Unable to migrate? Move to iOS from Android, doesn't work

I had this error and researched for answers to get my messages, contacts, and photos over from Android phone to iPhone 6. For me it always happened about about 32-37%. The whole process was very frustrating and I don't think the Move to iOS app works as well as they (Apple) think it does. The "try again later" made me think something was busy in the background somewhere. I think Apple needs to create a way to use your Mac, or a way to connect your devices by cable. I found alternate ways to get the contacts and photos, but the SMS (your messages) was a whole other story. I must have tried to Move to iOS over a dozen times two.

I tried a lot of things that did not help. I'm a troubleshooter by nature and I did not want to give up. I did successfully transfer my SMS and contacts, but in the end I did give up on transferring my photos. At one point, after all the notes below, I successfully transferred my contacts and SMS, somehow I had forgotten to click on "camera roll." So I decided to follow Apple's advice and reset and try again. After all, I just succeeded, right? Nope, I could never get Move to complete again. That's when I gave up. Thankfully, I had backed up the success of my contacts & SMS. I again reset iPhone and instead chose to restore from iTunes.

I thought I would share my notes and hopefully some tip or tips will help someone else.

• make sure both devices are connected to power (not pc or mac)
• make sure starting with new (or new to you) iPhone; start when first booting up; choose Move data from Android
• Move from Android to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support <-- is a good start & reference
• When the iPhone first boots up, Set up Manually: I did not create touch ID or a passcode or enter Apple ID (because Move didn't work for me the first time, it got old entering codes, etc)
• on the iPhone connect to your WiFi *see more info below about wifi
• On the Android turn on Airplane Mode (this alone did not help, but cannot hurt process)
• On Android disable any interruptions and notifications.
• On Android go to your Apps in Settings, try to locate Running. Close any apps that might connect to internet
• On Android open Google Play and open the Menu, Settings. Turn off auto update for everything!

**Notes on WiFi

• my wifi was hidden, I had to unhide it from my router settings & set it without password
• I made sure iPhone connected to my wifi
• I did connect Android to my wifi, but after getting the iPhone code, it connected via a wifi connection the iPhone created on the fly..?
• My theory is that the longer it took, the higher chance it would lose network. I couldn't test this, because I was only successful that one time!

Alternate way to get contacts and photos on your Android:I did all this NOT connected to iCloud. I don't know what happens if you're connected to iCloud. I don't use iCloud for contacts, so use your own discretion about using these steps if you use iCloud. There's probably a way to restore Contacts from iCloud to your new phone. This is what I did going from Android to iPhone with no iCloud. Also, my contacts on my Mac are different than the ones on my phone - I don't want them the same right now.

• On Android, from within Contacts, Menu, Export to phone and/or to a SD card in your phone. (contactsXXXX.vcf)
• On your Mac, try to use file transfer app from: www.android.com/filetransfer This app worked for basic copying. Copy any of the files on your phone. Search for the contact files and photos.
• Or, you can use a SD card reader for your Mac.
• After you have transferred to your Mac, close Android file transfer app.
• Open your Contacts on your Mac. Backup your Mac Contacts (take note of where you backed it up to) File, Export, Contact Archive. You can also backup to a second place, just in case.
• in Contacts Select all your contacts and delete them OR if you want to merge them with your phone contact do not delete.
• Menu, File, Import..select the file you backed up from your phone (that ends in.vcf). Follow onscreen prompts for what you want to do.
• I closed contacts. My iTunes is set to not sync (I didn't have an iPhone) Not sure what happens if set to sync. Connect your iPhone and open iTunes if it doesn't open. Click on the little phone icon for your phone. On the left side, Choose Info (above on my phone). There are some options on the Right now for syncing your Contacts. This is how I got the contacts to my phone.
• Over on the left is also where you can choose photos, music, video, etc. to sync onto your phone.
• Once you've got the imported contacts on your iPhone, you can delete them from your Mac Contacts and restore the backup you made, if you want or are not merging them.

For me the SMS is the hardest thing to get from Android to iPhone, so if you can get Move to iOS to just copy your SMS over, you can do the rest manually. I have not tried purchasing a third party app to do the job. I cannot say if they would work or not!

Hope this helps someone!

If not, maybe the forum community can remove it. 😉