How to Transfer Everything to a New Phone
Getting a new phone should be exciting, not a weekend of lost photos and missing messages. The method depends on which phones you are moving between, so start by finding your combination below.
Follow these steps
- Back up the old phone first. Before you move anything, make sure the old phone has a recent backup: iCloud Backup on iPhone, or Backup by Google One on Android. If the transfer is interrupted, the backup is your safety net, and it costs you nothing but a few minutes.
- iPhone to iPhone: use Quick Start. Place the two iPhones next to each other, turn on the new one, and follow the Quick Start prompt on the old phone. Keep both phones close, charged, and on Wi-Fi until the transfer finishes. Your apps, photos, messages, and settings move across.
- Android to Android: use the maker's transfer tool or Google restore. During setup on the new Android phone, choose to restore from your Google backup or from the old phone by cable or Wi-Fi. Your maker's transfer app can also move photos, messages, and settings. Keep both phones charged and connected until it finishes.
- Moving between iPhone and Android: use the official switch app. To move from Android to iPhone, use Move to iOS during iPhone setup. To move from iPhone to Android, connect the phones by cable during Android setup or use your Google account restore. Photos, contacts, messages, and many apps transfer, but some app data does not, so check your most important apps afterwards.
- Check the things that matter most before wiping the old phone. Open photos, messages, contacts, and your banking or authenticator apps on the new phone and confirm they are there and working. Do not erase the old phone until you have checked these, because some things, such as codes in an authenticator app, need to be moved separately.
- Keep the old phone for a few days. Leave the old phone untouched for a few days after the move. If you discover something missing, it is still there to recover. Only erase it once you are sure the new phone has everything.
What NOT to do
- Do not erase the old phone the moment the transfer finishes. Check photos, messages, and important apps first.
- Do not start a transfer with a nearly empty battery or a weak Wi-Fi connection. An interrupted transfer is how data goes missing.
- Do not assume every app moves its data. Check banking, authenticator, and health apps individually after the move.
- Do not use an unofficial transfer tool that asks for your passwords. Use the official method built into your new phone.
If a few items did not transfer, your backup is the fallback: restore the missing app or photo from the backup rather than starting the whole transfer again. Most transfers go smoothly when both phones stay charged, close together, and on Wi-Fi.