Transfer contacts from Android to iPhone using Gmail

Good news: if your Android phone was signed in to a Google account, your contacts are almost certainly already in Google Contacts. You don't need cables or Bluetooth — just add that account to the iPhone.

Step 0: Confirm your contacts are actually in Google

On the Android phone (or any browser), open contacts.google.com and sign in. If your contacts are listed there, you're set. If the list is empty or incomplete, open the Contacts app on Android, go to account settings, and make sure contact sync is on for your Google account — some phones save contacts to "Phone" storage instead. Export those to Google first (Contacts app → Fix & manage → Export, then import the file at contacts.google.com).

Add your Google account to the iPhone

On the iPhone, open Settings → Apps → Contacts → Contacts Accounts → Add Account (older iOS: Settings → Contacts → Accounts).
Choose Google and sign in with the same account your Android phone used.
Make sure the Contacts toggle is on, then tap Save.
Open the Contacts app — your Google contacts appear within a minute or two.

That's the whole transfer. (If you used Apple's Move to iOS app during setup, it may have copied contacts too — in that case you might see duplicates; see our duplicate contacts guide.)

The catch nobody mentions: your contacts are now split in two

Here's what surprises most switchers a few weeks later. With Apple's built-in Google integration, your old contacts live in Google, but new contacts you save on the iPhone go to the default account — usually iCloud. Over time you end up with two half-lists: old friends in Google, new ones in iCloud. Search on the phone looks fine (it shows both), but Gmail autocomplete, an Android tablet, or a future phone switch only sees the Google half.

You can change the default account to Gmail (Settings → Apps → Contacts → Default Account), but then the situation just flips: new contacts skip iCloud, so you lose Apple's ecosystem perks and iCloud backup for them. Apple's integration makes you choose a side.

Or don't choose: keep iCloud and Google identical

Sync Contacts for Google does true two-way sync between the iPhone's contacts and Google Contacts. Save a contact anywhere — it shows up everywhere, including back on Android devices and Gmail. First sync shows a full preview, everything after runs in the background (typically within the hour, instantly when you open the app). Free with no contact limit, and your contacts sync device-to-Google directly — never through our servers.

Download free on the App Store