Many times people find no clue on how to transfer contacts to a new smartphone. This becomes more difficult if they use a new SIM.
Whether you wish to transfer move your contacts from Android to Android, or from iPhone to Android, even if you are using a new SIM, you can get to know right here in this article. There are several ways to do it.
How to move contacts to a new Android phone: Back up contacts to Google
If you have bought a new Android phone and want to move contacts from your old Android phone, backing up your contacts on Google is definitely the easiest and effective way to get them. In addition, you would have the option to transfer it to any other phone in future if you wish to. Even if you lose your phone, you can recover the contacts as they’re stored on Google servers.
Please note that each Android phone has its own interface due to which instructions may differ model by model.
- Launch the Contacts or People app on the phone
- Go to Settings
- Choose Import/Export, under Manage Contacts
- Choose Export, then select export your contacts to device storage
- The contacts you choose to exports will be stored as a vCard file, which you can transfer to the new Android phone via Bluetooth or email. On your new phone, follow the same process but choose Import rather than Export. You can also upload in to your Google account.
- Now you need to transfer that vCard file to a PC. However, you can also email it or transfer it through Bluetooth, upload it to Google Drive, or just connect the phone with the PC using a USB cable. Now just drag and drop the file.
- Go to google.com/contacts and choose Import Contacts.
- Choose the vCard file stored on your PC.
- Click Import.
- The file will now upload on Google account and you can access the same on any device you wish to by logging in to your Google account.
If you are switching from iPhone to Android, you need to sync your contacts to iCloud using the Settings and export a vCard from there, or use a third-party app to manage the transfer.
How to move contacts to a new Android phone: Back up contacts to SIM
- Open the Contacts or People app on your phone
- Go to Settings menu, which could be located under More…
- Choose Import/Export under Manage Contacts
- Choose Export, then select export your contacts to the SIM card
- Now take out your SIM and insert it into the new phone. Make sure it has the same size slot your old phone had.
- You may be asked to choose whether or not you want to use SIM contacts; choose yes
How to move contacts to a new Android phone: Use a third-party app to move from Android to Android or iPhone to Android
Apart from above mention steps, users can also transfer the contacts much easily using a third party app. They perform the same job but in a much easier way. You can try MCBackup – My Contacts Backup for this job which is completely free and compatible with both Android and iPhone.
- Open the App Store or Google Play
- Search for and install My Contacts Backup
- Run the app and allow it access your contacts when asked
- Choose the big green Backup button
- Tap the big blue Send button
- Now choose an option to send the file to your new phone. This primarily depends on the apps your old phone had, for example we were given Gmail, WhatsApp, Messages, Dropbox, Google Drive, Skype, OneNote, Android Beam, Bluetooth and OneDrive.
- When you get the vCard file on your new phone, select it to open it and choose Save. Otherwise you could also import the vCard file via Contacts/People, Settings, Manage contacts, Import. Please note that you need to have MCBackup installed on your new phone to import the contacts.
How to move contacts to a new Android phone: Use software preinstalled on the new phone
There are several Android phones that come with preinstalled software applications that make it very much easier to transfer contacts to a new Android phone. One fabulous example is Moto Migrate by Motorola, which allows its users transfer contacts and other data feasibly to a new device.