As an Android fan, there’s just one iOS function I need Google to repeat

Android has lengthy reached a degree of maturity the place it does a complete lot of issues proper for many of its person base. Nevertheless, there’s at all times room for enchancment, and one space that also frustrates me as an Android person is the method of migrating to a brand new telephone. After utilizing the previous few generations of iPhones, I’ve observed how excellently seamless and simple Apple’s iPhone migration course of is, and it’s one of many first issues I miss once I swap again to Android flagships. Google, it’s 2026, and it’s excessive time you copied Apple’s simplicity in migration.

In case you’re leaping between Android and iOS, you’ll have a headache-inducing expertise. However for Apple customers who’re switching from one iPhone to a different iPhone, Apple has made the information switch expertise mind-bogglingly simple.

It’s a must to place your new iPhone subsequent to your outdated one, and iOS will switch virtually every thing by itself — together with messages, photographs, all of your apps and their sign-in states (actually!!!), your passwords, your own home display, and every thing else. It’s such as you barely put your outdated telephone down and picked it up once more.

The primary time I skilled an iPhone-to-iPhone switch, it felt like magic in a method that my previous Android-to-Android experiences had by no means even come near. Each time I switched my main Android telephone, it could invariably contain spending a couple of hours setting every thing again up. I didn’t need to spend any time establishing the brand new iPhone past its migration screens, and that left me speechless.

A part of what makes this magic attainable is that every one iPhones run iOS. Apple tightly controls the ecosystem, making certain near-perfect compatibility even when each telephones aren’t on the newest iOS model. An Android-to-Android switch could be between Samsung, Google, OnePlus, or many different Android telephone manufacturers, every with its personal software program quirks, including extra tough edges and factors of failure. Including the complexities of backward compatibility, it turns into clear why perfection could also be tough to realize on this space. However that’s not a priority for the top person, as they nonetheless expertise frustration.

With the iPhone, you don’t even have to have your new iPhone with you for a seamless switch. While you purchase a brand new iPhone by Apple, you obtain free short-term iCloud storage earlier than your new telephone arrives, permitting you to again up all the information out of your outdated iPhone to iCloud for a near-perfect restore in your new telephone. That is very useful if you have to hand over your outdated iPhone for a trade-in on the time of supply in your new one.

iCloud backups are additionally nice in case you ever lose your iPhone. Apple will again up your iPhone day by day when your telephone is related to energy and Wi-Fi, and is locked. This ensures you at all times have a latest backup to revive to your new iPhone. You don’t essentially have to pay for iCloud to retailer your backups, however realistically, most of us will rapidly exceed the free 5GB storage restrict. The associated fee is likely to be price it for the peace of thoughts, particularly because you could be again up and operating on a brand new iPhone very quickly.

iCloud backups additionally embrace Apple Watch backups, so that you don’t need to arrange your smartwatch both in case you lose it.

It’s 2026, and Android-to-Android migration nonetheless sucks

When speaking about Android-to-Android migration, I want to interrupt issues down into a number of classes, relying on whether or not you might be migrating inside the similar model or throughout totally different manufacturers.

Migrating inside the similar model is tolerable, however nonetheless imperfect

When migrating telephones between the identical model of telephone, reminiscent of from a Samsung Galaxy to a different Samsung Galaxy or a Google Pixel to a different Google Pixel, the migration course of is tolerable, but not good. You often get a usable telephone with a couple of faucets (nonetheless greater than what is required on an iPhone), however you continue to miss out on a number of key options for an entire backup and restore.

To start out, you can be majorly lacking out on app sign-in states. That is personally my largest ache level, because it means I’ve to log into each single app another time. Google did announce the Restore Credentials function final 12 months to maintain you signed into apps while you swap telephones, and extra lately, we’ve seen apps like Uber make the most of it for a greater migration expertise. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless very a lot an opt-in course of for app builders — so until the developer of your favourite app decides to implement it, you’re nonetheless going to get logged out of the app, lose all of your in-app preferences and settings, and even miss out on notifications.

The issue compounds with video games. If a sport doesn’t use social sign-in or cloud backup options (like by Google Play Video games), which a bunch of informal video games are inclined to overlook, you’re going to be dropping out on sport progress, too. Beginning over in your favourite and dropping hours of progress just because Android couldn’t get its act collectively quickly sufficient is a giant bummer.

Then there are apps that we are inclined to set and overlook for sure options, like Google Photographs backup, Google Maps location sharing and timeline, and Well being Join. In case you don’t actively bear in mind setting them up once more in your new telephone, chances are high that you just’ve already forgotten about them. For options like Google Maps timeline, you have to bear in mind to actively import your timeline out of your outdated telephone and set it to again up in your new telephone. The state of affairs is comparable for Well being Join and Google Photographs backup.

In case you’re migrating throughout OEMs, all hell breaks unfastened. Whereas Google would love you to imagine the method is easy and easy, with quite a few methods emigrate your information, the fact is that every one of it stays imperfect and hit-or-miss. Not solely do all the constraints talked about above apply, however you additionally need to cope with migrating primary settings, reminiscent of your own home display and ringtone preferences, saved Wi-Fi networks, and Fast Settings toggles, as these settings are not often carried over completely. You virtually need to arrange your telephone as new once more, with solely your photographs, messages, and recordsdata carried over.

What compounds the problem is that app permissions typically get reset within the migration course of, and most of the people (and even the app itself) received’t understand why. As an example, every time I’ve migrated telephones, WhatsApp video calls will show a clean preview till I test the app permissions and understand that digicam permissions haven’t but been granted on the brand new telephone. The Restore Credentials API is meant to resolve this challenge, however a 12 months after its launch, we’re nonetheless not there but.

Did I say your photographs and recordsdata have carried over? Test once more. In case you’ve used an OEM migration instrument, there’s an excellent probability that your media recordsdata have been dumped right into a single, flat folder, disregarding any folder hierarchy or creation metadata from the earlier telephone. So, whereas you’ll technically have your photographs and recordsdata in your new telephone, you’ll probably have to start out over with organizing them.

In case you lose your Android telephone, there’s a excessive probability that you just’ll additionally lose some information. Google gives Cloud Backup by Drive, however it backs up your apps, name historical past, machine settings, contacts, and calendar. It could sound adequate, however you’re lacking photographs (until you’ve individually arrange Google Photographs) and recordsdata, in addition to different smaller particulars, reminiscent of your own home display format. There’s no single iCloud Backup-like answer from Google, and that’s a disgrace.

There’s an argument to be made that Google’s unbundling of picture backups into Google Photographs is superior to Apple’s bundling of all providers with iCloud backup. You may again up and restore one with out the opposite, and Google does make it robust to disregard/overlook to allow Photographs backups. To Apple’s credit score, you may create iCloud backups with out photographs, however the steps are usually not simple, so most customers merely choose to again up every thing.

For trade-in conditions, manufacturers like Samsung do present short-term cloud backup, in order that’s a win for Galaxy customers. Nevertheless, it’s excessive time Google additionally considers doing the identical with short-term Google One storage for intra-Android migration backups.

It’s 2026 already, and Android backup and migration are nonetheless removed from good. Granted, most customers don’t routinely migrate telephones as I do as a telephone reviewer. However on the few events that they do have to change telephones, the method is painful sufficient to create a long-lasting impression.

For individuals eager to expertise Android’s range by leaping between telephone manufacturers, the migration course of makes them curse this very range, because it appears everyone seems to be Doing Their Personal Factor. It’s virtually like punishing an individual for getting a brand new telephone, and that’s not an excellent expertise. For all of the efforts that Google has put into making it simpler to change from an iPhone, it’s about time the corporate takes a have a look at the Android ecosystem and makes this transition seamless.