How to Transfer Contacts from Old Android Phone to New Phone (Easy Method), by RiPixel on YouTube. 4 min 24 s.
- Video length
- 4 min 24 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
If Google Contacts is not on the old phone, install it free from the Play Store. It is the app you will use for the whole transfer.
Open Google Contacts on your old phone. Here you can see every contact stored on the phone, on the SIM card and in each signed-in Google account.
Look at the labels or the menu to see where each contact lives. Contacts on the SIM card or the phone appear under Device or SIM, apart from your Google accounts.
Tap and hold a contact to select it, then tap Select all. Tap More, choose Move to another account, pick your main Google account and confirm.
In the old phone's Settings, tap Google, then All services, then Google Contacts sync. Turn sync on so your contacts upload to your Google account.
Open contacts.google.com in a browser and sign in with your main account. Check that your contacts are listed there before you set up the new phone.
Turn on the new phone and sign in with the same Google account you used on the old one. Accept the option to restore or copy your data during setup.
On the new phone, go to Settings, tap Google, then All services, then Google Contacts sync. Turn sync on and pick the same main account.
Open the Contacts app on the new phone and wait a few minutes. A large address book takes longer to appear, so keep the phone on Wi-Fi.
Tips and common mistakes
Move contacts into one Google account first, because contacts left on a SIM card or on the old device do not travel with your Google account.
Do not wipe or reset the old phone until you see the full contact list on the new one.
If contacts are missing, check that sync is on and the same main account is selected, then give it a few minutes on Wi-Fi.
Duplicates often appear after a move, so use the Merge and fix option in Google Contacts to clean them up.
Questions
Do I need a cable or a computer?
No. The transfer runs through your Google account, so you only need both phones, a Google account and an internet connection.
Will my contacts stay on the old phone?
Yes. Move to another account copies the entries into your Google account, and the originals stay until you delete them.
How long before contacts show up on the new phone?
Usually a few minutes. A large list can take longer, so keep the new phone on Wi-Fi and leave sync turned on.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
