Items you can copy to your Pixel
What copies during setupYour important data will transfer over to Pixel.
Switching from iPhone® to Pixel doesn’t mean starting over. Pixel makes it easy to transfer1 over what you need from your existing phone, including the following:
Data Type | Cable | WiFi |
Phone and iCloud contacts and calendars | Yes | Yes |
Photos and videos saved on your iPhone | Yes | Yes |
Texts, iMessages, and most iMessage content, like photos, videos, and other media | Yes | No |
WhatsApp chat history | Yes | No |
Free apps (if the Android version is available on Google Play) | Yes | No |
Music (MP3s and audio files) | Yes | No |
Notes | Yes | No |
Wallpapers that use your photos, but not standard ones included with your phone | Yes | No |
Call history: Transfers if the device is set up to encrypt local backup. | Yes | No |
Home screen layout | Yes | No |
After initial setup, here’s what else you can transfer over:
Data Type | Cable | WiFi |
Music: your music from subscription services such as Spotify or Apple Music (just sign into the service on your Pixel) | Yes | Yes |
Non-Google accounts and their data, including contacts and calendar events (just sign into the service on your Pixel) | Yes | Yes |
Passwords from Google Password Manager (if you use the same Google Account) | Yes | Yes |
LINE contacts and 2 weeks of chat conversations. Learn how. | Yes | Yes |
Progress that you have made in some gaming apps or websites (just sign in on your Pixel) | Yes | Yes |
Photos, videos, documents, and other files stored in iCloud. Learn how to get started with a transfer of your iCloud photos and videos to Google Photos. As an alternative, sign in to icloud.com on your computer, choose the files you want, export them, and then upload them to Google Photos (for photos and videos) and Google Drive (for miscellaneous files and PDFs). Based on your library size, it might take several hours or days, and may require purchase of a Google One storage plan. |
Yes | Yes |
1 Some third-party apps and data may not be transferred automatically. Visit g.co/pixel/copydatahelp for information.
- In-app purchases
- Phone settings, like Wi-Fi passwords
- Music with Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection
- Bookmarks from Safari®
- Paid apps and apps not available on Google Play
- Some app data, like data from apps that isn’t stored in the cloud
Step 1: Get ready to set up your new Pixel
Charge both of your phones.
Step 2: Find what you need
Find what you need. Learn what comes with your phone.
- The Quick Switch Adapter
- A cable that works with your iPhone, like the one you use to charge
- Your SIM card and SIM card insertion tool, unless you have an eSIM
Step 3: On your iPhone
- Turn off iMessage and Facetime. Learn how to turn off iMessage.
- If an organization, like a business or school, manages your iPhone, you'll have to:
- Log-in with a personal ID.
- Remove the organization account for the data transfer to work.
Important: Beta versions of iOS are not supported for data transfer to Pixel
Step 4: On your Pixel
Turn on your Pixel, and tap Get Started. You can change your phone’s language or vision settings.
Step 5: Set up using another device iOS
Important: This step only applies to Pixel 8 and Pixel Pro.
- On your Pixel phone:
- Tap iPhone or iPad.
Step 6: Connect to Wi-Fi or mobile network in order to sign in to your Google account
Important:This step only applies to Pixel 8 and Pixel Pro and the order of screens may differ based on connectivity.
- Connect to a Wi-Fi network or if you can't connect to a Wi-Fi network, you can insert a SIM card to connect to your mobile network
- Sign in to your Google Account.
- Tip: You're required to have a Google Account. Otherwise, you can’t download apps, and some contents won't copy to your new device.
- To connect to a mobile network, download your eSIM. Otherwise, follow the prompts to insert your SIM card.
Tip: Your Pixel supports eSIM based on your mobile carrier. For details, check with your carrier.
Step 7: Configure how you want to unlock your device
Important: This step only applies to Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
- Set up Fingerprint Unlock
- Set up Face Unlock
Step 8: Connect the phones & copy your data
- On your Pixel phone, tap Start.
- Connect to a Wi-Fi network or mobile carrier.
- When asked to “Copy data from your iPhone or iPad,” tap Next Copy your data.
- When asked to “Use your old device”, tap Next.
- Turn on and unlock your iPhone.
- Plug one end of your iPhone charging cable into your iPhone.
- Plug the cable's other end into your Pixel phone or into the Quick Switch Adapter and plug the adapter into your Pixel phone.
- Tip: Don't have a cable? You can transfer some of your data wirelessly, but cable is recommended because it transfers more data types.
- On your iPhone, tap Trust.
- On your Pixel phone, a list of your data types appears.
- Tip: Sometimes the amount of iPhone storage will trigger a capacity warning because it may include system files or linked iCloud data. If you're sure that all your on-device data can transfer, ignore the warning and continue. On your iPhone tap Settings General iPhone Storage to see how much on-device storage is being used.
-
To copy all your data, tap Copy.
- To copy only some data:
- Uncheck the boxes next to the items you don't wish to copy.
- Tap Copy.
- During transfer, you may continue setting up your Pixel
- Once transfer is complete, review the transfer summary screens to see results and tips on how to transfer any missing content.
- Turn off iMessage on your iPhone.
- You'll see a screen that reminds you to turn off iMessage. You’re all set if you completed this before setup. If not, complete the step now.
- If you don't turn off iMessage, you may not receive some text messages on your new Pixel device.
- Optional: Transfer your iCloud data.
- Only on-device data is transferred using a cable. If you have data in iCloud or synced with other cloud services, follow the instructions to make sure this data is available on your Pixel.
Tip: After transfer, your apps may not appear immediately as they need to download and install.
Get more tips & support
If you want to transfer data or think you’re missing data, follow the troubleshooting steps below.
- If you didn't transfer your data when you first turned on your phone, learn how to return to setup.
- If something goes wrong with copying during setup, learn what to do when you can’t transfer data to a new Pixel phone.
- If you don't have your iPhone or a cable that fits, learn how to move your data after setup.
- Learn how to transfer photos and videos from iCloud Photos to Google Photos.
- To learn how to copy data after initial setup, view an interactive tutorial.