Fix Move to iOS could not communicate with the device error

Move to iOS is Apple’s official application to help Android users migrate to iPhone. Now the very first thing that comes to your mind after coming to know about “Move to iOS” application is convenience. Phone makers build this kind of applications to make the phone migration process painless. Almost all the smartphone manufacturers have this kind of applications. For example, Samsung has its own application called Smart Switch. OnePlus has the OnePlus Switch. Huawei, Xiaomi, and others have their own applications.

Moving between Android phones is not hard at all. Even if you don’t want to use the application of a phone company, there are hundreds of third-party applications that you can use to migrate all of your data. However, when it comes to moving data between Android and iOS, the only option you have is the Move to iOS application.

At this point, you should have a clear idea that there is only one method to transfer your data from Android to iOS. Now you have decided to switch from Android to iPhone. Let us say, you have been using Android for past few years and all of a sudden your mind has changed. You have a lot of data including a lot of messages, pictures, contacts, videos, etc on the Android phone. You want all of this data to be migrated in one go.

After turning on your new iPhone, you go for the option to move the data from your Android phone. The Android phone will require the Move to iOS application that you can install from the Play Store. Right when you will fulfill all the requirements, you will get the error “could not communicate with the device” on the Android phone.

This is when the pain starts and believe me, this is the most annoying error you will ever face. I am saying this because I couldn’t bring most of my data to the iPhone XS Max while switching from the OnePlus 6. I had to leave my data on my computer and at this point, my iPhone doesn’t have any of my old data.

So what am I actually trying to tell you is that the word “convenience” that comes to your mind after seeing this application, that is not actually the convenience. It’s really difficult to transfer data from Android to iOS. The cream atop of the cake is that once you set up the iPhone without moving data, you will not find the data migration option inside the iPhone. The only moment you see this option is while you are setting up your iPhone. So if you have set up your iPhone and you have already started using it, and you want to bring data from Android to iPhone, you will have to factory reset your iPhone which means you will lose the data that you just brought inside your iPhone from other sources.

Our goal today is to get rid of them could not communicate with the device error. I am going to list all the possible solutions that will help you to move data from Android to iOS without facing this error. There are a few precautions that you have to apply before establishing a connection between the Android phone and the iPhone. If you take appropriate steps before entering the connection code, you can potentially avoid this error.

You have to follow these instructions very, very carefully. If you miss a single point, you will get the error and it is only going to annoy you. So, here is how to fix Move to iOS could not communicate with the device error.

Move to iOS could not communicate with the device – FIXED

1. First of all, make sure that your iPhone is not already set up. If it’s already configured, perform a factory reset to take it back to to the initial setup screen. The initial screen is only where you will find the Move Data from the Android option.
2. Download and install the Move to iOS application on your Android phone.
3. Now plug both the Android phone and iPhone to the charger. The charger must be turned on.
4. Forget the current WiFi connection on your Android phone.
5. On your Android phone, uninstall any application that you think can interrupt the internet connection.
6. Now turn on flight mode on your Android phone.
7. Restart the Android phone. There should be no connectivity on the phone as it is in the flight mode or Airplane mode.
8. On the iPhone, click on “Move Data from Android”.
9. You will now get a code on the iPhone.
10. At this point, your iPhone will generate a WiFi Hotspot connection.
11. On the Android phone, go to WiFi settings and connect to the iPhone WiFi.
12. Remember that the iPhone Hotspot WiFi password will be the name of your WiFi. For example, if the WiFi name is iOS fb466, the password will be iOS fb466. If the WiFi name is iOSfb466, the password will beiOSfb466. Do not ignore the SPACES or any other expressions here..
13. As soon as the WiFi is connected, the data transfer will begin. You may enter the code if it still asks. That’s all.

There are two key points here that are potentially going to avoid the error. The first one is that you need both the phones connected to the charger. Without the charging turned on, you will get the connection error. The second one is the Android phone in the Airplane Mode. If your phone goes through any kind of connectivity before the connection is established with the iPhone, you will get the communication error. So, you need to take these in order to get rid of the “unable to communicate with the device” error.