How to Transfer Contacts From iPhone to Android and Back

A new Android phone will copy your iPhone contacts during setup: choose iPhone or iPad when it asks where to copy data from. A new iPhone does the same from Android through Apple’s Move to iOS app. Both are built for that first run, so a phone already in use needs the Google account or file routes further down, and neither of those means wiping anything.

iPhone to Android

New Android, still on its setup screens

Charge both phones, connect the iPhone to Wi-Fi and turn off iMessage on it, which Google says you must do. Contacts come across on every route below.

1. Turn on the Android phone and tap through the first screens.
2. When asked to copy data from another device, select iPhone or iPad.
3. If a QR code appears, scan it with the iPhone’s camera, then choose what to copy. This newer route needs Android 17 on a supported phone and, on Apple’s side, iOS 26.3 or later.
4. With no QR code, join Wi-Fi and sign in to Google. Then connect the phones with the iPhone’s charging cable (a USB-A to USB-C adapter may be needed), tap Trust, select your data and tap Copy.
5. With no cable, tap the no-cable option and use the Android Switch app on the iPhone, which needs iOS 15 or later.

Keep the phones together until setup finishes. The contacts stay on the iPhone either way. Apple’s page also starts this from the iPhone, under Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Transfer to Android.

Android already set up, or the iPhone is gone

iCloud to Google is our pick here. It needs a computer but not the iPhone, and it works after setup.

1. On the iPhone, if you still have it, go to Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, tap See All next to Saved to iCloud and turn on Contacts.
2. On a computer, go to icloud.com/contacts, click the Select Menu arrow, choose Select All Contacts, then click the Actions button and choose Export vCard.
3. Go to contacts.google.com and sign in to the Google account on your Android phone. Click Import, Select file, choose the .vcf file and click Import.

Without a computer, use the phones alone. In the iPhone’s Contacts app, open Lists, touch and hold a list, tap Export, select the fields you want, then send the file to yourself by email. On Android, open the Contacts app, tap Organize (Fix & manage on some versions), then Import from file, and pick it.

On Android 17, Google also offers the full copy after setup under Settings, Accounts and backup, on updated Pixel 9 and newer, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Z Fold 8, and some others.

The older tip of adding your Gmail account to the iPhone does not do this job. It brings your Google contacts down to the iPhone but leaves iCloud contacts in iCloud. Making Google the default account only affects new contacts. There is no Bluetooth route for contacts in Apple’s or Google’s instructions either.

Samsung Galaxy

Galaxy phones use Smart Switch, and you can use it without signing in to Google.

• During setup on One UI 9 with iOS 26.6 or later: select iPhone or iPad, then scan the QR code with the iPhone’s camera.
• During setup on older software: select iPhone or iPad, tap Cable, connect the phones, tap Trust, choose your data and tap Transfer. Samsung’s wireless option needs the Smart Switch app on the iPhone.
• After setup: first sync the iPhone to iCloud. Then open Smart Switch on the Galaxy and tap Receive data, iPhone/iPad, Get data from iCloud instead. Sign in, enter the code, select Contacts and tap Transfer.

Android to iPhone

New iPhone, still on its setup screens

This is Move to iOS, and it works from a Galaxy too. Samsung says Smart Switch cannot send to an iPhone.

1. Install Move to iOS from Google Play, turn on Wi-Fi and plug both phones into power.
2. On the iPhone’s Quick Start screen, tap Set Up Without Another Apple Device.
3. On Transfer Your Apps & Data, tap From Android, then Transfer with App.
4. Open Move to iOS on Android and accept the prompts. Wait for the code on the iPhone and type it in.
5. Join the temporary Wi-Fi network the iPhone creates, select Contacts and anything else, and tap Continue.
6. Leave both phones alone until the bar on the iPhone finishes, even if Android says it is done.

On a supported Android 17 phone you can skip the app: tap Transfer without App and scan the iPhone’s QR code with the Android phone.

iPhone already set up

Move to iOS would mean erasing the iPhone, so use one of these instead.

• Contacts in your Google account: on the iPhone, go to Settings, Apps, Contacts, Contacts Accounts, Add Account, choose Google, sign in, keep Contacts on and save. Google’s page says to open the Contacts app to start the sync.
• Contacts only on the Android phone: in the phone’s settings, open Google, All services, Google Contacts sync, pick your account, tap View settings and turn on Backup device-only & SIM contacts automatically. Whether this appears depends on the make and model. Then add the account as above.
• A file: in Android’s Contacts app, tap Fix & manage, Export to file, Export to .VCF file. Email it to yourself and tap the attachment on the iPhone.
• Contacts on an old SIM: put it in the iPhone if it fits, then go to Settings, Apps, Contacts, Import SIM Contacts.

If contacts are missing afterwards

• They were in another account. On the iPhone, open Contacts, then Lists, and look through “All iCloud” and each “All [account]” entry. A name that is not in one list may be in another, and each list exports on its own. On a Galaxy, the Contacts menu has Manage contacts, Import or export contacts for those stored on the SIM.
• They were never in the cloud. Google warns that some apps save contacts in device storage, where they do not sync. Android’s Contacts app imports SIM contacts under Organize, Manage SIM.
• The iPhone will not show Google contacts. In Settings, Apps, Contacts, Contacts Accounts, tap your Google account and check Contacts is on. Google’s fix is to turn on Use SSL under Account, Advanced, and then pull down on your list to refresh.
• Move to iOS stopped. Apple says a phone call or switching app on Android ends the transfer. Turn off mobile data and anything like Smart Network Switch, forget your saved Wi-Fi networks, restart both phones and try again.
• A detail vanished. After a Google import, look in that contact’s notes field.
• Everyone appears twice. At contacts.google.com, open Merge & fix and click Merge all.
• You deleted some by mistake. Google keeps them in Trash for 30 days, and Settings, Undo changes rolls back up to 30 days. iCloud has Data Recovery, Restore Contacts at iCloud.com, which brings back an earlier version of the whole list.

Keep the old phone as it is until you have checked the list on the new one. Then, if a Galaxy is going to a new owner, read how to factory reset a Samsung phone, which explains what stays locked afterwards.