Transfer Calendar and Contacts from Android to your iPhone
So you want to make the switch from Android to an Apple iPhone. In this article we’ll take a look at what this implies and how to prepare for making the jump. Android phones are different than iPhone devices and the main difference stands int eh operating system they use. While Android is a open-source operating system, the Apple iOS is a closed-source OS made by the people at Apple. While Android is highly tweakable, iOS is limited to what Apple lets you do with it aside from a few tweaking tools available once you jailbreak your device. When you have used an Android phone for a while it is likely you will get to have a lot of contacts in that phone, contacts that you want to transfer to your new Apple iPhone device. There are a few steps to consider in this move and you should read on to see how to make a successful transfer of your data from one device to the other. We’re talking about not only your contacts but also your calendars and all your events that you have saved in your old Android phone.
The tutorial we’re presenting here makes an assumption and that assumption is that you are using Google apps for your contacts and calendars when it comes to your Android phone.
How to set up GMail in iOS
Setting up GMail to use with the Mail app in an iOS device is a fairly easy process.
You have to go to Settings and then Mail, Contacts, Calendars. The you will have to select Add Account and then select GMail from the list. You should type in your GMail address and select the Next button. Tap on Save when you are done.
Quick tip: Whenever you will delete a message in iOS’s Mail app you will be given the choice to archive that message.
Use iOS 5 to transfer your Contacts from your Android phone to your iOS iPhone
All your contacts are stored in GMail and you want to bring them all over to your iOS device to be sure that app integration is done properly. You can use Exchange to do this and move all your contacts. Here is how to do it:
- Navigate yo Settings and tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars
- Select Add Account
- Now select Microsoft Exchange
In the Email field of the app you will want to input your full GMail address. Leave the Domain field blank; you should not enter anything here. Now you should tap in your GMail address and password. Enter the GMail address as your username and the password in the password field. Tap on Next and in the Server field enter the address m.google.com.
Quick tip: Press Cancel if you get a notification saying that the app is unable to verify the Certificate.
Sync your Google Contacts and Calendars with iOS
Now that you have set up your GMail account it’s time to sync between Mail, Google Contacts and Calendar while using iOS to do this. You probably will get prompted and asked what to do with existing iOS data on your iPhone. You can choose to Delete this data or – if your iPhone is one you have previously used for a long time – pick Keep on My iPhone. Keep in mind that if you pick Keep on My Phone you will get duplicate results as some contacts on your device will be the same ones as the ones you are currently transferring. To avoid this you should back up your iPhone contacts and sync the GMail contacts on a clean slate. If the device you are using is a new one you can go right ahead and delete all the data on it and sync the Contacts from the GMail account.
Keep your old Google Apps integration
If you use Google Apps a lot of the time you will be happy to hear that you won’t have to make any changes to your new iPhone. Setting up GMail with Exchange results in a perfect integration of your contacts and calendars if everything is set up as it should be.
Letting Google Apps Be
Once all of your contacts have been synced to your new iPhone you can delete the Exchange account. You will be able to sync from now on using iTunes or Address Book (if you are a Mac user). PC users could also use Outlook to do this task from now on.
Quick tip: Calendars in Google Apps are removed only when the Exchange account on the iPhone is removed. If you have synced with iTunes it is already safe to delete this account. The Calendars will be gone once you delete the Exchange account but they will be back once again when you sync using iTunes.
It’s not a challenge to move from Android to the iPhone. You just have to know how to do it and get used to the new operating system. You will also have to get used to Apple’s ecosystem in which apps are to be installed directly from the App Store. This can be circumvented by jailbreaking your device. One of the most important steps in moving from Android to iOS is getting all your data intact over to the other device, and much of this important data resides in contacts and the events in your calendars. But we have this covered now.
