhone.

It's also an easy way of transferring data from one iPhone to another. Or from one Android to another.

Using a tool called dr.fone Switch from Wondershare, you won't believe how simple, quick and easy it is to take advantage of the latest smartphones without losing any of your precious data. Changing to a new phone need not be difficult.

Switching Smartphones

It is widely understood that the first smartphone was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, introduced in 1996. Although the first device specifically marketed as a smartphone, launched towards the end of 1999, was the Ericsson R380. The former had a keyboard, the latter a flip-out keypad to reveal  a touchscreen.

Back then, switching phones normally meant saving your contacts to the SIM card, placing the SIM in the new phone and downloading the contacts.

In 2007, the smartphone industry was revolutionised by Steve Jobs’ Apple on the introduction of a device that had just four physical buttons, only one of which was on the front of the phone. All of the interaction with the device was through a large touchscreen.

Seemingly overnight the rest of the industry switched from physical keyboards to touchscreens. With the advent of the App Store and the continued development of Android, consumers are now spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting a mobile device.

In 2019, it is estimated that there are 5.11 billion unique mobile phone users with 3.99 billion of those using the internet on the device. There’ll be times when some of those people will want to switch.

The Mobile Phone Mobility Problem

More than a decade on from the device that revolutionised smartphones, the capability of both the phones themselves and the software they run has increased perhaps more than most of us would’ve envisaged.

The device in our pocket, that we refer to as a phone or smartphone, is essentially a powerful mini-computer that has replaced, or acts as a substitute for, so many different and distinct products.

It’s fair to say that the two dominant smartphone operating systems are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

According to StatCounter, the mobile phone operating system share worldwide in August 2019 was:

For all intents and purposes, it’s all about Android and iOS with a combined 98.37% of smartphone use.

With two predominant, complex and different operating systems the challenge is how a consumer moves between them with ease?

The Challenges

Smartphones are so much more than mobile telephones, or cellphones, that gained popularity in the 1990s. 

When someone chooses to move from iOS to Android, or the other way, it is likely that in addition to a number of contacts, they’ll also have photos, videos, a calendar, web browser bookmarks, voicemails, wallpapers and much more.

Moving Data

The obvious, and probably most difficult, unreliable and time-consuming way is to transfer all of the data manually.

Consider for a moment how many contact cards you have on your smartphone. I have 863 separate contact cards. If you use a smartphone for business, you may have many more. 

Even if you don’t, just imagine the time taken to manually enter the full details for ten contacts. Or, more realistically, 40 or 50 contact cards. As anyone who uses computers knows, it’s best to use the computing power for the movement of data since any human intervention is an opportunity to introduce error.

And that’s just contacts. Next, you’ll need to consider the best way to transfer photos and videos. And your diary. And more.

The movement of data is such a chore that it’s likely to dissuade some from moving between smartphone operating systems. But it need not be difficult. Like any task, it’s all about having the right tools for the job and the right tool for this job is dr.fone Switch from Wondershare.

How to Transfer Data from iOS to Android or Android to iOS

For anyone wishing to move from an iOS device to Android, dr.fone Switch works perfectly on more than 8,000 different smartphones and tablets. That includes Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Oppo, Samsung, Sony and ZTE.

That’s an impressive number of devices to support. The latest smartphone operating systems running iOS 12.3 and Android 9 Pie are fully supported.

Supported Smartphones

Even for users of older devices, dr.fone Switch is the best tool to use as it supports Android versions Android 2.1 Eclair to Android 9 Pie and supports iOS versions from iOS 5 to iOS 12.3.

Supported Computers

For Microsoft personal computer users, dr.fone Switch may be used on the following operating systems:

• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8 & 8.1
• Windows 10

For Apple Macintosh users, dr.fone Switch is compatible with the following operating systems:

• OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
• OS X 10.9 Mavericks
• OS X 10.10 Yosemite
• OS X 10.11 El Capitan
• macOS 10.12 Sierra
• macOS 10.13 High Sierra
• macOS 10.14 Mojave

dr.fone Switch Works With Your Smartphones and Computers

With known compatibility with so many different smartphones and tablets, dr.fone Switch will work on your smartphones and computer. 

Even if your device is not listed, Wondershare recommends you give it a go and, if for any reason you can not connect a device, they welcome you to get in touch so that they can help you.

Select Data to Switch From iPhone to Android

Wondershare’s dr.fone Switch helps you to easily switch from an iOS device to Android, transfer text messages from Android to iPhone, and supports the migration of the following fifteen types of data:

• Alarms
• Bookmarks
• Calendar
• Call history
• Contacts
• Contacts blacklist
• Messages
• Music
• Notes
• Photos
• Ringtones
• Videos
• Voicemail
• Voice memos
• Wallpaper

Select Data to Switch From Android to iPhone

Wondershare’s dr.fone Switch helps you to easily switch from an Android device to iOS, supporting the migration of the following nine types of data:

• Bookmarks
• Contacts
• Calendar
• Call history
• Messages
• Music
• Photos
• Videos
• Voice memos

Select Data to Switch From Android to Android 

It’s not just for migrating important data between different smartphone operating systems. The flexibility of dr.fone Switch extends to the ability to transfer data from Android to Android.

This is particularly useful when, for example, a smartphone is upgraded to a newer model.

The file type that you can transfer at the click of a button are:

• Apps
• Bookmarks
• Calendar
• Call history
• Contacts
• Contact blacklist
• Messages
• Music
• Photos
• Videos
• Voice memos

Select Data to Switch From iOS to iOS

For smartphone users wishing to transfer data from one iOS device to another, dr.fone Switch supports the following 15 file types:

• Photos
• Videos
• Contacts
• Messages
• Call history
• Bookmarks
• Calendar
• Voice memos
• Music
• Alarms
• Voicemail
• Ringtones
• Wallpaper
• Memos
• Safari history

The Benefits of dr.fone Switch

In a modern world of computers and complexity, dr.fone Switch makes the business of migrating to a new Smartphone child’s play.

Simplicity

The smartphone switch tool, downloaded to a desktop or laptop, is both powerful and simple.

Plug both devices into the computer via their respective USB cables and select the file types that you wish to transfer. You may select all or just some. A simple click-through process

Speed

dr.fone Switch isn’t just simple to use; it’s really fast. Faster than doing it manually, for sure, and faster than using other tools.

Where the migration of data could take hours, or even a day or two, dr.fone Switch transfers data within minutes. As quick as three minutes.

How to Transfer Data Between Smartphones

Wondershare has produced a handy, short video that shows how simple it is to migrate data between smartphones. The tool allows you to migrate data with one click:

• Android to iOS
• iOS to Android
• iOS to iOS
  
• Android to Android

Wondershare Dr.Fone - Phone Transfer - Transfer Data Between iPhone and Android

The short video shows the selection of desired data types and one click to migrate the data between smartphones.

Download dr.fone Switch

To get started, visit the dr.fone Switch Website to download the appropriate software for a Windows PC or Apple Mac, depending on which platform you use.

Connect the Smartphones to a Computer

Whether you connect the smartphones to the computer before or after you launch the app does not matter, just ensure that both are turned on, unlocked and connected via their respective USB cables.

Transfer the Selected Data With a Click

When you've done this, dr.fone Switch will recognise the phones and start analysing them ready for you to migrate whatever data you require.

The app displays the source and destination smartphones in a logical way with the available data that can be transferred in between them. This makes it really easy to understand the process.

If, for one reason or another, the app has identified the source and destination smartphones the wrong way around, just click the flip button at the top of the app pane to swap them.

For example, I plugged in an iPhone and a LG Nexus 5 Android phone. I want to migrate data from the iPhone to the Android. If dr.fone Switch misidentifies the iPhone as the destination, I can click flip to change it to the source, as shown in the image above. It's that simple.

When you're happy that the source and destination smartphones are in the correct order, select the file types, or data, that you wish to transfer. The types of data that may be transferred vary slightly on the devices data is being transferred between, as shown earlier in this article. 

dr.fone Switch helpfully identifies the available file types for that particular switch and greys out any that are unavailable. Consider whether you wish to select all of the available data to migrate or whether it is only specific types of data.

Then click Start Transfer. It's really that simple to transfer data between different smartphones which makes it incredibly useful when you come to upgrade your phone to a newer version or a different operation system.

Conclusion

As the progress of technology continues to pack even more functionality and features into modern smartphones, the devices become ever more capable and important in our daily lives. 

Where once one may have depended on all sorts of equipment, the smartphone has effectively replaced that with one, small, powerful computer. And, as their complexities grow, upgrading becomes more of a chore.

With dr.fone Switch, from Wondershare, it need not be difficult to upgrade to a new smartphone or to move data between devices. 

The simplicity of this app's interface belies its power and complexity. It does what computers and software should do for us; it makes a time consuming, difficult job easy and pleasurable to undertake.

If you're upgrading your smartphone, or perhaps moving from iOS to Android or back again, you need to be using dr.fone Switch.