Switch from Android to iOS: 7 simple tips and tricks

| Updated: Sunday, October 25, 2015, 10:23 [IST]

Apple recently unveiled its most talked about iPhone 6S and 6S Plus globally, and is soon going to bring them to India. We know that the company is pretty popular amongst its fans, and Apple fanatics start queuing up a night before the launch of the phone, to ensure they get to buy a unit. The trend does not seem to change this year as well, as there are many existing or new takers of the latest iPhones. Apple has already announced that it is expecting this year's iPhone sales to surpass its last year's variants sale.

Moreover with the launch of the new iPhones, the prices of previous generation iPhones will go down, which will attract many more consumers to buy an Apple iPhone. After all, many people literally aspire to own Apple's product as these are launched at much higher price. People wait for their prices to go down, with the launch of new generation models.

Many of you, be it Android users or existing Apple users, must be waiting to switch to the new iPhones, or to grab/upgrade to an older generation one especially now that these have got a price cut ahead of the new iPhone launch.

For those who are Android smartphone users and are planning to switch to iPhone, you are about to a take a leap, and the drill of migrating from Android to iOS may seem difficult. While Apple has made it ridiculously easy for Android users to switch to iOS (iOS9 version) through an app called ‘Move to iOS', for those who want to do these things manually, or are on older version of the iOS and don't want to upgrade can use the following tips.

Here we give you 7 tips and tricks for a smooth transition from Android OS to iOS.

Transfer your contacts and calendar:

It is obvious that if you are migrating from phone to another, you will need to transfer the contacts as well. You can do it in several ways, depending up on the way in which you have saved your contacts and calendar dates. So, if your contacts are synchronized with a Google account, you can simply import contact and calendar details from your Gmail account on iOS.

However, if your contact details are saved in the Android phone's local memory, you will have to first go to the menu key in contacts, and select Import/Export, and then export contacts to SD Card. Now transfer these contacts from SD card to your computer or PC, and then upload them in to your Gmail account. Now that your contacts are on Gmail, you can import them onto the iPhone.

If you don't want to save them in Gmail, then download iTunes, and then transfer the contacts in iTunes on your PC.

Move your music, videos and photos:

To transfer your media like videos, photos and music from Android to iOS, iTunes is the way to go. To copy files using a wired connection, plug your Android phone into your computer using USB cable or other modes, and transfer files. Now plug your iPhone in PC, and select your device in iTunes, click the tab in which you want to save data, and then File Transfer. Drag and drop the file from your computer into iTunes and transfer.

This way you can Sync photos into the Photos folder on your iPhone. It is important that you take a back up of the data that you want to transfer, so that you don't lose it.

For wireless transfer, log in and use iCloud service. However, it is limited to just 5GB of free storage and then you have to pay for it. Alternatively, you can try Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, Google Photos, or other such services.

To access Movies, Books and Apps bought on Google Play

You can download the respective browser or app on your iPhone to access movies, or books that you bought through Google Play. For instance, users of Google Play Books on Android can download the Google Play Books app for iOS and get access to your collection instantly. Similarly, you can find other apps and services that you use on Android, on App Store on iOS.

To move PDFs, Microsoft Documents, and other documents.

If you want to transfer PDFs or documents stored on your Android device, do it the way you moved photos and music to iOS. Connect your Android device to your computer, now look for files you want to transfer, copy and paste, or drag the files to respective section on iTunes. Now connect your iPhone to computer, select it in iTunes, and sync content.

For Microsoft documents, you can also transfer it via iCloud on your device. Open the Settings app on iPhone, go to iCloud, then to Account, and sign-in with your Apple ID. Now go back to the main page, select Pages, Numbers, or Keynote, and transfer. Find Microsoft documents (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) on your Android phone that is connected to your PC, and transfer relevant files in a folder. Sign-in iCloud.com with your Apple ID, choose the app in which you want to make changes to, and finally transfer the Microsoft files from computer to the corresponding app on iOS. The synced documents will appear on the app instantly.

Get your text messages

Some messages are important while some are dear to you, and you just don't want to lose them while transferring data to new phone. Sadly, there's no easy way to move SMS from Android to iOS, though you may consider using free message transfer apps or a premium software option to do so. In any case, chances are that you will miss out on some or the other message.

Buy new covers, chargers and accessories:

It is important to understand that when you switch from Android to iOS, there are many accessories, apart from some data, that you will have to leave behind. You will have to buy new phone covers, charger, battery back-ups and other things. Though, most speaker accessories for Android should work with the iPhone as well.

Move to iOS app:

Apple has unveiled an app alongside iOS 9 called Move to iOS, which let Android users wirelessly switch data to iOS. With this app, users can easily transfer contacts, message history, media content like photos and videos, web browser saves, as well as mails, calendars content, and more without any hassle.