Congratulations on your new iPhone. It is quite understandable that now you want to switch to the new phone, and if you had been using an Android device earlier, it would be a fresh experience for you with an Apple device.
However, while setting up your iPhone and transferring data from Android, you may notice that Move to iOS is taking forever. At times, you might also see that the smartphone is stuck on 1 minute remaining and it has been there for hours.
Don’t worry! There’s nothing wrong with the iPhone. Most likely the issue is related to misconfigured settings or the size of data that you wish to move from your old phone to this new one.
How Long Does Move to iOS Take?
If you stumble upon the above-mentioned issue and you’re new to iDevices, the first question that may come to your mind is how long does Move to iOS take before your iPhone is up and ready for use?
Well, it is hard to say an accurate time because different phones have different sizes of data which will decide how much time is needed for the transfer. Even if you have a similar size of data to transfer, the process may take much longer or can be completed earlier depending on other factors like your network speed, data types, and so on.
Nevertheless, if you are tired of several hours of waiting and the Move to iOS is stuck on 1 minute remaining, you can try a couple of effective solutions that are explained in detail in the following sections.
How to Fix Move to iOS Taking Forever
If Move to iOS is taking forever to complete, you should try the troubleshooting measures that are suggested below:
Solution 1: Force Restart iPhone and Android Phone
When talking about iPhones, force restarting gives them a fresh reboot by temporarily pulling all the power from their motherboard, and then releasing it after a couple of milliseconds. When this happens, in the background, all the unwanted data, a.k.a. junk data is flushed out of their memory. After this, the iOS doesn’t have any problematic files to read while restarting and therefore, the issue is likely to get fixed. This usually happens if you bought a pre-owned device.
Now, depending on your iPhone model, the process of force restarting may vary. However, assuming that you have an iPhone 8 or above (according to the variants available at the time of this writing), you can follow the instructions given below to get the job done:
- Press and immediately release the Volume Up button.
- Quickly do the same with the Volume Down button too.
- Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the screen turns black and the Apple logo appears after a while.
- Release the button as you see the logo.
- Wait while your iPhone starts normally.
- Try the Move to iOS method again and see if the issue is fixed.
Note: If you have iPhone 7 Plus or earlier, you can click here to learn how to force restart it.
As for Android, because a wide range of phones from various vendors is available, you may have to check the User’s Manual or google to see which button or combination of buttons should be pressed to force restart your smartphone model.
Solution 2: Try Another Wi-Fi
While setting up, iPhone prompts you to connect to Wi-Fi for activation and many other tasks that require an Internet connection. However, sometimes the phone may refuse to communicate with the wireless network you connected it to and you might see that Move to iOS is taking forever during transfers. At this point, you should try two important fixes below.
Fix 1: Don’t Turn On Your Android’s Cellular Data
- Ensure that your source (old) Android phone and destination (new) iPhone are connected to the same wireless network.
- Do NOT turn on cellular data on your Android phone and leave it connected to the Wi-Fi.
Fix 2: Connect Your iPhone and Android Phone to a Different Wi-Fi
For iPhone (iPhone 14 Pro Max Is Used Here for Reference):
- Go to Settings and tap Wi-Fi.
- From the NETWORKS section, tap to select the SSID (Service Set Identifier) of the wireless network other than the one your iPhone is currently connected to.
- Enter the password for the Wi-Fi when the phone prompts.
- Tap Join from the top-right.
For Android (Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Is Used Here for Reference):
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Connections.
- Tap Wi-Fi.
- From the Available networks section, tap to select the SSID of the same network you connected your iPhone to.
- Enter the password for the wireless network on the next screen.
- Tap Connect to connect to the Wi-Fi.
Note: The process to connect an Android device to Wi-Fi may vary depending on the vendor and model of the phone. Therefore, you are advised to check the User’s Manual to learn the correct method.
Solution 3: Avoid Transferring Photos and Videos via Move to iOS
If Move to iOS is taking forever, it could be due to the huge number and gigantic size of media files that you are trying to transfer to the new phone. If you had been using your Android phone for the past couple of years, the overall transferrable data size may go up to several gigabytes.
Therefore, you should skip transferring videos and photos through the Move to iOS app and complete the process manually. Check how to do it below.
On Your Android Phone:
- Connect your Android phone to the PC wirelessly or via a relevant cable.
- Go to the media folders.
- Copy all photos and videos from the phone’s storage to your computer.
- Disconnect your Android phone once the transfer is complete.
On Your iPhone:
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Photos.
- Tap to turn off the iCloud Photos switch.
- Now, use the Lightning Cable to connect your iPhone to the same PC.
On Your Computer:
- Launch iTunes if it doesn’t start automatically.
- Click the iPhone icon from the top.
- On the next window, click Photos from the Settings section in the left pane.
- Check the Sync Photos box from the top of the right window.
- Click to open the Copy photos from the drop-down menu.
- Click Choose folder.
- Locate and select the folder where you have copied the photos and videos from your Android phone.
- Back on iTunes, ensure that the All folders radio button is selected. (Select it if it’s not.)
- Check the Include videos box as well.
- Click Apply from the bottom of the window.
- Wait while iTunes syncs the photos and videos with your iPhone.
- Once the process completes, disconnect your phone from the PC.
Back On Your iPhone
- Go to the Photos app.
- Check to confirm if all the media files are transferred successfully.
- Use the method explained earlier to re-enable the iCloud Photos switch.
Solution 4: Remove Other Data Management Apps from Your Android
If your Android phone has other data management apps, consider removing them to avoid any conflicts between those programs and the Move to iOS function.
You can long-tap their icons and tap Uninstall from the context menu to get rid of such applications. If you want to use your Android phone even after switching to iPhone and don’t want to uninstall the management software, you can go to Settings > Apps, tap the name of the target app, tap Force stop, and tap Force stop on the confirmation box to temporarily suspend it.
For a built-in app, you can tap Disable on the Apps screen.
You can relaunch the app from the Apps Drawer or Home screen to start it again.
Solution 5: Use Move to iOS Alternatives
If none of the above solutions work, you can try alternate solutions, typically the apps developed by some third-party vendors. Although several companies build such migration applications, the one that has received good feedback from its customers is iMobie. The two data transfer programs developed by iMobie are introduced below.
Alternative 1: iMobie AnyTrans
As the name suggests, AnyTrans can transfer data between devices easily and with the least intervention. A couple of noteworthy features that AnyTrans offers include:
- Transfers your important data like songs, movies, contacts, photos, calendars, messages, call logs, and so on from Android to iOS devices.
- Migration of WhatsApp messages from Android or iOS devices to another iOS device.
- Automatically converts music and video files to the iOS-compatible format while transferring.
- Automatically converts custom ringtones to the iOS-compatible format while transferring.
- Transfers eBooks, compressed and uncompressed files, and other documents conveniently and quickly.
Alternative 2: iMobie AppTrans
AppTrans by iMobie is a dedicated tool to help you migrate apps and their data from your old phone to the newer one regardless of its platform. Some important features that AppTrans has are:
- Transfers apps to your new iPhone. Note: While transferring the apps, AppTrans doesn’t move app data if they are not transferred to the same operating system. If your data is important and needs to be migrated as well, you must do that by initializing a separate session.
- Transfers WhatsApp chats and files to the target iPhone without removing existing data.
- Allows 1-click backup, restore, and transfer of almost all apps and their data.
Conclusion
Although the Move to iOS app for Android functions pretty well and allows you to migrate data to your new Apple device, sometimes the process fails. When this happens, you can use the solutions suggested above to get rid of the Move to iOS taking forever issue while transferring your files and contacts to your iDevice.
