What You Need to Know When Switching Away From the IPhone

Learning how to utilize a new technology can be difficult. If you’ve been a committed Apple customer  but are now considering switching to Android, you should know that simple differences between the two platforms can be disorienting. Let's go over some information you need to know when switching away from the iPhone.

Examining Your Application Needs
The more time spent comprehending the Android platform before you switch, the better off you will be. The first thing you should do is review the apps you utilize most often or are required to utilize for work. Are they available via Google Play or the Amazon App Store? If they are, you will have to repurchase them on that platform.

This also supplies you with the opportunity to consolidate the apps on your mobile device to only include the apps that you actually utilize. 

Disabling iMessage
Once you have figured out which apps will be the first you install, you then need to be sure that your phone will be able to send and receive text messages. Because Apple’s iMessage uses a Wi-Fi signal, something an Android phone can't do, you will not be able to receive any text messages from iPhone users until iMessage is disabled. Apple has a page dedicated to this task that allows you to preemptively turn off iMessage, or to do so even after you no longer have your iPhone.

Take a Backup on Google Drive
To make transferring your data from one platform to another as effortless as possible, Google Drive has a simple solution in its native backup wizard. The first thing to do is install Google Drive and log in (assuming you haven’t done so already). Then, by accessing Menu > Settings > Backup, you can save whatever content is on your iPhone to your Google Drive.

You have the choice to backup everything by clicking Start Backup, or to pick and choose what to include and what to abandon. This process can last several hours; it's advisable to utilize Wi-Fi and make sure your iPhone is plugged in as the backup is taken.

Next, once you have your new Android device, all you have to do is sign in to Google Drive from there. Also worth noting: some Android phones have apps that help with this process.

What inspired you to make the switch?