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Moving Android to iPhone - Anything I Should Know?


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I have a business (iPhone) and personal (Android) phone, but that's no longer necessary. Most of my business communication is by email, a lot of personal stuff is text messages, and both can co-exist comfortably on the same phone.

 

So I'm nuking the Android line because of the two technologies, the iPhone handles audio applications better, and is more secure. But I've used the iPhone so rarely recently that I'm out of touch with what I need to know...is it worth buying the extra iCloud storage so it's always backed up, or should I just keep doing the "every now and then backup to computer" routine with iTunes? What happens if/when I move to Catalina and iTunes is gone? Any cool tricks or tips that have popped up in the last few years? Any recommendations for programs that will move the Android data over without wiping what's on the iPhone?

 

OK Apple savants, lay it on me...

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Never been on anything but iPhone.

 

However iCloud can break your monthly data cap (and iCloud storage cap) with the default iPhone configuration. It covertly backs up your iPhone and uploads your photos/videos/music. It's for convenience between other machines, but at a price. I had to go into settings and turn off a lot of that stuff. If you have a Mac computer, configure iTunes to backup your iPhone ONLY to that computer, ONLY when your iPhone is connected, not to iCloud. Since I have other Mac machines I did leave alone low density things like Safari, Calendar, Notes... those are worth uploading to iCloud for convenience. Since I did all that there hasn't been a need to buy more iCloud storage.

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I keep backing up now and again and it seems to work out alright. I don't have any cool tricks, partially because I am still using iPhone 6, which still works great. Knowing that the security is really tight with the iPhone is a great feature, as Android plays rather loose with your personal information and communication. My understanding is that apps are considerably less prone to security issues as well. Other than that, I don't know, it's a phone and it works really well and that's about it! :D
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My understanding (my MBP is too old for Catalina) is that iTunes as a program is gone, but extensions to other programs provides the functionality.

As far as iCloud storage: 5GB is too low even if one has several devices and wants to back all up, runs out of room. However, Apple is EXTREMELY good at providing more storage at a reasonable price. For example, for the past year, my "free" Dropbox account that I've had for quite a while (my first cloud storage) wasn't very large, but it was adequate for the files that I really needed to be able to access on all of my computers and devices. About a year ago, they put a limit in of three connections maximum on free account. The claim is that you can keep using more than three IF you already have them set up, which does mean no new additions. Well, in the past week or so, one iPad and one iPhone have mysteriously logged themselves out, and can't log in again without removing from most of the others. The smallest amount of storage that you can pay for is 1TB (which I don't need), and is about $10 per month.

 

OTOH, iCloud File Storage (although one CAN get 1TB) is available at 50 GB, more than enough for my needs, for only $0.99 per month. That's right, a bit less than $12 per year, auto billed through Paypal. Not even any tax or added charges. On the 18th of the month, I get billed. iCloud works fine on my PCs, my Mac, my IOS devices. Haven't tried it on a pure Linux box, but I can access it on the Linux VM running under Parallels on the Mac.

 

Only thing I really don't like is way too many frequent app updates (this happens with Android also). There can't really be any need for weekly updates. I strongly suspect that frequently the only actual update is to change the version number. Between MS and Apple, about 2/3 of my monthly usage of Internet bandwidth goes just to updates. (yes, I do have a lot of machines).

 

I do both backups, the default is to iCloud (on the devices that are left on all the time), but I do backup to iTunes on the Mac whenever I do app updates (I do NOT have automatic updates set on anything).

 

Can't help on the transition of Android data, never did that. My first smartphone was Blackberry, then directly to Apple. I looked at the difference, and the fragmenting of Android systems (with result of obsoleteness in software operating system updates for security) was a no, no for me. One good thing - when you do update from an old device to a new one, Apple generally makes it really simple to do.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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Thanks for the tips. My daughter also recommended the $0.99 50 GB storage. My iPhone is "only" 32 GB, so I'm pleased to find that Google Play Music works just fine - I don't have to store music in my iPhone, I can upload to the cloud for free, and stream when I want to hear stuff. That's pretty cool.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the iPhone apps are huge compared to Android. Apparently this is because the iPhone actually stores the entire program, whereas the Android compiles it on the fly...or something like that. You computer guys would know better.

 

The iPhone is also more opaque, although I guess that's by design. Getting music into an Android phone is simple. With the iPhone, it's all about the [soon to be no longer with us] iTunes. But streaming from Google Play Music sidesteps that issue neatly. I also have to figure out what's draining the battery. The amount of drain doesn't seem right, and I haven't found the equivalent of the preference on an Android phone that kills all apps running in the background..

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Had my first culture shock moment. I'd always used the iPhone solely for business, no music, movies, etc. But now that I'm trying to consolidate down to a single line, although the Google Playu Music thang mentioned in the previous post works, I wanted to put some of my music in the phone in case reception was bad.

 

With an Android phone, you plug it into a USB port, open the phone (or auxiliary micro SD card) as a disk drive, and drag files over into a Music folder. The whole Apple iTunes/iPhone ecosystem is a whole other thing...libraries, syncing, libraries on devices...I just wanted to be able to play some files. I did figure it out, but doing it "by the book" sure seems unnecessarily complicated.

 

Do any of you iPhone gurus know a simple way to just get a file from my computer into the iPhone? Looks like I might have to dedicated my MacBook Pro into being an "Apple Ecosystem Machine," and create a music library on there. Or something like that...

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With an Android phone, you plug it into a USB port, open the phone (or auxiliary micro SD card) as a disk drive, and drag files over into a Music folder. The whole Apple iTunes/iPhone ecosystem is a whole other thing...libraries, syncing, libraries on devices...I just wanted to be able to play some files.

 

I've never owned and iAnything, but what you describe is why I never let iTunes anywhere near my phone or computers. If I search for a song and iTunes is the only source that comes up, well, I just don't listen to that song. Someone's $0.0000024 gone up in smoke.

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I also think iTunes doesn't have a repeat function, at least it doesn't in the iPhone app version. This is something I use a lot when working on an album project.

 

My understanding is that the Music app in Catalina is much easier to use for getting files into an iPhone, but then you have to update to Catalina...I'm still not ready to do that quite yet.

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I use AnyTrans for IOS. https://www.imobie.com/anytrans/iphone-manager.htm

 

Bought it originally to copy apps, but it handles lots of other things, including music. I put several albums on my iPhone 8+ 64gb, so that I could then transfer to the iWatch (listed on bluetooth earbuds). I can even listen from just the watch without having the phone nearby.

It works totally independently of iTunes. (but I have not tried to use iTunes also for downloading any music to the phone, that might delete the stuff I've transferred, not sure). Music that was transferred came from CDs that I had purchased earlier, that was stored on my Windows computer.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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Thanks for that. I looked at AnyTrans, but am wary of software from Chinese companies. Some of them are totally legit, some just exist to take your personal credit card info, and you start wondering why there are bogus charges on your credit card statement.

 

I wrote support and asked what happens when you transfer messages from Android to iPhone - do they appear as iMessages, SMS, sent as an email, or what...haven't heard back yet. But it's good to know you had a good experience with them, the software looks useful regardless of how it handles messages.

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I also think iTunes doesn't have a repeat function, at least it doesn't in the iPhone app version. This is something I use a lot when working on an album project.

Yes, it does. It's a bit hidden though (don't ask me why).

 

When you're looking at the Music app on your iOS device, tap on the currently playing song at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up a sheet. Near the top of that sheet, just below the song info, you should see Up Next, Playing From [album or playlist name] and to the right of that, the shuffle and repeat icons. The repeat icons cycle through don't repeat, repeat the album or playlist, repeat the song (tiny "1" next to the icon).

 

A way to get files on your iPhone is to use your iCloud account and the Files app on your iPhone. By default, the Files app goes into your iCloud Drive and can access the same files as you can that way on your Mac (you can also have it connect to your accounts on other services such as Dropbox and Box). You just need to have set up your iCloud account on the respective devices. Whether these files are "on" your iPhone in a way that's useful to you might depend on what you're trying to do with them. I have a folder of examples and play along stuff, and I can play those directly in the Files app as well as in apps like AudioStretch, Anytune, and Capo.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Well, the music app on my iPhone sure doesn't look like what you describe (iOS 13.3.1). But, knowing that it's possible, I tapped on enough things to find the secret place to do repeat - thanks!

 

I still need to wrap my head around what iCloud does and does not do. I want some of the files "on" the iPhone so I'm not constantly burning through data streaming, but iTunes will work for now.

 

But now I can't help but wonder how much other useful stuff I'm missing out on :) Well, I'm sure I'll figure it out over time. Thanks again!

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Sure, glad I could help. There are probably ways but I'm so deep in the Apple ecosystem at this point that is how I think. I use Apple Music for 99% of my music listening, so I rarely look for other ways to listen to audio except as I described. And, I have an unlimited data plan and I'm usually on WiFi at home anyway, so I don't worry about that.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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