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How To Transfer Your Contacts from iCloud to Google Contacts

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Does all the talk about the iPhone 5s and iOS 7 have you down? Maybe you were expecting more out of the new iPhone and now wish you could switch to Android? Part of making the switch to Android is making sure all of your contacts arrive in one piece. It is extremely easy to move your contacts from iCloud to Google Contacts so that they appear on your shiny new Android phone the moment you log in. Here’s how you do it!

Note: Although these instructions are on a Mac, they should be identical on a Windows PC or Linux.

Access iCloud Contacts

Transfer Contacts

Visit iCloud.com and log in with your Apple ID.

Transfer Contacts

After logging in, choose the Contacts option to show your contacts.

Export the Contacts

Transfer Contacts

Select the first contact in your list. Then hold down the shift key and select the last contact on your list. This will select all the contacts on your list. Click the gear in the lower left-hand corner and select Export vCard…

Transfer Contacts

When the save window opens, save your file to someone on your computer you will remember. We recommend the Desktop.

Login to Google Contacts

Transfer Contacts

Head on over to Google Contacts and login.

Transfer Contacts

 

Click the More drop down and select Import…

Import the Contacts

screenshot_09

 

A dialog box will appear describing what is about to happen. Click the Choose File box to continue.

Transfer Contacts

 

Select the backup file you saved earlier and choose open.

screenshot_12

 

Finally, click the Import button to begin importing the contacts.

Transfer Contacts

 

After a few seconds all of your contacts will appear in the My Contacts list in Google Contacts. The next time an Android phone or tablet is connected to the Google account, all of the contacts on this list will sync to the device.

Thankfully both Apple and Google support the vCard standard for contacts which makes it incredibly easy to move from one ecosystem to another. Also, doing it yourself can save you a transfer fee at a local cell phone retailer, as some have been known to charge.

Good luck and happy transferring!

44 Comments

44 Comments

  1. Dr Hatim

    10/30/2013 at 9:03 am

    thankyou. this really helped.
    have a good day!

  2. Yahnette B

    11/02/2013 at 8:59 am

    THANKS ALOT!!!! :)

  3. Malar

    11/16/2013 at 3:15 pm

    thank u sooo much!!!!! :)

  4. grateful anon

    11/30/2013 at 1:36 am

    My iPhone was shut off before I was able to transfer contacts and every other method required me to be able to use email, I was beginning to think I would have to manually re-enter 250+ contacts and then I found this. It worked, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

  5. Barry

    12/10/2013 at 9:48 am

    Brilliant! but I fell at the last fence. On opening my android phone/People I have all the contact folders showing but all empty. Where have I gone wrong, please?

    • Bhaskar

      12/27/2013 at 2:54 pm

      As long as you see imported contacts in your gmail account after import, you are good enough to see them in your android if you use same account. In Android, you will see contacts under ‘imported’ section.

  6. Barry Collin

    12/11/2013 at 4:16 am

    Success! I’ve got all the contacts in my Moto G phone. I was not opening the Google A/c properly to select “sync”.
    So many thanks – hours wasted previously.

  7. hcampos123

    12/11/2013 at 2:11 pm

    T H A N K Y O U ! ! ! ! !

  8. Bhaskar

    12/27/2013 at 2:55 pm

    Works like charm :)

  9. balaji

    01/02/2014 at 1:16 am

    THANK YOU
    this really helped.
    have a good day!

    • vishnu

      01/08/2014 at 2:33 am

      thank you,
      it is working, very good.

  10. Dan

    01/18/2014 at 4:33 pm

    Amazing, thank you! This made it easier then the apps or services out there!

  11. Juan

    01/28/2014 at 12:29 pm

    Thank you Sir! You are AWESOME.

  12. Jamie Larkin

    02/03/2014 at 1:00 pm

    Youre a star! Thank you, I can now get my Nexus 5!

  13. rakesh gupta

    02/14/2014 at 12:41 am

    THANKS REALLY HELPED ME

  14. Jimmy

    02/18/2014 at 2:10 pm

    OMG, thanks!!
    your great Buddy!!

  15. amissah

    02/27/2014 at 3:45 am

    thanks so much it worked perfectly

  16. Johnny

    02/28/2014 at 6:45 am

    Thank you!

  17. sameer

    03/06/2014 at 4:17 am

    Thanks google baba

  18. Nyanam Ann Raja

    03/13/2014 at 10:20 pm

    hi.. for some reason when i selected all the contact and then clicked export it only exported the first contact. Please assist. thanks

  19. Naveen

    04/05/2014 at 10:02 am

    Thank you..

  20. Arusarka Haldar

    04/06/2014 at 3:50 am

    Thanks for this post. After my iphone got stolen, I couldn’t find a post which talked about transferring contacts without using iphone. I am really glad that I found this post. Thanks again.

  21. ProudR

    04/13/2014 at 8:10 pm

    Here is one tool that you guys can try, it’s called evo collaborator for outlook.
    it makes it possible to copy your contacts and calendars from icloud to gmail or vice versa directly over the air.

    simply install it and open outlook(it is an outlook add-in), add gmail and icloud profiles, and then click ‘browse caldav’ and select icloud as souce, then click ‘c2c cloud to cloud copy’ button, and select a destination. and it’s done.

  22. samuel

    04/19/2014 at 1:10 pm

    can I transfer my contact from a non-smart Samsung phone to an iphone??? not sure how my contacts in my old phone will be accessible. Please advise.

  23. Jana

    05/11/2014 at 7:04 pm

    Thanq you so much this was very helpful and very easy,, appreciate it.

  24. kishor

    08/04/2014 at 10:32 am

    I had lost my I-Phone last week and was upset that i had lost important contact . Thanks Buddy i could get my contact list .

  25. Karen

    08/08/2014 at 8:01 pm

    I am only getting the first contact card when I export vcard file, why?

  26. Cynthia Wooge

    08/09/2014 at 3:08 pm

    I am getting only the first contact card when I export the vcard from iCloud. Can you help?

  27. Andy Liao

    08/20/2014 at 9:01 pm

    I wrote a tutorial about how to do this ‘over-the-air’ without export and import
    if anyone is interested you can take a look
    https://outlookandmacosxserver.blogspot.tw/2014/05/synchronize-your-icloud-andor-carddav.html

  28. M. Amir Ch

    08/13/2015 at 4:09 am

    But contacts pictures did not transfer. Can someone help me, how to also transfer pics from iCloud contacts.

  29. dharmvir

    08/23/2015 at 2:37 am

    i selected all the contact as you say but the save windows button not shown when i click the export vcard

  30. amylynnlao

    09/06/2015 at 8:47 am

    when I export, it directs me straight to the contacts on my laptop and I don’t have the option of saving to my desktop :( help!

  31. Atiq

    09/09/2015 at 11:50 pm

    i selected all the contact as you say but the save windows button not shown when i click the export vcard

  32. Emil

    09/10/2015 at 5:15 am

    FYI! The export vcard in icloud didn’t work in Google Chrome, but worked ofc in Safari, the world still spins as usual

  33. Gaston Sanchez

    10/04/2015 at 9:08 am

    Thanks! it helped a lot.

  34. ee

    10/08/2015 at 7:54 pm

    If contacts are duplicated will I be asked if to import duplicates? I use an iPhone and all my contacts are synced to icloud. They are supposed to sync with my gmail accounts and they do IF I add them in Gmail, they will show up in my iCloud and on my phone but not in reverse, so any new contacts I add to my phone do not sync to my Gmail contacts.

  35. salar

    12/31/2015 at 3:52 pm

    than u vare mach <3

  36. Kiran More

    01/28/2016 at 12:58 am

    Thanks! it helped a lot.

  37. Preetham

    03/12/2016 at 5:53 am

    #Thanks a lot for sharing useful info

  38. ajibolaoba

    11/28/2016 at 8:48 pm

    thank a lot ,i do appreciate……works perfectly

  39. LALIT NAYAK

    03/11/2017 at 7:20 am

    thanks……

  40. LALIT NAYAK

    03/11/2017 at 7:21 am

    realy thanks……

  41. LALIT NAYAK

    03/11/2017 at 7:21 am

    realy thankyou. this really helped

  42. vilas

    03/16/2017 at 11:43 am

    very good article- very useful. i have followed this. thank you. dr. vilas

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