iOS to Android: Calm Before the Storm
I am migrating from iOS to Android. In short, because I think its walled garden is not state of the art anymore. It is scary and exciting at the same time. A new day, a new era, dawns.
There is no single point in time that the migration happens. Instead, it is a series of events. Starting with what I call the “calm before the storm.” In this period, where I’ve committed to selling my old Apple gear and money for alternative gear, it’s all about preparation.
Copy photos
Copying my photos was pretty simple. I downloaded the Google Photos app onto my iPhone, set it to back up my photos, and then let it did its thing. It took a long time — about eight hours over two days — but it finally copied the vast majority of my photos and videos (50 GB worth). All images will automatically sync moving forward for these migratory days, which is pretty sweet.
Copy contacts
Copying contacts was straight forward. On the desktop, I logged into iCloud, went into Contacts, then through the cogwheel at the bottom left of the screen, I selected all contacts then exported to Vcard. In contacts.google.com, I then imported the Vcard. I transferred 750 contacts in minutes this way. The downside is that there is no auto-sync of Contact data. I have to be mindful of new Contact data I add on my iPhone this week to transfer separately later.
Copy messages
I haven’t found an easy way to copy messages from my iPhone. I am not concerned about this because I see messages as transient communication. I don’t use it to store critical information. I already saved images and videos shared with me that were noteworthy to iCloud Photos.
Copy iCloud documents
I have iCloud Drive and Google File Stream installed on the desktop. I copy the files over from one to the other using my operating system’s file manager. I never used iCloud very much, so this was an easy transition.
Copy Apple Health data
This one is more complicated. And fun as a software engineer. I can export the Apple Health data into a set of XML and GPX files and then use Google Fit’s REST API to write the data. I have not found a simple market solution for this, so I may give this more thought before doing it, as I would love to share this solution with a mainstream audience.
Find and set up an alternative to iMessage and FaceTime
Finding alternatives to iMessage and FaceTime is more complicated. The closest Google analog is Gmail now that Google bundles Meet with it. (That’s the case on iOS, anyway.) Google Meet doesn’t bind to phone numbers (as far as I know) and doesn’t have mainstream adoption. From my research, that leaves Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Neither excites me.
Beyond picking the app, I also have to set it up on all the iOS devices in our family. I’m leaning towards WhatsApp, but I haven’t fully decided yet. I want to pick by Wednesday night to start setting everything up on Thursday ahead of the weekend. Thankfully, all alternatives have iOS apps.
Deregister from iMessage and FaceTime
Deregistering my phone number from iMessage and FaceTime is quickly enough done on the iPhone. I will aim to do this Thursday, ahead of moving my SIM card on Saturday.
Apple ID Subscriptions
I don’t have many, but most I was able to transition away from the App Store.
The trickier one was Apple TV+. I got one year free with the iPhone 11 Pro I bought last year. Unlike other subscriptions, canceling this one would cancel it immediately. My current plan is to log on to tv.apple.com at the appropriate time and cancel the subscription.
Tell my iPhone-using friends
The message is simple: I won’t receive iMessages anymore, consider using WhatsApp or SMS-based group messaging, and if you send me a message and don’t react or respond in a reasonable amount of time, assume I have not seen it.
I have no expectations. The best I can do is communicate the message, and then see what happens. I’m ready to miss messages. I hope I don’t miss anything critical.
I already told someone that I interact with through Apple Watch that I would not be getting or sharing workout notifications anymore through the Apple Activity app. They volunteered to remove me from their friends list proactively! There’s no preparation for that.
As hard as this is, I remind myself that this is but the calm before the storm. The real fun begins when I ship off my iPhone — walking the tight rope without the net. Wheeee! :)
