How to Transfer SMS, Photos and Contacts to Windows 10 Mobile

When switching to a new Phone, you always want to carry over your text, pictures and contacts. So if you decided to switch to Windows 10 Mobile or are upgrading to a new phone, here is how you can transfer all your data.

Android  to Windows 10 Mobile:

Transfer SMS or Text messages :

  • Transfer My Data App : The App can transfer text messages and even pictures if the phone supports it. If this works with your Android Phone, it will get most of your work done. Download it from here.

Transfer-My-Data-SD-Support.jpg

Restore Contacts + messages

Transfer Photos:

  • OneDrive App is available on Android. You can transfer all the photos to OneDrive, and then keep it in sync.
  • If lack of storage is keeping you from using OneDrive, You can use ShareIt. It can transfer files between devices over WiFi, and is available on both the platforms. There are more options similar to it. 

Transfer Contacts

Android saves all the contacts on Gmail. When you configure the same account in Outlook App on Windows 10 Mobile, all the contacts become available in the People App.

Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 Mobile

This is fairly easy, and straight forward. Windows 10 Mobile has carried the legacy of Backup & Restore process which makes it very easy if you are upgrading from your old Windows Phone 8.1 device to a brand new Windows 10 Mobile device. I have explained this in much detail here, but I am still summing up it up below:

On your Windows Phone 8.1 Device:

  • Go to Settings > Backup. Choose to enable backup for Apps, Text messages and Photos + Videos.
  • Photos and Video backup only works for new files. So if you have any old files, you need to manually copy it by connecting it to your PC or upload using OneDrive App.

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On your Windows 10 Mobile:

  • If you wish to get the same setup on your new phone, you will need to use the same backup to restore. More here
  • If you skipped it, you still can get back your text messages.  Settings > Messaging > Download Messages. You can download from Last Month, Last Year, or anytime.

Text History and Sync in Windows 10 Mobile

This should get most of the job done for you, but if you get stuck somewhere, do let us know in the comments section.