Switching from Android to iPhone or vice versa is always a bit nerve-wracking: there’s the fear of losing photos, contacts, or years of WhatsApp conversations. In reality, both Apple and Google offer free official tools that handle the transfer automatically, with no need to install third-party apps or use a computer.

From Android to iPhone: the “Move to iOS” app

Apple provides the free Move to iOS app, downloadable from the Google Play Store on your old Android phone.

  1. Turn on the new iPhone and go through initial setup until you reach the Apps & Data screen.
  2. Select Move Data from Android.
  3. On the Android phone, open the Move to iOS app and tap Continue.
  4. The iPhone generates a numeric code: enter it on the Android phone when prompted to connect the two devices over a temporary Wi-Fi network created by the iPhone itself.
  5. On the Android, select the content to transfer — contacts, message history, photos and videos, albums, web bookmarks, email accounts, and calendars — and wait for the progress bar to finish on both phones.

The process can take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, depending on how many photos and videos need copying. Keep both phones plugged in for the entire duration.

From iPhone to Android: Switch to Android (or Smart Switch on Samsung)

Google offers Switch to Android, built into the setup wizard on newer Android phones (on some models it’s simply labeled “Copy data from iPhone”).

  • Over Wi-Fi: you can only transfer contacts, calendar events, photos, and videos.
  • Via cable (with a Lightning-to-USB-C or USB-C-to-USB-C adapter): the transfer also includes messages, compatible apps, music, and notes, on top of everything the Wi-Fi method copies.

If your new phone is a Samsung, it’s worth using Smart Switch instead of Google’s generic tool: it additionally transfers wallpapers, home screen layout, and several system settings, making the new phone feel as close as possible to the old one from the first boot.

Important: turn off iMessage and FaceTime before leaving your iPhone

This is the step almost everyone forgets, and the most common cause of “missing” messages after switching: if you don’t disable iMessage and FaceTime on your old iPhone BEFORE activating the SIM on the new Android, anyone texting you from another iPhone will keep sending messages through Apple’s servers instead of as regular SMS — messages your new Android will never receive.

Before making the switch, on the iPhone go to:

  1. Settings → Messages and turn off iMessage.
  2. Settings → FaceTime and turn off FaceTime.

If you’ve already switched and the problem has already come up, you can still fix it afterward from Apple’s Deregister iMessage page, by entering the affected phone number.

Final tips

Always make a separate backup before you start — via iCloud on iPhone, via your Google account on Android — so you have a safety net independent of the direct transfer. Also keep in mind that WhatsApp requires its own separate migration process, built into the app itself (Settings → Chats → Chat Transfer), distinct from these two tools.