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PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly move your data to a new phone.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

5 minutesto a draft.

30 minutesto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ityou

What the alternative costsNo comparable alternative price is supplied in the available tool data.

If this goes wrong, you may lose data, lock yourself out of an account or wipe the old phone before the new one is ready.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the chatbot and paste the prompt, replacing the bracketed details with the exact make, model and operating system shown in each phone's Settings page.
    2. Open the manufacturer's current support instructions for the two phones and compare their recommended transfer method with the chatbot's method before starting.
    3. Back up the old phone using its built-in backup service, confirm that the backup has completed, and keep the old phone charged and connected to Wi-Fi.
    4. Write down the accounts and security services you must regain access to, including your password manager, authenticator app, banking apps and WhatsApp, without pasting passwords or recovery codes into the chatbot.
    5. Run the official phone-to-phone transfer and follow the prompts for the selected data, keeping both phones available until the transfer reports completion.
    6. On the new phone, open contacts, photos, messages, calendars, notes, files, WhatsApp and important apps, then compare them with the old phone and test calls, mobile data, sign-ins and two-factor authentication.
    7. Fix missing items using the official backup or account-sync instructions, and keep the old phone switched on and untouched until the new phone has passed these checks.

    Prompt

    Help me move my data from an old phone to a new phone. My old phone is [make and model] running [iOS or Android version], and my new phone is [make and model] running [iOS or Android version]. Tell me which official transfer method to use and give me a step-by-step checklist in the correct order. Cover contacts, photos, videos, messages, call history, calendars, notes, files, WhatsApp, authenticator apps, banking apps, passwords, two-factor authentication, the SIM or eSIM and backups. Separate what normally transfers automatically from what I must set up again. Do not ask me to paste passwords, recovery codes, payment details or other private data. Do not tell me to erase or trade in the old phone until I have checked the new one. Include a final checklist for testing the new phone and explain how to deal with anything that does not transfer. If a step depends on an exact phone menu or current software version, say that I should confirm it in the phone manufacturer's current support instructions rather than guessing.

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot see your phone model, settings, storage, backups or account state unless you describe them.
  • AI cannot tap through the transfer, approve permissions, enter credentials or move data on your behalf.
  • It cannot guarantee that app data, authenticator accounts, banking access or eSIM details will transfer.
  • It cannot cheaply prove that every item has arrived, especially hidden app data and account recovery methods.
  • It cannot recover deleted data or accept responsibility if you erase the old phone too soon.

What caps this at PARTLY: private data access, verification cost and context depth.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output1
Inputs1
Verification1
Liability1
Effort delta1
Total5 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT transfer everything from my old phone to my new phone?
No. It can identify the right official transfer route and guide you through it, but it cannot access either phone or perform the transfer. You still need to run the transfer and check important data yourself.
What data does not transfer to a new phone?
App sign-ins, banking access, authenticator accounts, eSIM details and some app data often need separate setup. The exact result depends on the phone brands, operating systems, apps and backups involved.
Can AI move my WhatsApp messages to a new phone?
AI can explain the current WhatsApp transfer or backup steps for your phones. It cannot access your WhatsApp account, and you should confirm that chats and media appear on the new phone before removing WhatsApp or wiping the old phone.
Should I wipe my old phone after transferring my data?
Only after checking the new phone against the old one and confirming that your important accounts, security methods, photos, messages and files work. Keep the old phone available until you have resolved anything missing.

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Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

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