Transfer contacts from Android to iPhone: 4 ways and a check

There are four common ways to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone, and the right one depends on where your contacts are saved on the Android phone today. Most people only need one of them. The work that really protects you is the ten minutes before the move and the check after it.

Short answer: If your contacts are saved in your Google account, add that Google account on the iPhone and turn Contacts on. If you are setting up a brand-new iPhone, Apple's Move to iOS can copy contacts during setup. Contacts saved only on the phone or the SIM need a VCF export or a SIM import. Afterwards, compare the counts and open a few detailed contacts before you reset the Android phone.

This guide goes deeper on the Android to iPhone direction only. For iPhone to iPhone or iPhone to Android, see how to move contacts to a new phone.

Step 1: find out where your Android contacts live

Android contacts can sit in three kinds of places, and each one travels differently.

• Your Google account. These sync to Google's servers and can appear on any device where you sign in.
• The phone itself. Often called device storage, or a manufacturer account such as a Samsung account. These do not appear in Google Contacts.
• The SIM card. Usually only a name and one number per entry, and limited space.

Open the Contacts app on Android and look at the account or storage shown for a few contacts, or the account switcher at the top. Many phones also let you filter the list by account. Write down roughly how many contacts each place holds. That number is what you will compare against on the iPhone.

If some contacts sit on the device or SIM, you have two options: move them into your Google account first, or export them as a file. Google's help explains moving a contact to another account from the contact's settings menu, and notes that moving a contact deletes it from the original account. That is fine for a move, but make a VCF copy first so you have something to go back to. Back up Android contacts covers that copy step by step.

The four ways, compared

You can combine them, but every extra route raises the chance of duplicates. Pick one main route and use the others only for what it misses.

Method 1: Google account sync

This is the most common route, and it keeps working after the move. Google's help describes these steps:

1. On the iPhone, open Settings and go to the Contacts section. On recent iOS versions it is under Apps.
2. Tap Accounts, then Add Account, and choose Google.
3. Sign in to the same Google account you use on Android.
4. Make sure Contacts is switched on, then save.
5. Open the Contacts app and give it a moment to sync.

Two things to know. The sync works both ways: a change on the iPhone changes the contact in Google too. And Google contacts stay in your Google account; they are not copied into iCloud, which matters later when you back up. Where iPhone contacts are stored explains how to see which account holds what.

Official steps: Sync contacts to your iPhone or iPad (Google Contacts Help).

Method 2: Move to iOS during iPhone setup

Apple's Move to iOS copies contacts, messages, photos, calendars and more from Android while you set up the iPhone. According to Apple's guide:

1. Turn on Wi-Fi on the Android phone and plug both phones into power.
2. Start setting up the iPhone. On the Transfer Your Apps & Data screen, choose From Android.
3. On the Android phone, use the Move to iOS app from Google Play. Apple notes that some recent Android versions can start the transfer without the app.
4. Wait for a code on the iPhone and enter it on the Android phone.
5. Choose what to transfer, including contacts, and keep both phones untouched until it finishes.

The catch: Move to iOS only runs during setup. If you have already finished setting up the iPhone, Apple says you need to erase it and start over, or move your content another way. For contacts alone, Google sync or a VCF file is usually simpler than erasing a phone.

Official steps: Move from Android to iPhone (Apple Support).

Method 3: a VCF file

A VCF file (vCard) holds many contacts in one file and is the safest way to catch contacts that live only on the phone.

1. In the Android Contacts app, find the export option. Depending on the phone it sits in a menu called something like Fix & manage, Manage contacts or settings. Choose Export, pick the accounts and save a .vcf file.
2. Send the file to yourself by email, or save it to a cloud folder you can open on the iPhone.
3. On the iPhone, open the file from Mail or Files. You will see the contacts it contains and an option to add them.

The imported contacts go into your iPhone's default contacts account, often iCloud. If you also turned on Google sync, the same people may now appear twice. More on that in the check below. If a VCF opens with broken letters, or you want to see what is inside before importing, read how to open a VCF file and convert it to Excel. For when to choose VCF over CSV, see VCF or CSV for a contacts export.

Method 4: the SIM card, and its limits

Apple's help describes importing SIM contacts in Settings, in the Contacts section, with Import SIM Contacts. This only works if the SIM card actually holds contacts, and it brings what the old phone stored there.

The limits are real:

• A SIM entry usually holds only a name and one number. Emails, extra numbers, notes, birthdays and photos stay behind.
• Long names can be shortened.
• Most Android phones save new contacts to Google or the device, not the SIM, so the SIM may hold only very old contacts.
• Some recent iPhones have no physical SIM slot in some countries. With eSIM, there is nothing to import from.

Use the SIM route only as a last resort.

Check after the move

Do this before you reset, sell or trade in the Android phone.

1. Compare counts. Check the total on Android and on the iPhone. On the iPhone, the Lists view in Contacts shows each account. A large gap usually means one account or the device-only contacts did not come across.
2. Open five detailed contacts. Choose people with several numbers, an email, a company and a note. Check that the second number and the labels survived.
3. Check birthdays, addresses and photos. Some routes, especially SIM and some CSV paths, drop these.
4. Look for duplicates. If you used two routes, such as Google sync and a VCF file, expect doubles. Before merging, make sure two records really are the same person.
5. Call or message one person. It confirms the number format and the country code work on the new phone.
6. Search for a few names you rarely use.

If something is missing, the Android phone still has it. That is the reason to wait. If contacts do not appear on the iPhone at all, iPhone contacts not showing walks through the usual causes.

Where Callmory fits

Callmory is an iPhone app, so it starts helping once your contacts have arrived. Android is planned for later, so there is no Callmory backup to bring from the Android phone.

On the new iPhone, the first useful step is a fresh contacts backup. In Callmory you pick contacts from your phone and save them as a VCF or CSV file, then send it to Mail, Files or any app. That gives you a known good copy right after the move. You choose which people to bring into Callmory; nothing is uploaded on its own.

From then on, Callmory keeps your own notes, voice notes and follow-ups with each person, and can save all of it as one encrypted, password-protected app backup. Restoring a Callmory backup into Callmory shows a preview first and never silently overwrites a changed record. Restoring straight into the iPhone's own Contacts app, with your approval, is still in progress. Encrypted contacts backup explains how the two kinds of backup differ.

The backup flows are part of the free core; see pricing. The iPhone beta opens in stages through the waitlist.

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