Transferring your contacts, phone book, SMS messages between phones

If you’ve just bought a new phone, you don’t need to copy every single phone number over from your old phone manually. Ken’s Tech Tips explores some of the easier ways to do it.

When you change mobile network, you’ll get a new SIM card. Using a PAC code it is very easy to move (or “port” in mobile lingo) your number from your old network onto your new network and new SIM card. However using a PAC code will not help you to transfer things such as any phone numbers or text messages that you want to keep. Those things you’ll have to transfer separately (ideally before you use your PAC code as your old SIM card will get disabled).

When I recently went through the whole process of upgrading my phone and switching network (I moved from my LG Viewty KU990 on O2 to a shiny new HTC Desire on T-Mobile) my network gave me what seemed to be the standard piece of advice: to copy contacts over one by one onto my new phone. Not only would this have been tedious and time-consuming, it also gives a lot of potential for errors to be introduced when inputting the numbers into the new phone – only to be discovered later when you end up calling a complete stranger and you’ve lost your original phone book!

There are two ways to transfer numbers from your old phone to your new phone which will save you a lot of time:

• Transfer via a SIM card
• Transfer via a computer

How do I transfer my phone book and SMS text messages via a SIM card?

Phone numbers and SMS text messages can be saved in one of two places: on the phone itself or on a SIM card. The default behaviour is usually to save the phone numbers and text messages on the phone itself, however it may depend on how your phone was set up and configured.

You can use a SIM card to transfer contacts and SMS messages between phones. The exact procedure depends on whether you are using a locked phone or not. The key is to use a SIM card which is acceptable to both phones.

1. If you are moving from an unlocked phone:

1. Take your new SIM card and place it into your old phone.
2. Turn your old phone on.
3. Copy your contacts from the phone memory onto the SIM card memory. Most phones should have this functionality so explore the menus (or documentation) to find it. On the Viewty, this menu item was under “Contact Settings > Copy > Handset to USIM”.
4. Copy any SMS text messages you would like to keep from your phone memory to SIM card memory.
5. Turn both of your phones off.
6. Put your new SIM card back into your new phone. Your contacts and SMS messages should now appear on your new phone.
7. Optionally you can now move these phone numbers and text messages onto your phone memory. This may have several benefits such as performance and enable extra features.

2. If you are moving from a locked phone to an unlocked phone:

1. Take your old SIM card and place it into your old phone.
2. Turn your old phone on.
3. Copy your contacts from the phone memory onto the SIM card memory. Most phones should have this functionality so explore the menus (or documentation) to find it. On the Viewty, this menu item was under “Contact Settings > Copy > Handset to USIM”.
4. Copy any SMS text messages you would like to keep from your phone memory to SIM card memory.
5. Turn both of your phones off.
6. Put your old SIM card back into your new phone. Your contacts and SMS messages should now appear on your new phone.
7. Move these contacts and messages from the SIM card memory onto the phone memory.
8. Turn off both your phones.
9. Remove your old SIM card from your new phone. Put your new SIM card back into your new phone.

3. If you are moving from a locked phone to a locked phone (of different networks):

This is where things get a little tricky. As both of your phones are locked to different networks, you won’t be able to find a SIM card which is acceptable to both. You could borrow a friends phone to act as an intermediary phone or grab a really cheap unlocked one from Amazon (i.e. follow set of instructions 2 to copy contacts from your old phone onto the unlocked phone, then set of instructions 1 to copy contacts from the unlocked phone onto your new phone). Or try the method below.

How do I transfer my phone book via a computer?

Most phones come with software which allow you to synchronise your phone book with your computer. For example, the Sony Ericsson PC Suite, the LG PC Suite, HTC Sync, etc. You should have received a copy of this software with your phone.

Use the sync software for your old phone to copy the contacts from your old phone into Microsoft Outlook. Then use the sync software for your new phone to copy your contacts from Outlook into your new phone.

You won’t be able to transfer any SMS messages using this method.

Your experiences…

We’d love to hear your experiences migrating to your new phone. Let us know if this worked for you, or if you’ve found a better way.