5 Ways to Transfer Contacts from One Android Phone to Another

This is a digital world and it is kind of impossible to live without a smartphone. Whether you want to get live news or do a bank transaction, having a smartphone is a must. Besides all other uses, keeping a contact list for calling and chatting is still a primary purpose for many users having a phone. When you get a new Android phone, the first task you want is to transfer your old contact list to your new phone. In this article, we will explain 5 different ways to transfer contacts from one Android phone to another.

Transfer Contacts Between Android Phones

Android offers hassle-free features to transfer contacts across phones. You can use any one of the following methods at your convenience.

1. Transfer Contacts Using Google Account

When you setup Android phone for the first time, it will ask you to sign in with your Google account. Google syncs and backups all contacts stored in your Android phone if the backup feature is on. So, if you are signed in with your Google account on your old phone, you can sign in with the same Google account on your new phone and get back all the contacts instantly. The following is the recipe.

1.1. Clean Up and Update Your Contact List on Your Old Android Phone

Make sure your contact list is fully updated before shifting to your new phone. To do that, pay attention to the steps below.

• First, open the “Contacts app” of your old phone and press on “Fix and manage” button at the bottom of the screen. Now tap on “Merge & fix” to fix any problems in the contact list
• Check the information by pressing the buttons “Keep contacts up to date” and “Add people you email often,” etc. Make sure everything is up to date, you can either accept the suggestions or dismiss them.

• Next, make sure you have enabled the backup for your contacts. Open “Settings > Google > Backup” and check if the backup was done recently. The best option is to press the “Back up now” button and run the backup. Before that scroll to the backup details section and confirm that contacts are included in the backup. You can do this by tapping on “Google Account data” and turn on the “Contacts” slide button. Now, you can take the latest backup which you can restore on the new phone.

1.2. Restore Contacts from Google Account

When you have the backup of updated contact list, turn on your new phone and sign in with the same Google account you used on your old phone. If you are using multiple Google accounts, make sure to select the account you are using on old phone for backing up the contacts list. Go along with the points below to restore the contacts.

• Usually, Android will automatically populate the contact list when you sign in with the Google account on your new phone. This happens due to the automatic syncing feature which helps to sync data across devices when you use the same account.
• If the contacts list does not appear after an extended time, make sure your phone is properly connected to the internet. Otherwise, you need to manually restore the contacts from the backup.
• Open “Contacts > Fix & manage > Restore contacts” and tap “Device backup” to restore. Your device will ask for the screen lock code. Once you enter the correct code, it will start looking for the backup and restore the contacts if found.

2. Transfer Contacts by Exporting and Importing Files

If you do not want to use Google account backup feature, then another convenient method to transfer contacts from one Android phone to another is exporting all your old phone contacts into a file. Then restore all the contacts in the exported file by importing them to your new phone.

• Go to “Contacts > Fix & manage” on your old phone and tap on “Export to file” option. Select the location on your phone to save the exported file with the file extension as .vcf. You will see a message “Contacts will be exported shortly.” Wait for some time and check if the file is available at selected location on your phone.

• Now send the vcf file to your new phone and save it. Open “Contacts > Fix & manage” and press “Import from file” option. Select the vcf file and import the data. All the contacts will be imported to your new phone, and Android will ask you to turn on back up and sync to back up your contacts and other things automatically.

3. Import Contact from SIM

Some people prefer to save contacts on the SIM card instead of using phone’s storage. The reason is simple that they can transfer contacts by inserting the SIM card into any phone. This is not recommended option as SIM card comes with limited memory, though many users store contacts in SIM. If you are also using SIM to store your contacts, you can easily transfer it to a new phone. The process is simple, go to “Contacts > Fix & manage” and choose “Import from SIM.” Press OK to start importing the contacts. You can also select the Google account to save all your contacts.

4. Transfer Contacts Using Sharing

There are more data sharing options that you can use to transfer the contacts from One Android phone to another. You can share all or some contacts using Bluetooth or Nearby option. The process is as follows.

• Open your contact list on your old Android phone and press the desired contact for a few seconds to select it. When the contact is selected, tap on more contacts to select multiple items. Alternatively, press the three dots and choose “Select all” to select all the contacts in your phone. Once you have your desired selection, a sharing icon will appear at the top.
• Tap on the sharing icon, and it will display the options to share your contact list. Note that sharing will send the vcf file to the receiver. You can choose any method to send the file like email, messaging apps, Bluetooth, or nearby if it is available.
• The nearby feature is much more efficient to share the contact list. Tap on the “Nearby” at the top of the screen and provide the permission to turn it on if it was off. Your phone will start looking for nearby devices. Make sure to turn on the “Nearby” feature in your new phone also. Once you find your new phone in the discovered list of devices on your old phone, tap it and transfer the vcf file. Receive the vcf file on your new phone and save it in your Google account or phone’s storage.
• In the same way, you can share the contact list through Email, Bluetooth, third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.

5. Transfer Contacts in Android Using Third-Party Apps

There are third-party apps available in Google Play store to transfer the contacts to a new phone. These apps have limited support and their features varies. There is also a risk of a data breach when you use these services to transfer your entire contact list. Here are some of the third-party contacts transfer apps that you can try at your own risk.

• Easy Backup – Contacts Transfer and Restore
• Contacts Backup — Excel & Email
• Share Contacts: Transfer Contact File

Final Words

Android provides more than enough methods to transfer contacts from one Android phone to another efficiently. We recommend choosing one of the first four methods and safely transfer your contact list. Good part is that you can also share single or multiple contacts using Bluetooth or other social sharing apps. Since your contact list contains personal details of family, friends and colleagues, we do not recommend using third-party contacts transfer apps.