Out of all the data on your smartphone, your contact list or phonebook is probably the most important. It takes considerable time and effort to build your contact list. And, if you purchase a new phone, you’ll want to move your important contacts and numbers over to the new unit.
This article covers:
- The importance of backing up your contacts
- Android and iPhone contact/data compatibility
- How to back up Android contacts
- How to perform a contact transfer from Android to iPhone with Acronis Mobile
- How to transfer data from Android to iPhone with Acronis True Image
An Android-to-Android transfer is relatively easy if using the same Google account. But, Google-to-Apple smartphone transfers? They’re not so straightforward. So, if you want to know how to transfer contacts from Android to iPhone, continue reading.
Protecting Data Ahead of Time
According to an in-depth survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the average value of data stored on a smartphone is around $14,000 (that’s per device). And while your Android data may not be worth that much, it’s valuable enough that you will want to keep it if you change phones. Before you can transfer your contacts to another phone, you’ll need to back up the data from your Android. However, you should never wait until you need to transfer data before creating a backup. Creating a backup of your contacts and other Android data is not only necessary before doing a transfer to an iPhone, it’s also essential for restoring your contact list and other data if you ever lose access to your phone or its contents.

Vanishing Data
Losing Android data is much easier than you think. In fact, there are quite a few ways that your smartphone data can disappear in an instant. Let’s look at two of the most common ways your contact list can be lost forever if you don’t have a reliable Android backup of your data.
Misplaced or Stolen Phone
If you’ve never left your smartphone at the coffee shop or in a taxi, consider yourself lucky. And, if you’ve never had your phone stolen, you probably know someone who has. In short, it’s much easier than you think for your phone to go missing. If you don’t have a backup of your Android contacts, then losing your phone will probably be much more costly and frustrating than you might imagine.

Malware, Ransomware and Viruses
Until a few years ago, talk of malware, ransomware and viruses was relatively uncommon in discussions about smartphones and tablets. These days, though, Android infections at are at all-time highs and only getting worse every day. Many malware apps and viruses that can find their way onto your Android phone may delete important data, and ransomware may even block access to the phone altogether. With a proper backup of your Android phone, you can restore files and contacts after removing an infection on your current phone or when moving data to a new one.
Common Android Backup Limitations
If you go searching for an app to back up your Android contacts and data, you’ll find there is no shortage of them. And while some are definitely easier to use and more efficient than others, almost all of them share the same potential downside – they only enable you to create a limited Gmail or Google Drive backup of contacts and other information.
Your Android in the Wrong Hands
If your Android phone falls into the hands of someone else, then he/she may also have access to your Gmail or Google Drive account. Using a strong password can certainly help secure your Google account. However, with the phone in hand, whoever has the phone may not need a password to gain unrestricted access to your Google account – especially if you save login credentials on your phone. With this type of access, the person holding the phone could edit or even delete your contacts and other data before you ever have a chance to change your Google login credentials. Therefore, it is always a good idea to store your contact information in other locations so that your data remains safe and secure even if you no longer have access to your phone.
Data Compatibility – Android to iPhone (and Vice Versa)
Android smartphones and iPhones don’t share many traits, and their operating systems are just as different. Consequently, not all the data on an Android will be compatible with an iPhone, and vice versa. Still, when it comes to contacts and other important information, there are more data types that are compatible with both types of devices than you might think.
Compatible Data Types
Your contact list or phonebook is probably the data on your Android that is most important to you. After all, the primary purpose of a smartphone is still communicating with people you know. Nevertheless, there are other types of data on your phone that you don’t want to lose –photos, music files, calendars and even videos. Fortunately, files of these types that work on an Android are also compatible with an iPhone.
Backing up Android Contact Data with Acronis Mobile
Before you can move your contact data to a new iPhone, you’ll first need to back up your Android phonebook. With the Acronis True Image Mobile App for Android, you can back up your Android contacts (and other data types) quickly and easily. To get started, just follow the simple steps below: Step 1 – Download the Acronis True Image Mobile App for Android from the Google Play Store and install it on your smartphone. Step 2 – Launch the Acronis Mobile backup app on your Android phone. Then tap “Back up to Cloud.” Step 3 – Tap “Register” and then follow the on-screen prompts to register a new Acronis Cloud account. Step 4 – Use your new username and password to sign in to your Acronis Cloud account. Select “Contacts” in the data types list, and then click “Back Up Now.” Step 5 – Wait a few seconds for the Acronis Mobile app to back up your contacts and store them securely in the Acronis Cloud. After the backup finishes, a green check mark appears in the Mobile app screen. Step 6 – Repeat steps 1-5for the other types of data you want to back up and transfer to the iPhone. Note: You can also choose to back up your Android phone to a PC. This option may be better if you don’t want to store your data online or if you have a slow or intermittent internet connection. Need a step by step tutorial on how to backup Android to a PC?







Transferring Android Data to an iPhone with Acronis
After backing up your Android to the Acronis Cloud, you can move or restore the data to your new iPhone. To restore the backup data on your iPhone, follow the directions below: Step 1 – Download the Acronis Mobile app from the Apple App Store and install it on your iPhone. Step 2 – Launch the Acronis Mobile app on your iPhone. Log in to your Acronis Cloud account with the same username and password you created on the Android phone. Step 3 – Tap the menu icon in the app, and then select “Access and Recovery.” Step 4 – Select the name of the backup you created on the Android. Select the data you want to restore to the iPhone, and then tap “Recover.” After the recovery finishes successfully, the app will display a green check mark on the screen. Note: You can also migrate data from an Android to an iPhone using the PC or Mac version of Acronis True Image. The full desktop version of Acronis True Image makes it super easy to migrate your Android data to a new iPhone (or vice versa if you want to migrate an iPhone backup to Android.)




More Power and Flexibility with Acronis True Image
Acronis Mobile backup apps provide an easy way to back up and recover important data on your Android or iPhone. And, both apps are free to use for backing up limited amounts of data. If you want to protect all your data on all your devices, you should really consider upgrading to the full version of Acronis True Image. Consumers and industry experts alike agree that Acronis True Image is the best data recovery software for all types of devices. When you upgrade to the full version of Acronis True Image, you not only get more storage space for your mobile backup files, you also get:
- The world’s fastest backups – While many backup applications require considerable time and effort to configure and set up, Acronis True Image enables you to create or restore backups in minutes with just a few clicks or taps. In fact, after installing Acronis True Image and registering an account, you can start backing up your important data from a phone or PC in seconds.
- Best-in-class encryption and security – When you use Acronis True Image to back up to the Acronis Cloud, your files are protected using hardened encryption and security protocols that ensure only you have access to your data. With Acronis Cloud encryption, you can rest assured that your important data will never fall into the wrong hands – even if you lose access to your devices.
- Local computer backups – While the Acronis Cloud provides a highly secure and accessible option for storing your mobile backups, you may want the flexibility and convenience of storing your backups on a local computer. With the full version of Acronis True Image, saving your mobile backups to a desktop or laptop computer takes only a couple of minutes. You can even configure Acronis True Image to back up your smartphone to a PC automatically. After a quick configuration process, Acronis True Image can back up files from your phone to a computer on the same network as soon as the phone is within the range of your home Wi-Fi router.
- Backups for unlimited devices – Have multiple smartphones? Or perhaps you want to back up all the devices used by everyone in your home. With Acronis True Image, you can back up data from all your computers, phones, and tablets to the same PC on your Wi-Fi network or to the secure Acronis Cloud.
- Quick and easy recovery options – With many Android and iPhone backup solutions, you must back up or recover all the data on a device at once. With Acronis True Image, you have much more flexibility and can opt to back up or recover everything on your phone or select individual files. Additionally, you can restore a mobile backup to another phone or use the Universal Restore option in Acronis True Image to move phone data to a PC or laptop.
- Memory card backups – With most smartphone backup applications, you can only back up contacts and other data stored on the device’s internal memory. This means that if you have a phone that supports an SD card or other removable memory storage, you cannot backup files stored on the media. However, with Acronis True Image, you can back up all the data stored on your phone – even files saved to an SD memory card.

Backing up Other Phone Data with Acronis True Image
Need to back up your Android music files to the cloud? Or perhaps you want to transfer other data types from your Android to a new iPhone. If so, you can use Acronis True Image in conjunction with the USB file transfer utilities already included with your Android phone to do just that. Using a standard USB data cable, you can use your Android phone and Acronis True Image to transfer music files, WhatsApp messages and other important data to a PC and then secure it securely in the Acronis Cloud. So, no matter what your Android or iPhone backup needs are, Acronis True Image can help you make sure that your data is available whenever and wherever you need it.
About Acronis
Acronis is a Swiss company, founded in Singapore. Celebrating two decades of innovation, Acronis has more than 2,000 employees in 45 locations. Acronis Cyber Protect solution is available in 26 languages in over 150 countries and is used by 18,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.