Making the switch from Android to iPhone

If your Android data is tied to a Google account, you can sync the account directly with your iPhone.

Contacts, Calendar & Mail

If your Android data is tied to a Google account, you can sync the account directly with your iPhone. 1) On your iPhone, go to Settings >Mail, Contacts, Calendar. Click "Add account" and select Microsoft Exchange.

2) Enter your e-mail address, password and a description, for example, Gmail.

3) Next, enter "m.google.com" as your server and enter your username. Leave the domain empty.

4) Contacts are not selected by default. So, you have to turn it on and tap "Save".

If your contacts are in your Android phone's memory or on a SIM card, move them first to your Google account. 1) Start the Contacts app on your Android smartphone and press the Menu key.

2) Select "Merge with Google" and then press "OK".

3) On your iPhone, repeat the above steps for syncing with the Google account.

Moving SMS

1) Download the BackupTrans Android SMS to iPhone Transfer programme (Mac or Windows) from backuptrans.com.

2) Then turn off "iCloud Backup" and "Find my iPhone" on your iPhone and enable USB debugging on your Android smartphone. Start the programme and connect both your Android smartphone and new iPhone to your computer.

3) BackupTrans will detect your smartphones and both will show up in the Devices list. Right click on the Android smartphone icon and choose "Transfer Android SMS to iPhone".

4) Next, select your new iPhone and you should get this prompt saying: Confirm to transfer to this device? Click "Confirm".

5) When the transfer is successful, wait for the iPhone to restart and check if all the messages are now on it.

Moving WhatsApp

1) Start the BackupTrans Android WhatsApp to iPhone Transfer programme and connect both your Android smartphone and new iPhone to your computer. You will need to turn off "iCloud Backup" and "Find my iPhone" on your iPhone and enable USB debugging on your Android smartphone.

2) BackupTrans will detect your smartphones and both will show up in the Devices list.

3) A message will pop up on your Android smartphone's screen. Click "Back up my data" without entering a password. Then, click "OK" on the software to continue.

4) Right click on your Android smartphone and choose "Transfer Android WhatsApp to iPhone".

5) Next, select your new iPhone and you will get a prompt saying: Confirm to transfer to this device? Click "Confirm".

SMS & WhatsApp messages

Transferring SMS and WhatsApp messages from an Android smartphone to an iPhone is a bit more tricky.

You will need to buy the BackupTrans Android SMS to iPhone Transfer (US$19.95 or S$25.29) and BackupTrans Android WhatsApp to iPhone Transfer (US$19.95 or S$26) programs.

You can download a free trial to test it out but it lets you transfer only up to 20 messages.

Music & Movies

For Mac

1) Download and install Android File Transfer from android.com/filetransfer.

2) Start the programme and plug in your Android smartphone. You will be able to see the content in your Android smartphone.

3) Drag the Music and Movies folders to the desktop. To make things simple, create a folder called "Android Backup" and drag both folders into it.

4) Start iTunes and connect your new iPhone to your computer.

5) Drag both folders from your desktop to Library (top of left column in iTunes) to move songs and movies to the iTunes Library.

6) Go to the Music and Movies tab in the main window, check "Sync Music" or "Sync Movies", depending on what you want to sync.

For Windows

1) Connect your Android smartphone to your PC and select "Mount as hard drive".

2) Proceed to Step 3 from above.

Photos & Videos

For Mac

1) Start Android File Transfer and plug in your Android smartphone (see above to find out how to get the programme). You will be able to see the content in your Android smartphone.

2) From the resulting window, open the folder named "DCIM" and you will find the Camera folder. This folder contains all the photos and videos taken with your Android smartphone.

If you have already created the Android Backup folder, drag the Camera folder into it and rename the Camera folder as Photos.

3) Start iTunes and connect your iPhone to your computer.

4) Click on the left column in iTunes on your iPhone. Go to the Photos tab in the main window. Check "Sync Photos".

5) From the drop-down menu, select "Choose folder" and navigate to the Photos sub-folder on the desktop. Select it and click "Apply" (at bottom right of the iTunes window).

For Windows

1) Connect your Android smartphone to your PC and select USB mode.

2) Repeat Steps 2 to 5 from above.

trevtan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Nov 5, 2014.
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