How to transfer contacts from Samsung to iPhone

There are basically three ways to go for transfer contacts from Samsung to iPhone. One, very simple, provides for the synchronization of contacts through a cloud service supported by both devices, such as Gmail; the second, a bit more complicated, involves manually exporting contacts from one smartphone and importing them onto the other; the third way is a sort of compromise between the previous two and can be accomplished with the help of a computer.

In the course of this guide, it will be my care to explain to you how to act in the three cases illustrated above: I guarantee you that everything is much simpler than it seems! So, you just have to continue reading this tutorial of mine, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each solution and choose the one that seems best suited to your needs. Happy reading and good work!

Index

How to transfer contacts from Samsung to iPhone via the cloud

The easiest way to transfer contacts from Samsung to iPhone consists in using a cloud service for the address book compatible with both devices, such as Gmail: this approach, in addition to being very simple to put into practice, has the advantage of keeping the address book synchronized on both devices involved. In a nutshell, changes made to contacts on one device are automatically “transmitted” to the other, as long as the devices are connected to the Internet.

To proceed, then unlock your smartphone (or tablet) Samsung, go to the Settings of Android, by tapping on the symbol in the shape ofgear resident on the Home screen or in the drawer of the device, tap on the items Account e backup e Account and touch the name of the Gmail profile connected to the device.

Now, tap on the item Synchronize account and make sure that the lever corresponding to the heading Address book is set to ON, otherwise you do it.

If you have not yet added a Google account to the device, after opening the menu Settings> Accounts and Backup> Accounts, tap the button Add account, touch the icon Google and, after entering the unlock pattern / PIN of the device, log in to your account by entering the credentials in the appropriate fields.

If you don’t have a Google account, tap on the item Create an account and follow the instructions given to you to create a new Gmail profile; if you need a step-by-step guide on the whole procedure, please refer to the specific tutorial on the subject, available on my website.

Once the “preparation” of the Samsung device is completed, go toiPhone and access the Settings of iOS, by tapping on thegear located on the Home screen or in the App Library.

Now, tap on the item Contacts, tap on the option Account and then on the wording Add account; then, touch the logo of Google, tap the button Keep it going and log in using the Gmail profile previously configured on the Samsung device. If you no longer remember the password, you can quickly recover it, following the instructions I gave you in this tutorial.

Once logged in, make sure that the switch corresponding to the contacts item is set to ON, otherwise do it yourself, and finish it all by touching your voice Save located at the top right. Done! Within a few seconds, the address books of both devices should synchronize and the contacts stored on the Samsung device should also appear on the iPhone.

But be careful, it’s not over yet. To ensure that the Gmail address book is used as the default on iPhone and that new contacts are automatically saved on it, you have to go back to the menu Settings> Contacts and set Gmail come account di default.

I want to clarify that the contacts already present on the iPhone before adding the Gmail address book on the device will not be automatically brought to the Google cloud platform; to remedy, you can “manually” copy the contacts in Gmail following the instructions I gave you in my tutorial on how to synchronize iPhone contacts with Gmail.

How to Transfer Contacts from Samsung to iPhone Manually

Alternatively, you can choose to transfer contacts from Samsung smartphone to iPhone manually: in this way, you will keep the address books of both devices separate and you can precisely control the names to be included in the address book. However, the contacts will not be synchronized and the changes made to the names on the Samsung phone will not be reflected on the iPhone as well, and vice versa.

All clear? OK, let’s proceed. First, you need to export the Samsung phonebook to a file VCF, which will then have to be transferred to the iPhone and imported via the app Contacts: therefore, take the Samsung smartphone, open the app Address book calling it from the Home screen or from the drawer of the device and tap the button (⋮), located at the top right, to call up the main menu of the app.

If you are about to export contacts from a Samsung tablet, you can call up the same panel by tapping the ☰ button, located at the top left.

Now, tap on the item Manage contacts, touch the item Import or export contacts and tap the button Export; now, choose whether to transfer the files to the internal memory or on microSD (if present) and tap the button again Export, in order to store the entire address book of the device in the file Rubrica.vcf. If necessary, tap the button Consented, in order to authorize the creation of the file in memory.

At this point, open the app Archive Samsung, tap the ☰ button at the top left and select the item Internal memory or SD card, depending on the previously chosen saving path. Now, make a long tap on the file Rubrica.vcf (the one you created earlier), tap the item Share and choose to open the file in the email app of your choice. Finally, auto-sent the file to an email address accessible from the iPhone.

We’re almost there: now, all you have to do is switch to this last device, start the app Mail and then open the message you have sent you just now. Finally, tap on the attachment Rubrica.vcf and, to add all the contacts to the phone book of the “iPhone by”, tap on the entry Add all [XX] contacts which is at the top of the newly opened screen.

Alternatively, to add only certain names, tap on each of them and tap the item Create new contact, to add it to the iOS address book, or Add to contact, to add contact information to a name that already exists in the phonebook.

How to transfer contacts from Samsung to iPhone via PC

If you find that manually importing from smartphone to smartphone is an inconvenient practice, you can achieve the same result using your computer by importing the address book file to the iCloud online address book (which is automatically synchronized with the iPhone).

In this regard, you can follow two paths: create the file VCF from your smartphone and auto-send it to an e-mail box accessible from your computer, as seen above, or create it using Samsung Smart Switch, the official management program dedicated to Samsung devices.

To do so, connect to this website and click on the button Download per Windows, if your PC is equipped with Microsoft’s operating system, or on Download per iOS, if yours is a Mac.

When the download is complete, start the file obtained and, if you use Windows, click on the button Yup; then put the check mark next to the items I accept the terms of the license agreement and click the buttons Forward e Fine, to complete the setup and start Smart Switch.

If, on the other hand, yours is a Mac, double-click the icon SmartSwitchMac.pkg present in dmg package that you have just opened a window that appears on the desk, press the buttons Consented e Keep it going twice in a row, then on Accept e Install and, when prompted, enter the password del Mac in the appropriate field.

To finish, click on the button Install software and wait for the Smart Switch installation to be completed; finally, press on the buttons Restart e Don’t move, so as to restart the Mac and keep the program installation package. On the next reboot, you can open SmartSwitch by calling it from the menu Go> Applications of macOS, or from Launchpad.

As of now, the steps are the same on Windows and macOS: on first boot, if necessary, update Smart Switch by pressing the button that appears on the screen, wait for the software to restart automatically and, when requested, connect your smartphone to your computer via USB. If necessary, tap the button Consented that appears on the phone screen, to authorize communication between devices.

Now, click on the button Backup attached to the Smart Switch window, check the box next to the item Address book from the screen that appears later and remove the check mark from all the other boxes; then, click on thegear placed next to the item Address book, put the check mark next to the wording Save in spbm and CSV format and click on the button OK. To finish, click the button again OK and wait for the backup to complete.

When the backup is complete, after returning to the Smart Switch home screen, click on the button Restoration, then on the button Select backup data and, later, on the gear wheel placed under the heading Calls and contacts. To finish, click on the button Save Address Book in CSV format and choose the folder in which to save the address book file, using the panel displayed on the screen.

Now, click the button several times Cancel, until you return to the Smart Switch home screen, then close it.

Once you have the CSV file, you can finally proceed with the import to iCloud: therefore, using the browser of your choice, reach this web page, log in to your Apple ID (the one in use on the iPhone) and click on the item Contacts, located in the account’s admin console.

To finish, click on the d-shaped buttongear located at the bottom left, choose the option VCard import … from the menu that appears and select the address book file created previously, to import it to iCloud and, therefore, into the “iPhone by phone” address book.

Obviously, for everything to go smoothly, you need to have iCloud enabled on the iPhone and the toggle for Contacts must be activated in the menu Settings> [tuo nome] > iCloud Of the device.