When we buy a new smartphone, be it an Android (like the Samsung Galaxy) or an iPhone, one of the most important things to recover is without a doubt the address book and telephone numbers of friends, colleagues, family members and various numbers useful.
To ensure that the address book is saved online, so that we can restore it automatically, we will only have to take advantage of the services made available by Google and Apple to be able to import and export the address book on any new phone in our possession, without having to jump deadly or use apps for the purpose.
We see in this guide how to recover contacts directory on Android and iPhone using the free online services designed for the purpose.
In order to speed up all the steps, we recommend you connect the new smartphone to a Wi-Fi network, so as to obtain the address book immediately without having to manually synchronize.
1) Recover contacts from Android to Android
If the two phones (new and old) are both Android, the procedure to recover the address book is very simple: in the old phone we make sure that the address book is synchronized online with the Google account, by going to the Settings menu -> Account (or Synchronization, based on your phone model).
Let's now click on the Google account added during phone startup and make sure that the Contacts item is activated.
If there is no Google account on our phone (because maybe we had already removed it without thinking before checking if the address book is synchronized), we can quickly add it by clicking on Add Account and entering the login credentials for our Google account ( accounts for Gmail, YouTube or Drive are fine).
Once the synchronization is done, we open the new phone on Android and repeat the steps already seen (i.e. click on Add account in the Synchronization menu) to add the same Google credentials used on the old phone; once the account is added, we check that the Contacts item is active and wait a few minutes, so that we can immediately have all our contacts ready on the new device.
READ ALSO: Contact management on Google address book
2) Recover contacts from iPhone to iPhone
If, on the other hand, the devices we are using are both iPhones (old and new), we can rely on iCloud to be able to automatically import and export contacts.
On the old iPhone, make sure iCloud is active by clicking Settings -> Apple ID Name -> iCloud, then check that the Contacts item is ticked with the green box.
If we have not yet associated an Apple account on the old phone, it's time to do so by going to the Settings menu -> Password and account -> iCloud and entering the login credentials for the Apple account that we intend to use.
On the new iPhone just enter the same credentials at the first start (we will be asked immediately after confirming access to the Internet) or we can insert them at a later time taking us to the same path seen a little while ago, that is Settings -> Password and account -> iCloud .
To be sure of synchronizing the address book, let's also go to Settings -> Apple ID Name -> iCloud and check that the Contacts item is active.
READ ALSO: How iCloud works for photos, address book and backup on iPhone and iPad
3) iPhone address book recovery from Android or vice versa, from iPhone to Android
And if our phones (old and new) use different operating systems "> Contact Sync for Google, available for free.
We insert the Google account credentials when requested and, among the synchronization options, make sure to activate the item Gmail Contacts -> iPhone .
In this way all the contacts present online on the Google account will be synchronized on the iPhone contacts directory, ready to be used immediately (we can also synchronize it with iCloud from now on).
If instead we start from an iPhone to switch to Android, let's get a valid Google account, then we install on the iPhone the same app seen a little while ago, namely Sync Contacts for Google.
We insert Google username and password into the app and, at the right time, we choose the synchronization option Contacts iPhone -> Gmail, so as to carry out the opposite process compared to what we saw just before.
All the contacts on the iPhone will be synchronized on Google's online address book and, to use it on a new Android smartphone, we will only have to turn it on and enter the Google credentials used for synchronization.
4) Access to the online address book
Both online contact synchronization systems, namely Google and iCloud, are also accessible online, so you can quickly view the contacts in any web browser on your PC.
To access the contacts saved on a Google account, just click here -> Google Contacts .
If we have also canceled some numbers by mistake, we can recover the canceled numbers within 30 days of deletion .
To do this, open the Google address book and, from the menu on the left, press on More and then on Restore contacts .
At the moment the function returns to the old version of the Google address book where you have to press the top button more to retrieve the address book.
If instead we want to access the contacts saved on iCloud, just go to the site present here -> Apple iCloud .
5) Alternative methods
If you used a non-smartphone and non-Android mobile phone, you must retrieve the address book from the SIM card .
We open the old non-smart phone and make sure that the address book is copied to the SIM, then extract it and install it on the new smartphone (if it is compatible in the format).
From Android we should be able to both see the SIM contacts and import them directly into the phone memory and consequently synchronize them online (decidedly more convenient solution to use the SIM); we also check whether the Import contacts from SIM item is available in the top right menu to start the import procedure.
On iPhone just go to the Settings menu> Contacts > Import SIM contacts to be able to import all the contacts.
If the old SIM is too large and is not compatible with the new smartphones (which is very likely), to recover all the contacts we can also buy a SIM reader like the one offered here -> C-enter, SIM card reader, disc changer of cards (36 €).
With this small device we will be able to quickly recover the entire address book via PC software and insert it into online accounts, ready to be used on new smartphones.
READ ALSO: Synchronize your address book on Android, transfer and save contacts
To ensure that the address book is saved online, so that we can restore it automatically, we will only have to take advantage of the services made available by Google and Apple to be able to import and export the address book on any new phone in our possession, without having to jump deadly or use apps for the purpose.
We see in this guide how to recover contacts directory on Android and iPhone using the free online services designed for the purpose.
In order to speed up all the steps, we recommend you connect the new smartphone to a Wi-Fi network, so as to obtain the address book immediately without having to manually synchronize.
1) Recover contacts from Android to Android
If the two phones (new and old) are both Android, the procedure to recover the address book is very simple: in the old phone we make sure that the address book is synchronized online with the Google account, by going to the Settings menu -> Account (or Synchronization, based on your phone model).
Let's now click on the Google account added during phone startup and make sure that the Contacts item is activated.
If there is no Google account on our phone (because maybe we had already removed it without thinking before checking if the address book is synchronized), we can quickly add it by clicking on Add Account and entering the login credentials for our Google account ( accounts for Gmail, YouTube or Drive are fine).
Once the synchronization is done, we open the new phone on Android and repeat the steps already seen (i.e. click on Add account in the Synchronization menu) to add the same Google credentials used on the old phone; once the account is added, we check that the Contacts item is active and wait a few minutes, so that we can immediately have all our contacts ready on the new device.
READ ALSO: Contact management on Google address book
2) Recover contacts from iPhone to iPhone
If, on the other hand, the devices we are using are both iPhones (old and new), we can rely on iCloud to be able to automatically import and export contacts.
On the old iPhone, make sure iCloud is active by clicking Settings -> Apple ID Name -> iCloud, then check that the Contacts item is ticked with the green box.
If we have not yet associated an Apple account on the old phone, it's time to do so by going to the Settings menu -> Password and account -> iCloud and entering the login credentials for the Apple account that we intend to use.
On the new iPhone just enter the same credentials at the first start (we will be asked immediately after confirming access to the Internet) or we can insert them at a later time taking us to the same path seen a little while ago, that is Settings -> Password and account -> iCloud .
To be sure of synchronizing the address book, let's also go to Settings -> Apple ID Name -> iCloud and check that the Contacts item is active.
READ ALSO: How iCloud works for photos, address book and backup on iPhone and iPad
3) iPhone address book recovery from Android or vice versa, from iPhone to Android
And if our phones (old and new) use different operating systems "> Contact Sync for Google, available for free.
We insert the Google account credentials when requested and, among the synchronization options, make sure to activate the item Gmail Contacts -> iPhone .
In this way all the contacts present online on the Google account will be synchronized on the iPhone contacts directory, ready to be used immediately (we can also synchronize it with iCloud from now on).
If instead we start from an iPhone to switch to Android, let's get a valid Google account, then we install on the iPhone the same app seen a little while ago, namely Sync Contacts for Google.
We insert Google username and password into the app and, at the right time, we choose the synchronization option Contacts iPhone -> Gmail, so as to carry out the opposite process compared to what we saw just before.
All the contacts on the iPhone will be synchronized on Google's online address book and, to use it on a new Android smartphone, we will only have to turn it on and enter the Google credentials used for synchronization.
4) Access to the online address book
Both online contact synchronization systems, namely Google and iCloud, are also accessible online, so you can quickly view the contacts in any web browser on your PC.
To access the contacts saved on a Google account, just click here -> Google Contacts .
If we have also canceled some numbers by mistake, we can recover the canceled numbers within 30 days of deletion .
To do this, open the Google address book and, from the menu on the left, press on More and then on Restore contacts .
At the moment the function returns to the old version of the Google address book where you have to press the top button more to retrieve the address book.
If instead we want to access the contacts saved on iCloud, just go to the site present here -> Apple iCloud .
5) Alternative methods
If you used a non-smartphone and non-Android mobile phone, you must retrieve the address book from the SIM card .
We open the old non-smart phone and make sure that the address book is copied to the SIM, then extract it and install it on the new smartphone (if it is compatible in the format).
From Android we should be able to both see the SIM contacts and import them directly into the phone memory and consequently synchronize them online (decidedly more convenient solution to use the SIM); we also check whether the Import contacts from SIM item is available in the top right menu to start the import procedure.
On iPhone just go to the Settings menu> Contacts > Import SIM contacts to be able to import all the contacts.
If the old SIM is too large and is not compatible with the new smartphones (which is very likely), to recover all the contacts we can also buy a SIM reader like the one offered here -> C-enter, SIM card reader, disc changer of cards (36 €).
With this small device we will be able to quickly recover the entire address book via PC software and insert it into online accounts, ready to be used on new smartphones.
READ ALSO: Synchronize your address book on Android, transfer and save contacts
