When you buy a new phone, your first concern will probably be to copy your contacts from the old device to the new one. We will show you how to transfer contacts between two Android phones, using VCF files, your Google account, Bluetooth or a SIM card.
How to transfer single contacts from Android to Android
If there’s only one or a few contacts that you want to copy to another Android phone, you can use the sharing option in your “Contacts” app:
- Open the “Contacts” app and the contact that you want to transfer.
- At the bottom of the screen, tap the “Share” symbol.
- Select the option to share the contact via email and send the message (with a vCard attached) to your own email address.
- On the new phone, open the email and download the vCard file.
Transfer your contacts using your Google Account
If you want to transfer your entire contact list, one option is to use your Google account.
- As an Android user, you should already have a Google account. If not, register and then sign in to your Google account on the old phone. Go to “Settings”, “Accounts” and “Add account”. Tap “Google” and sign in.
- In the next step, you must sync your contacts to the Google account. Open “Settings”, “Accounts” and “Google”. Find the option “Sync contacts” and enable it.
- Now, sign in to the same Google account on your new Android phone.
- Go to “Settings”, “Account”, “Google”. Tap “Contacts” and “Sync Now”.
- Wait for the contacts to be copied to your new Android phone.
How to transfer contacts with a SIM card
SIM cards come in different sizes. If you want to use a SIM card to transfer your contacts, first make sure that the card fits the new phone.
- On your old phone, open the “Contacts” app.
- Open the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines at the top of the screen).
- Tap “Manage contacts” and then “Import or export contacts” (in other versions: “Import/Export contacts”).
- Tap “Export” to copy the contacts to your SIM card.
- Wait for the contacts to be transferred and then remove the SIM card from the old phone.
- Insert the SIM card into the new Android phone.
- Follow the same steps to import the contacts. Start by opening your “Contacts” app. Then open the menu at the top of the screen, tap “Manage contacts”, “Import/Export contacts” and finally “Import from SIM card”.
- Wait for the contacts to be transferred. This could take a few minutes.
Transfer contacts from Android to Android via VCF file
If you can’t use the SIM card to transfer your contacts, you can also export them as a vCard file (.vcf) and send them to your new phone via email. The steps you must follow are similar to the ones above:
- Open the “Contacts” app on your old phone.
- Open the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines at the top of the screen) and tap “Manage contacts”.
- Tap the option to export contacts and then save them as a vCard file on your phone (internal storage).
- Find the file called “Contacts.vcf” on your phone (internal storage) and send it to your own email address.
- Open your email on the new phone and download the .vcf file.
- On the new device, open the “Contacts” app and tap “Manage contacts”. Open the hamburger menu and select the export/import option.
- Import the contacts from the internal storage: select the “Contacts.vcf” file, click “OK” and wait for the data to be transferred.
Use an app to copy your contacts
If the methods shown above seem too complicated, there are also apps that you can use to transfer your contacts. Search for “transfer contacts” or “copy contacts” in the Google Play Store and install the (free) app of your choice. Here are some examples of apps that you could use:
