How to transfer data from BlackBerry 10 to a new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus

Everything you need to know about transferring contacts, photos, calendars, music, and more from your BlackBerry 10 device to your new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus!

So you've been hanging onto BlackBerry for awhile, but you're ready to switch after seeing the shiny new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. We can't blame you - the iPhone 6 is a pretty attractive piece of hardware and the 6 Plus is a whole new ball game when it comes to big-screen beauty. iOS 8 is introducing a lot of great new features which make the entire package all the more enticing. For many this is going to be a return to familiar territory, for others it's going to be a bit of a culture shock. Either way, we're here to help.

Here's how to get your stuff from your old BlackBerry 10 phone to your new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter

The easiest way to transfer contacts, calendars, and notes is through a cloud service. If you're already using one of the many that are cross-platform, you can get your contacts over in just a few steps. If you're using Gmail as your primary account on BB10, your address book and calendar should be ready to pull down to iOS with minimal effort - iCloud can handle all of that stuff too. If you're using contacts on another service, like Yahoo! or Exchange, the situation is similar.

If most of your contacts live in either Facebook or Twitter, iOS natively lets you bring down your Facebook and Twitter contacts into the default Contacts app in just a few easy steps. Just head into the Settings app and tell both of them to update your Contacts app.

Third party services

If you don't trust Google or iCloud, you can also use a third party app like InTouch to upload and restore content between devices, though there's little reason to trust them any more than Google or Apple. Pictures, music, and other files can be shunted over through the native Box or DropBox apps on both handsets, or Google Drive if you grab PlayCloud 10 on BlackBerry.

Box even offers automatic uploads on BlackBerry 10 which makes it super simple to get all your photos into the cloud. Once they are, just download the Box app for iOS and all your pictures will come down safe and sound, no cords necessary!

• Box for iOS, Free - Download Now

BlackBerry Link

If for whatever reason you can't or don't want to have your data sent up to the cloud you can side-load your contacts from your PC using BlackBerry Link. If you've already set up BlackBerry Link and are regularly backing up your data (wirelessly or otherwise), it's entirely possible that all of your data is already good to import through iTunes. If not, full details on using Link can be found here, but here's the play-by-play to get your contact and calendar data from your BlackBerry onto your computer.

1. Plug in your BlackBerry 10 device to your computer over USB.


2. Open BlackBerry Link. (Download it here if you don't have it already.)


3. Click the arrow at the tab at the bottom for your BlackBerry device, and under Synchronization, click Set Up Contact Syncing.


4. Pick either Outlook or Windows or Mac Contacts from the drop-down menu and click OK. Back up to step 3, and do the same for Calendar Syncing. Remember what you pick here - it's what you'll need to restore from iTunes later.


5. In the left-hand pane, click Sync Calendars/Contacts.

Music, pictures and videos can be handled similarly through BlackBerry Link, except they're backed up to iTunes.

1. Plug in your BlackBerry via USB.


2. Click the bottom tab for your BlackBerry device, and click the gear in the top-right. Check to make sure the Computer Import Folders are monitoring the same directory as your iTunes music, pictures and video libraries.


3. Ensure under the device tab that all of the content types you want to import are checked off, then on the left-hand pane, click Back Up Now.

To skip using BlackBerry Link, simply copy your files from your BlackBerry to your Mac or PC. Just plug in your BlackBerry, open up your file explorer on your computer, find the pictures, music, and video directories on your BlackBerry (by default on the SD card, but be sure to check the separate device storage), copy the directories, and paste them somewhere readily accessible on your computer. From there you can move the files to where iTunes can sync up with them appropriately.

Now comes the easy part - getting everything from iTunes onto your shiny new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, or whatever other iOS device you've picked up. The set-up process is largely unchanged from previous generations, which we've run through before here. If you've got iTunes, Outlook, and iPhoto hooked up to the data you've pulled down from your BlackBerry, this should be easy-peasy.

1. Download and install iTunes if you haven't already. You'll also need to sign up for an Apple ID if you don't have one.


2. Ensure iTunes has scanned and registers as much of your media to transfer as possible.


3. Power on your new iPhone, and log in with your Apple ID.


4. Follow the set-up instructions and sync with iTunes over either Wi-Fi or USB.

At that point, iTunes should start hauling in music, photos, and video. Contacts and Calendar items in Outlook are pulled in through iTunes as well; click the iPhone button in the top-right, click the Info tab, and you should be able to toggle all three and sync again. If they say they're being synced to the cloud already, then hop on your iPhone, go into Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and make sure the appropriate sections within each account (including iCloud) is disabled. Keep in mind, however, that syncing over the cloud is by far the easiest way to go about handling all of this stuff.

That's all there is to it. You should now be good to go with your brand new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and iOS 8.

Still need help?

If you encounter any hiccups during the transfer process, our iMore forums are a great place to ask for and receive help. If you have any other tips, feel free to drop those in the comments below!

See also:

• iOS 8: Explained


• iOS 8 help and discussion forums