Move contacts to a new phone: iPhone and Android, step by step

To move contacts to a new phone safely, you need two things: to know which account holds which contacts, and to check the result after the move. Setting up a new phone is exciting. Finding out a week later that someone's number didn't come across is not.

Before you start: two minutes on the old phone

Whatever route you take, do these before you reset, sell or trade in the old phone.

1. See where your contacts live. On iPhone, open Contacts and tap Lists. On Android, check the account picker in the Contacts app. Write down each account and roughly how many contacts it holds. Contacts can sit in iCloud, Google, Outlook, a work account or only on the device. Where iPhone contacts are stored explains the difference.
2. Export a VCF copy. Save a vCard file of all your contacts and keep it somewhere off the phone, such as a computer or a cloud folder. If anything goes wrong, you have a point to go back to. The iPhone steps are in how to back up your iPhone contacts.
3. Note the total count. You will compare it with the new phone later.
4. Think about what is not a contact. Notes about people, reminders and voice memos usually live in other apps. Each needs its own plan. More on that below.

iPhone to iPhone

The simplest route is Quick Start: put the old iPhone next to the new one during setup and follow the prompts. You can also sign in to the new iPhone with the same Apple Account and make sure iCloud has Contacts turned on. Your iCloud contacts then arrive on their own.

One thing catches many people: contacts saved to Gmail, Outlook or a work account come with that account, not with iCloud. On the new phone, add the same accounts in the Contacts or Mail section of Settings, under accounts, and turn Contacts on for each. Menu names move a little between iOS versions, so look for "Accounts" if the exact path differs.

If you used contacts stored only on the old device, not in any account, open your VCF file on the new iPhone and add them from there.

Android to iPhone

1. On Android, make sure your contacts are saved to your Google account, not only to the phone or SIM. The Contacts app shows which account each contact uses.
2. On iPhone, open Settings, go to the accounts section for Contacts or Mail, add your Google account and turn Contacts on.
3. For contacts saved only on the Android phone or SIM, export them as a VCF file from the Android Contacts app, send the file to the iPhone and open it.

Apple also offers a Move to iOS app for Android that copies contacts and other data during iPhone setup. It works well for many people, but the checks at the end of this post still apply.

iPhone to Android

1. Export your iCloud contacts as a VCF file from icloud.com on a computer.
2. Open contacts.google.com, choose Import and add the file to your Google account.
3. Sign in to the same Google account on the Android phone. The contacts appear after a short sync.

Contacts in Gmail or a work account don't need this step. Sign in to those accounts on Android and they follow.

Which route to choose

In every case, the VCF file is your safety net, not your only method. Keep it until you have finished the checks below. If you are unsure between VCF and CSV, read VCF or CSV for a contacts export; for a move, VCF keeps far more detail.

Check after the move

Don't reset the old phone until you have done this.

• Compare counts. Look at the total on the old and the new phone. A big gap usually means one account wasn't added.
• Open a few rich contacts. Pick people with several numbers, a company, a job title and a note. Check that labels like Home, Work and Mobile survived.
• Check birthdays, addresses and photos. Some routes leave these fields behind.
• Look for duplicates. Moving through two routes, say iCloud and a VCF file, often creates double entries. Before merging, check which record is right. Automatic merging sometimes joins two different people who share a name.
• Call or message one person from the new phone. It confirms the number format and the country code are right.

Once everything checks out, keep the VCF file for a few weeks anyway. It costs nothing and covers the case you didn't think of.

What about notes, reminders and voice notes?

Moving contacts only moves the contact cards. What you know about each person, such as last month's conversation, a promise you made, the follow-up you set for next week or the voice note you recorded after a meeting, lives somewhere else. If those sit in a notes app or a reminders app, check that each one has its own sync or backup and that it actually arrived on the new phone.

That is easy to miss, because those apps don't show up in the contacts count, and the gap only appears when you need the note.

Where Callmory fits

Callmory is an iPhone app that keeps your contacts together with your own notes, voice notes and follow-ups. When you change iPhones, those travel together in one place.

• Contacts backup. Pick contacts from your phone or from Callmory and save them as a VCF or CSV file, then send it to Mail, Files or any app.
• App backup. On the old iPhone, save all of Callmory as one encrypted, password-protected file: people, notes, follow-ups with their dates and history, and the actual voice recordings. On the new iPhone, open it with your password, check the preview and restore. A record that changed is never silently overwritten. An encrypted contacts backup explains how this differs from a plain VCF file.
• Duplicates. Callmory shows possible duplicates to you and never merges them on its own.

Two limits to keep in mind. First, the private space has its own separate encrypted backup and is not part of the normal app backup, so back it up on its own before the move. The private space is built and in security review, and opens to everyone after device tests and an independent review. Second, Callmory is an iPhone app today; Android comes later. If you are moving to Android, your VCF export works there like any other vCard, but the app backup needs an iPhone to restore.

Restoring straight back into your iPhone's own Contacts app, with your approval, is still in progress. The backup flows are free; see pricing.

Frequently asked questions