If you change your phone and go from an iPhone to Android, you will certainly want to transfer your contacts. To copy the data from one operating system to another you can use iCloud, iTunes, your Google account or an app. Here’s how you do it.
How to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android manually (via email)
An easy method to copy your contacts is by using the “Share Contact” option. But we recommend using it only if you want to transfer a few contacts (as using this method to move the entire list of contacts will be time-consuming).
- Open the “Contacts” app on your iPhone.
- Open the contact that you want to transfer.
- Tap the option “Share Contact”.
- You can now choose how to share the contact – tap “Mail”. A vCard file (vcf) will be generated and attached to your email. Send it to your own email address.
- Open the email on your Android phone and download the vCard file.
How to copy contacts from iPhone to Android using iCloud
You can also use Apple’s cloud system to transfer your contacts:
- On your iPhone, you must first enable the “Contacts” option for iCloud. Open your iPhone’s “Settings”. Tap your name and then “iCloud”. Go to “Contacts” in the list and activate it.
- Open the iCloud website and sign in.
- Click “Contacts”.
- From the list, select the contacts that you want to copy. If you want to transfer all your contacts, click the gear symbol in the bottom left corner of the screen. And then click “Select All”.
- Click the gear symbol (again) and then “Export vCard”. A vCard file (vcf) will be downloaded to your computer.
- Transfer the vCard file to your Android phone. You can do that by sending it to yourself via email, by using Google Contacts (instructions below) or by simply connecting your Android phone to your PC and copying the file.
Transferring contacts from iPhone to Android via iTunes
Moving contacts from iPhone to Android is also possible via iTunes:
- On your iPhone, you must first deactivate the “Contacts” options under iCloud. Open your iPhone’s “Settings” and tap your name. Under “iCloud”, find the “Contacts” option and deactivate it by using the toggle.
- On your computer, download the newest iTunes version.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer. If it doesn’t run automatically, launch iTunes.
- In the upper left corner, click the device icon. Then click “Info” in the list on the left side of the screen.
- Check the “Sync Contacts With” option and then select “Google Contacts” from the drop-down list.
- Sign in to your Google account and follow the instructions.
- Connect your Android phone to the Google account and let Google sync your contacts.
Google Contacts: Sync contacts via Google account
In order to use this method, you must have a Google account (you need it for your Android smartphone anyway). You’ll also have to download your contacts as a vCard file on your computer (use iTunes, as shown above). When you have the vcf on your PC, follow these steps:
- Open Google Contacts in a browser on your computer and sign in to the Google account that’s connected to your Android device.
- In the column on the left side of the screen, click “Import” and then “Select file”.
- Select the vCard file you want to import (the one you’ve downloaded using iTunes).
- Click “Import”.
- On your Android phone, open the “Settings” app, tap “Accounts” and then your Google account.
- Tap “Account sync”. Make sure that the “Contacts” option is activated (if not, move the toggle).
- In the upper right corner, tap the three vertical dots. Then tap “Sync now”.
Use apps to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android
There are also apps that you can use to transfer your contacts. Just open the App Store and search for “transfer contacts” or “copy contacts”. You’ll get a list of (free) apps – install the app of your choice. Here are just some examples:
- MCBackup
- Easy Backup
- My Contacts Backup
