Move to iOS

Apple

About this app

Everything about iOS is designed to be easy. That includes switching to it. With just a few steps, you can migrate your content automatically and securely from your Android device with the Move to iOS app. No need to save your stuff elsewhere before switching from Android. The Move to iOS app securely transfers all kinds of content data for you:

Contacts
Message history
Camera photos and videos
Mail accounts
Calendars
WhatsApp content

Make sure to keep your devices nearby and connected to power until the transfer is complete. When you choose to migrate your data, your new iPhone or iPad will create a private Wi-Fi network and find your nearby Android device running Move to iOS. After you enter a security code, it will begin transferring your content and put it in the right places. Just like that. Once your content has been transferred, you’re ready to get going. That’s it — you can start using your new iPhone or iPad and experiencing its endless possibilities. Enjoy.

Ratings and reviews

Biggest POS ever. Apple clearly doesn't want your business, because this is THE WORST piece of software ever. Several years ago, I switched from iPhone to pixel for the photography; plugged in the cable, and 20 min later, my messages, photos, etc were on my new phone easy peasy. Now, trying to go back to iOS, this is the only option; it just plain doesn't work. Looking at reviews, it seems as though it hasn't for years, and 🍎 just doesn't seem to give a damn. Don't waste your time.

What an awful, awful app. As much as Apple may hate Android, you would think they might put a modicum of effort into an app that is meant to switch people to their own platform. And yet, here we are. Seriously, this must've been made by the bottom of the barrel of their software team. There was no thought (limited thought at the most) put into the data transfer process. Why in the hell can data only be transferred over Wi-Fi? Was the reasoning supposed to be security? Because nothing is more secure than a direct cable connection, and it also happens to be faster. Perhaps their thought was that a user might accidentally yank out the cable in the middle of the transfer and have to start the process over again - which might be fine IF their Wi-Fi transferring worked. As you might be able to tell from the plethora of other reviews, it almost never works. When you do manage to connect, the estimated time is absurdly long, and often drops connection or runs into an error during the middle of the transfer. It's awful, and I hate that this is the only free way to transfer text messages from an Android phone. But seriously, it's 2022. Almost every Android phone from the past 5 years has been using USB-C, and the cable you get in the box for new iPhones is USB-C to Lightning. You'd think that a data transfer using the cable included in the box (that conveniently has both connections most people would need) would be a no-brainer. But I guess it's a tiny-amount-of-brainer, because the no-brains who design and update this app still manage to miss the mark. Hope they fix the Wi-Fi issues and add a cable transfer method, because this is an awful way to introduce people to the iPhone ecosystem, and I imagine it'll drive away many people who can't figure out alternate ways to transfer data.

This app is terrible. The support and instructions for this is just as bad. I tried for two full days to transfer my messages. This is the only way to do it. Apple Support sent me to a local shop, blaming my WiFi. The tech at the shop told me they have never been successful in this app working its way to completion. At that point, I had to decide if I wanted to switch to iOS and lose my message history or stay on Android. It doesn't make sense about the WiFi comment from Apple because the iOS is the one broadcasting and is the backbone for transferring them. If you don't need to migrate your messages, there are other apps to transfer contacts, photos, and other items. Use those instead. So you might want to try to migrate your messages only and then use the other apps to transfer photos, etc. If you are making the switch, here are some tips: * Don't activate your iPhone until this completes. Otherwise, you'll get texts, phone calls, etc. even though you're iOS device hasn't been fully set-up. If you do view your call log or texts, you'll have to go through the setup and then do a device factory reset and start the Move to iOS process all over again. * It uses a private WiFi SSID from the iOS device to the Android device. For no more than 5 seconds, the Android device needs to connect to the SSID. If it doesn't, it just continues and tries to use your WiFi but it never goes anywhere and there is no indication from either app that nothing is happening. * If you don't see a pop-up on your Android device that you connected to the SSID "iOS xxxx", then you might want to take a 3rd device out and then look to see if the iOS device is broadcasting it or not. There were multiple times I didn't see it broadcast so I knew to start over again. * If you have to start over, it is best to restart both devices. * Make sure that you leave both devices alone until the transfer finishes. For example, on your Android device, the Move to iOS app should stay on-screen the whole time. If you use another app or get a phone call on your Android before the transfer finishes, your content won't transfer. So maybe take the SIM card out and silence all notifications on your Android device. * The instructions say, "should stay onscreen the whole time". Does this mean that if you turn off the screen, everything stops? What about burn-in? Even so I would advise to just leave it on because anecdotally, it seemed to go further (until it didn't). It is crazy that Apple engineers have to have the Android app in the foreground at all times with the screen on to make this work. This seems like a relic from pre-2000. * Even though this doesn't work the first time, there is no mention of what happens if you want to only transfer messages only. My guess is that you then have to use other apps to transfer Photos, Music, Device contacts, etc. What progress indicators they have either constantly spins or there is a line that never fills up. At times, it may tell you how much longer it will take to complete, but if you triple that time and return to your device, it is still stuck on the same message. Perhaps they should have a progress indicator of how many kilobytes out of how many gigabytes are moving across the connection. Yes, kilobytes because it feels like waiting for a file transfer over a 14k modem. Once you do get the file transfer, there are no warnings like "the app stopped working due to.... " Good luck - hope you have better luck than me. I understand that Apple touts the security of iMessage but I would think that they would try to make this one of their most robust applications, not their worst.

What's new

Fixes an issue where messages may be missing or imported out of order (requires iOS 16.2)