3 Easy Ways To Transfer Contacts From Android to iPhone

Got a new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c but wondering how you can transfer important data from your Android device? Making the big switch from Android to iPhone sound like a daunting task for most people. One of the main concerns when switching to a different smartphone platform is how to completely transfer contacts. Don't sweat it because it's not really that hard. Read on as we walk you through the steps on how to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone.

Easy Ways To Transfer Contacts From Android to iPhone

Via Google Contacts Service

The idea is simple enough: sync your entire address book from your Android device to the cloud Contacts service of Google, and then use Google Contacts to transfer the entries to the iPhone. So needless to say, you need to have a Google account. If not, you can always create one for the sake of this tutorial. While this guide focuses on Android smartphones and iPhone, the same process can be utilized for Android tablets/phablets and iPad/iPod touch.

Step 1: Syncing Android Contacts to Google Contacts

• On your Android phone, launch settings and navigate to “Accounts & Sync” or similar. Tap your Google account. NOTE: If you don't have a Google, simply tap the Add Account button found below the screen.

• On the next screen, tap “Sync Contacts” and wait for the syncing process to be completed. If you have many entries in your Address Book, the syncing process may take a few minutes.
• You should now have successfully synced your Android Contacts to Google. We can now proceed to transfer contacts to iPhone.

Step 2: Syncing Google Contacts to iPhone

• On your iPhone, open Settings then navigate to “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”, then tap “Add Account”.

• Tap Other, and under Contacts, you should see the “Add CardDav Account”, tap that.

• Under the CardDav details, enter the following details on the appropriate fields:

Server: google.com
User Name: (input your Google email address here e.g. jaxov@gmail.com)
Password: (input your password)
Description: (any description your want)

• Tap Next and syncing should commence immediately. You can exit Settings and open your iOS Contacts app to check the syncing progress. Again, large address books will take some time to sync.

Should you have any issues while syncing, navigate to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and make sure that syncing settings are utilizing SSL with port 443. You may also use these steps in reverse to transfer iPhone contacts to Android.

Alternate Solutions to Transfer Contacts to iPhone:

Export Contacts as .VCF File

For whatever reason that you are not keen on using Google Contacts to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone, you may export your Android contacts as .VCF file and retrieve it on your iPhone. Simply follow these steps:

• On Android, launch Contacts (make sure all contacts are visible).
• Tap the menu button, then the Import/Export.
• Tap Export to Storage (or Export to SD Card).
• Choose which contact file to transfer and tap OK.

This will save the .VCF file on your Android SD Card. You have numerous choices here. You can choose to transfer the file to your hard drive to be imported via your Mac's Contacts app. Or you can send the .VCF file to yourself through email. Then on your iPhone, open the email and tap the .VCF attachment, then select “Add all contacts”.

SIM Swapping

This method will only work if your Android phone is using the same sized SIM card with your iPhone (either a micro or nano SIM). You can of course opt to cut down the SIM to fit the iPhone but we don't recommend it. If you don't get the size right, your contacts will be gone for good.

First, save all of your Android Contacts to the attached SIM card. Once you have successfully transferred the SIM to the iPhone, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then look for "Import SIM Contacts". Once the import process is done, you can now replace the SIM from Android with your original card.

Was that easy or what? It's not all that hard to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone. Just choose which solution is best applicable to you. If you have any problems while performing the steps above or you have other solutions on how to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone to share, feel free to drop a comment.