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Switching from iOS to Windows Phone 8

Published by David Gilson at 8:00 UTC, January 15th 2013

Windows Phone needs to tempt users away from other platforms if it is to survive in the long-term. While Android is now the biggest smartphone platform, iOS still has a massive user base, and remains a status symbol despite showing its age. Is Windows Phone 8 a viable alternative for iOS users? In 2012 I went from Windows Phone 7 to iOS6, to, by the end of the year, Windows Phone 8. Things went rather smoothly, here are my experiences.

Symbian to Windows Phone 7

As an aside, my move to the Windows Phone world came from using a Nokia N8 for almost year, and the Nokia E72 before that. Of all my transitions, moving from Symbian was the most difficult. As an aside, I should mention that some of this article has been written on a Nexus 7 tablet!

Multitasking

Using Symbian (and Android) shows how alike Windows Phone and iOS are, if not aesthetically, but in other fundamental ways. Symbian, has full multitasking where apps are truly running in the background. While iOS and Windows Phone (from 7.5) both suspend their apps in memory until you return to them, relying on built-in services to create the impression that apps are still active (e.g. file downloads, etc.).

File System Access

Symbian has full access to its PC-like file system, allowing you to side-load any type of content. This feature is largely absent from Apple’s and Microsoft’s offerings. The iPhone does appear on Macs and PCs like a connected camera for drag and drop retrieval of images, though. Windows Phone 7 has no visible file system, completely relying on the Zune Desktop software for file transfer. Things have improved somewhat with Windows Phone 8. An attached device appears as a Media Transport Protocol (MTP) device in ‘My Computer’, allowing you to add and remove any file types, but this functionality is only intended for Windows PCs. Mac users have to use a Connector application.

Ultimately, Windows Phone 7.5 proved to be a good user experience, but the comparative restrictiveness took a long time to get used to. Then again, if you are used to using the iPhone, you’re already accustomed to such things.

Windows Phone 7.5 to iOS 6

Moving onto iOS 6 went very well, and provided several advantages.

Notifications

I had a preconception about iOS that the app grid was a lifeless design, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that app icons included a counter to indicate how many items (e.g. unread messages) require your attention. Admittedly, this makes the app grid look as if it has measles, but it works. Where iOS does beat Windows Phone is its notification centre (‘inspired’ ahem by Android’s notification shade), which displays a history of all incoming notifications that can be selectively cleared. This is a feature sorely missing from Windows Phone, because if you miss a toast notification, it’s gone. Similarly with unread counts on live tiles, they are gone as soon as you open the app.

Going back to icons

The thing that I really missed from Windows Phone 7.5 when moving to iOS 6 was the Live Tile system. While the Retina Display of the iPhone 4S makes app icons look great, app icons feel somewhat old and tired. On the plus side, iOS has a very good way of handling folders, by automatically suggesting relevant names. Windows Phone has yet to introduce folders into the application list, but this is a matter for debate as the alphabetical jump list in all of Windows Phone works very well for finding apps too.

iOS app icons and notifications

Search

If you swipe to the left of the first app grid on iOS you come to a universal search page, where you can search within your personal data and for apps. This is something else that Windows Phone is missing. The internal search capabilities of Windows Phone are comparatively patchy, and are provided on an app by app basis (Calendar still lacks a search option, but there is a third party app).

Apps Apps Apps!

Of course, one of iOS’s strengths is the size of its app catalogue. While it’s true that you only need relatively few apps to suitably equip your phone, the bigger the catalogue the better the odds you’ll find your perfect set. For example, I found apps for two local taxi firms on iOS that just weren’t available on any other platform (but since I switched to WP8, one of them became available on Android). While many of the apps exclusive to iOS are not mission critical (speaking for myself!), it gives you a good feeling to know that there is so much software at your fingertips.

iOS 6 to Windows Phone 8

Here is the critical step, can Windows Phone 8 replace your iPhone? Actually, things went quite smoothly.

New live tiles

The thing that I’d really missed about Windows Phone 7.5 while using iOS 6 was the live tiles. I try not to drink the corporate Kool-Aid when it comes to the design virtues of any product. However, in spite of my necessary scepticism, I honestly find that Live Tiles make a smartphone more interesting to look at and use. The new live tile sizes in Windows Phone 8 let you get a little more creative too, varying the emphasis on the things you pin.

Easier content loading

Because Windows Phone 8 devices appear as a MTP device on Windows PCs, loading content is as easy as putting files on a memory stick. If you want a more automated experience, then you can get the Windows 8 companion app – if you’re a Windows 8 user (Windows 7 users have a desktop WP8 sync application too). This was a welcome relief from using dedicated applications like Zune and iTunes. If you do prefer to use a desktop application to administer music, then Windows Media Player functions perfectly well with Windows Phone 8. One caveat, is that if you wanted a completely automated plug-and-sync solution, then Zune Desktop for Windows Phone 7.5 is actually better.

Furthermore, since music purchased from iTunes does not have DRM, copying your iTunes library over to a Windows Phone 8 device is easy too – note that I’ve only tested this with MP3 files though.

Camera Lenses

While the iPhone has a the simplest camera interface I’ve come across on a smartphone, the plugin system introduced with Windows Phone 8 makes so much more sense. On iOS (and other platforms), alternative camera apps are listed among all the other apps, and there’s no way to reassign the iOS lock screen shortcut. In Windows Phone, tapping the double arrow icon on the camera toolbar allows you to pick from the list of installed camera related apps. Yes, it could be argued that doing this is an extra step too, but it makes much more sense to press the camera button, and then choose from a list of apps specifically for the camera.

Windows Phone 8 Camera Lenses

Stocking up on Apps

Yes, it is true that there are a number of high profile apps that are not available on Windows Phone. Indeed moving from iOS to Windows Phone 8 meant that I lost some business related apps, namely Freshbooks (freelance bookkeeping) and Asana (project collaboration). In the case of the latter though, I’m already beta testing a third party Asana application.

The official applications for Facebook and LinkedIn work well, the WP8 Facebook app is a big improvement over that of WP7.5. There are a good number of Twitter clients available, and Skype’s background support now makes it 95% as usable as the iOS version. That missing 5% is related to the intermittent nature of its notification service (I shouldn’t have to uninstall and reinstall because of such things).

While Google is infamously making it difficult for Microsoft to have an official YouTube app, there are good third party apps (e.g. Tube Pro), and my eBooks are available thanks to the Kindle app.

One class of apps that haven’t caught up with the quality on offer in iOS are podcatching apps, but there are several titles available already that are being regularly updated; e.g. Podcatcher.

When it comes to shopping apps, Windows Phone is call catered for already, with eBay, Tesco, Ocado, Amazon, etc. all available.

An edge case that affected me was the lack of an app for Pocket (formerly known as Read-It-Later). While there are apps for this service in the Windows Phone Store, I have found none of them to be satisfactory yet. Until that situation improves, I have restored to pinning a small tile for Pocket’s website to my Start Screen instead.

While not all of you reading this may care about that particular case, it’s likely that there will be something you use regularly on iOS that you won’t be able to find an alternative for (yet) on Windows Phone. The moral of the story is that when you are stuck for a particular app, using the service’s website is a viable alternative in most cases.

Working on the move

One of the key advantages for work focused users is the inclusion of Microsoft Office, being able to edit your SkyDrive files on the move is a massive advantage. I still feel that Office on Windows Phone is lacking features for which there is little excuse to exclude (e.g. word count in Word, and copy and pasting formulae in Excel). However, in terms of compatibility and connectivity it works well and adds value to the device. Especially when you consider that the best third party alternatives on iOS and Android cost nearly £10.

Where art thou Siri?

A unique feature of the iPhone is the voice assistant, Siri. While many iPhone users don’t like or use this, I found myself using it a lot. Windows Phone does offer a degree of voice control. However, the lack of a task based vocabulary means the integration for a slick user experience isn’t there. For example, with Siri you could say «1 hour countdown» to help with cooking a meal. In Windows Phone you’d have to install a third party timer, and then launch it with voice control, which still leaves you to input the time limit manually. Calling and texting on Windows Phone works much better though.

Navigation

Using a Lumia device means that I have access to offline Nokia Maps, which is a huge advantage over iOS, with its famously deficient Apple Maps. The offline component of Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive means that it’s still more versatile than the iOS version of Google Maps.

Easy TV-Out

A feature of iOS is sending component video out from a device’s connector. I used this feature regularly to watch videos on my old TV set. The only way to get video from a Windows Phone 8 device to a TV screen is via DLNA streaming. So this is something the iPhone is going to have to stick around for in my house.

Conclusion

When moving from one platform to another, there is always the risk of ecosystem lock-in. Therefore, if you are heavily invested in iCloud, iBooks or News Stand then switching to another platform would be more difficult. However, as long as you use neutral services such as Amazon Kindle and a third party email provider (including Gmail) then switching is pretty painless – just accept you’ll have to re-buy certain apps!

While there are some apps that I miss from iOS, my enjoyment of the Windows Phone 8 user experience means that I won’t be switching back for them. There is nothing inherent about iOS that I require for my everyday smartphone usage (notwithstanding the TV-Out case mentioned above).

All this ultimately means that – YES – I think you can safely switch from the iPhone to Windows Phone 8, depending on any «mission critical» apps you may use.

How to switch from a Windows phone to iPhone

If you’ve been using a Windows phone for a while, you no doubt have a considerable amount of data stored on your device, including contacts, calendars, email, messages, favorite apps, music, photos and more. There’s no automated Switch to iOS app for your Windows phone the way there is for Android, but there are cloud services like OneDrive, and iOS apps like Office, Outlook, Skype, and more than making it easier than ever before.

First step: You need iTunes

With Apple’s iCloud service, iTunes — the company’s all-in-one media player, manager, and sync service — may not be needed anywhere near as much as before. There might still be occasions when you want to transfer big files, make local backups, or troubleshoot problems. Then iTunes, clunky as it is, is invaluable. Mac owners will find it pre-installed, but for Windows navigate yourself to the link below to get started.

Moving over your contacts, calendars and email

Our phones have quickly become our main communications tools, beyond just calling relatives. Managing both work and personal lives in our pockets is very much a thing and moving your contacts, calendars and email to your new iPhone will be a top priority.

Fortunately, Apple makes it pretty easy. Assuming you’ve been using your Microsoft account to keep these three entities, you’ll be able to import to your iPhone with ease. Before you proceed, it’s a good idea to make sure you’ve backed up your Windows phone first.

Launch the Settings app on your new iPhone.

Tap Accounts & Passwords.

Follow the instructions to log in with your account credentials.

Once the account has been added, make sure you’ve enabled syncing for all of the data you want transferred to your iPhone.

If you’re not already in your new account screen, tap Accounts in the upper left corner to go back to the Accounts screen.

Tap your new Account.

Tap the Notes switch to turn on and sync your iPhone’s Notes content, which will appear in your email account under Notes.

Your Microsoft account will pull in your email, your contacts and your calendar to the relevant stock apps on the iPhone.

You also have the option of using the Microsoft Outlook app on your iPhone to manage your Outlook email and calendars. It’s considered by many to be the best mail client on iOS, so it’s worth checking out.

Moving over your photos and videos

Our recommendation would be to avoid transferring your photo library from your old phone to your new one. Not least because on Windows Mobile you may have been using a microSD card to store them on, something not supported on the iPhone without needing extra peripherals and apps. (Apple uses the iCloud Photo Library service instead — for a price.)

You can opt to start fresh, or better still, backup all your photos to your computer and your favorite online service, and then go from there.

The best option is to use the cloud. If you’ve been using Windows 10 Mobile then there’s a strong chance you had your phone set to auto-upload your photo library to OneDrive. If you didn’t have it set this way, there’s still time to do so and upload your entire photo library to Microsoft’s cloud. You can also upload your iPhone photos to OneDrive, so you don’t have to switch from what you’re familiar and comfortable with.

With this, you just need to install the OneDrive app from the App Store and you’ll have instant access to all your photos wherever you are.

Or, if you use Dropbox, the other big, cross-platform popular option, same applies. Make sure everything has uploaded then grab the Dropbox app for iPhone and you’ll be set.

With no expandable physical storage on the iPhone, we strongly recommend the cloud route if you want to have easy access to all of the photos you’ve been collecting on your Windows phone. You’ll be snapping a ton with the iPhone camera so don’t fill up that storage with gigabytes of old stuff.

If you can’t or simply don’t want to use the cloud, you can still make the transfer using a good, old-fashioned cable. If you’re using a Windows 10 PC getting your photos off your phone is straightforward. You can either go through the Phone Companion app, which then imports from your Windows phone into the Photos app, or you can just navigate to your phone in File Explorer, find the folder and drag and drop.

On a Mac, it’s a little more difficult. To move photos from your computer to your iPhone requires iTunes. With your iPhone connected via the USB-to-Lightning cable you’ll be able to select items to sync between the phone and the computer.

What about my Microsoft apps?

Microsoft is a big supporter of cross-platform apps and services. As such, all the most popular apps are available to use on iPhone. And they’re pretty good too, for the most part. We’ve already linked up OneDrive and Outlook above, the list below will help you find some of the other big ones.

You can find a complete list of all Microsoft apps for iPhone here:

Moving over your music and video content

The iPhone and iTunes are heavily invested in music, and you’ll be well looked after. If you have a physical collection on your computer that you synced to your old Windows phone, simply fire up iTunes and start syncing it to your phone.

If you used a third-party service such as Spotify or Deezer to get your aural fix, there are of course apps available for all these in the App Store.

Adding all the rest

The iOS App Store is the place to find apps. You can get almost every Google app available. (Which were notably absent from the Windows Store. )

Equally apps like:

There are also hundreds of thousands of games, including all the major mobile titles, so hit the App Store and download away!

This is just the beginning

Hopefully, these tips help you to get started with your new iPhone without having to start again from scratch. With the prevalence of the cloud and Microsoft’s strong support for iOS, with a little work you’ll be up and running in no time with all your personal communications, media and app needs!

Updated October 2017: Updated account setup for iOS 11.

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