How To Transfer Contacts, Messages, Photos, and Other Data from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S8

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Published 20 Apr 2017

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How To Transfer Contacts, Messages, Photos, and Other Data from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung’s latest flagship handsets — the Galaxy S8 and S8+ — are pretty impressive pieces of technology, especially their Infinity Display. If you decided to jump ship from an iPhone to a Galaxy S8 or S8+, congrats! You have made a wise decision. However, if this is your first time using an Android device and you are wondering how to move your contacts and other data from your iPhone to your brand new Galaxy, worry not as we are here to help you in this endeavour of yours.

While there are quite a few ways to move content over from an iPhone to Samsung’s Galaxy S8 or S8+, the Korean company bundles a very useful and handy Smart Switch app to make the whole process very easy.

Smart Switch allows you to transfer data using either a wired or wireless connection. The easiest option is to do it wirelessly provided you have all your important data on your iPhone backed up to your iCloud account.

Transferring Data Wirelessly from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S8

  • Backup you iPhone to the iCloud
    • If you haven’t already done so, you can follow the steps here
  • Open the Smart Switch app on your Galaxy S8
    • Alternatively, go to the Settings menu and under Cloud and accounts select Smart Switch
Screenshot 20160817 175833

Samsung Smart Switch App

Screenshot 20160817 185701

Smart Switch in the Settings menu

  • Select Wireless as the method of transferring data and then select iOS as the as the type of older device
Screenshot 20160817 191054

Method of transfer

Screenshot 20160817 174744 1

Select iOS for older device

  • Key in your Apple ID and password for the iCloud account you want to transfer data from
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Log in with your iCloud credentials

  • Select the data you wish to transfer over from the iPhone
    • You can transfer the following data:
      * Contacts
      * Calendars
      * Memos
      * Messages
      * Pictures
      * Videos
      * Paid Music
      * Alarm Settings
      * Bookmarks
      * Call Logs
      * WiFi Profiles
      * Documents
      * App List
  • Select Start to begin the transfer process

Once the transfer is over, you can now enjoy playing with your new Galaxy S8. You might want to look at our other articles to learn more about the device’s features, or you can explore it on your own.

Transferring Data using a wired connection from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S8

  • Connect the iPhone to the USB Connector that comes with the Galaxy S8
  • Galaxy S8 Smart Switch
    Wait for the Galaxy S8 to sync with and read the available files on the iPhone
  • Select Next on your Galaxy S8 and select what content to transfer:
    * Contacts
    * Calendars
    * Memos
    * Messages
    * Pictures
    * Videos
    * Paid Music
    * Alarm Settings
    * Bookmarks
    * Call Logs
    * WiFi Profiles
    * Documents
    * App List
  • Now press Start to begin the transfer
    • The transfer speeds can be as high as 15mbps, but if you have a lot of photos and videos, the process will take a fair bit of time
    • Once the data has been transferred over, you can disconnect the two devices

Sadly, there is no way you can transfer apps and their associated data from the iPhone to your brand new Galaxy S8. The same also stands true for your WhatsApp chat history, though other chatting apps like Hangouts store their chat logs in the cloud so they will seamlessly carry over.

How are you liking your new Galaxy S8 so far? Do you think its a major upgrade over the iPhone that you were using previously? Drop a comment and let us know!