How to clone Honor on Xiaomi: the complete guide

Changing the smartphone ecosystem is often perceived by users as a complex and intimidating process, especially when switching between brands with different shells. Many owners of Honor devices who decide to upgrade their gadget to a Xiaomi model are afraid of losing important contacts, photos or settings of familiar applications. Fortunately, modern data migration tools allow you to complete the cloning of the content of an old device to a new one in just a few tens of minutes.

The process of transferring information has become much easier thanks to the standardization of the Android operating system and the advent of specialized utilities from manufacturers. You do not need to be a technical specialist to throw all your data, but the main focus is on the proper preparation of both devices and choosing the optimal way to transfer, whether it is Wi-Fi connection or cloud services.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the nuances of the transition, focusing on specific points, such as installing Google services on new Honor models and synchronizing accounts. Understanding these processes will help avoid common mistakes and save time. Let's look at how to make migration as fast and painless as possible.

Preparation of devices before the migration

Before proceeding with direct cloning, a number of preparatory steps must be taken on both smartphones, a critical step that can lead to interruption of data transmission or loss of information, and the batteries of both devices must be at least 60-70% charged, since the active operation of the communication modules and the processor during the migration significantly consumes energy.

Make sure that the old Honor phone and the new Xiaomi have Wi-Fi enabled. While some methods allow for mobile internet, a stable wireless connection is preferable for transferring large amounts of data, such as video archives and game installation files.

⚠️ Note: If your Honor has a very old version of Android (below 8.0), some current transfer methods may not work properly, and you should upgrade your system first or use your computer as an intermediate storage device.

Special attention should be paid to accounts. On the new Xiaomi, you will need an active Mi Account, and on the old Honor, you will need access to a Google Account or a Huawei/Honor cloud to back up contacts. Check if you remember passwords so you don’t get stuck in the authorization phase at the most inopportune time.

Using the Mi Mover application for portability

The most efficient and native way to transfer data is to use the proprietary Mi Mover application. This utility is pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones and allows you to transfer contacts, messages, call log, photos, videos, music, documents and even settings of some applications.

The process starts with installing the app on an old phone, and when you run it on both devices, you have to choose the role of each device: on Xiaomi, you choose "I am the recipient", and on Honor, you choose "I am the sender", and the application will create a Wi-Fi hotspot that the old device will need to connect to.

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The Mi Mover app on Honor may be simply called "Mi Mover" in the AppGallery store or the Play Market. APK-file MIUI.

Once you connect the phones, you'll see a list of data categories that you can transfer. The interface allows you to flexibly customize your choices: you can only transfer contacts and photos without ignoring system debris, or make a full copy. The transfer speed depends on the amount of data and the quality of the wireless connection, but it's usually quite high.

• 📱 Select the type of data: contacts, messages, call log.
• 📸 Mark media files: photo gallery, video recordings, music.
• 📂 Don’t forget about documents: downloads, files from document folders.
• ⚙️ Check the settings: some system preferences can also be moved.

It is important to understand that the applications themselves (APK-files can be transferred, but their data (cache, logins inside games) often require separate synchronization through developer accounts, especially for banking applications and instant messengers, which for security reasons may require re-authorization.

Synchronize contacts and media through the cloud

The alternative to direct connectivity is to use cloud storage, which is especially relevant if you don't have a Wi-Fi router on hand to create a local area network, or if the amount of data is small. For contacts and calendars, synchronization through Google Contacts is the ideal solution.

On Honor, make sure that your Google account settings are synced, and then on the new Xiaomi, just type in the same email address and all the numbers will appear in the phone book automatically, the most reliable way to keep connections independent of the phone’s brand.

Google Photos is great for photos and videos. If you have Autoupload and Sync enabled on Honor, all your photos are already in the cloud. On the new Xiaomi phone, you just need to install the Google Photos app and log into your account to access the entire media library.

Features of the transition from Honor to Xiaomi

The transition between these brands has its own specifics, primarily related to the shells Magic UI (or EMUI) and MIUI (HyperOS). Both systems are based on Android, but have different principles of organizing menus and management.

One of the main features is that applications are allowed to run. In MIUI, security is more aggressive in the background, so after transferring messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram), you may need to manually allow them to autorun and work in the background so that notifications come in time.

⚠️ Note: New Honor models (released after 2021) lack Google services (GMS) When transferring data to Xiaomi, this is not a problem, since Google services are built into Xiaomi by default, but old Honor Backup backups may not contain data. GMS.

Also worth paying attention to file formatting. In rare cases, specific notes or voice recordings created in proprietary Honor apps may not open on Xiaomi, exporting important notes to a universal format or using cross-platform applications like Google Keep is recommended.

Work with Google Services (GMS) on Honor and Xiaomi

Google services are a key issue for many users: If your old Honor is released before May 2019, it already has Google Mobile Services (GMS) installed on it, and all data (maps, Play Store, YouTube) is synced as standard. When you migrate to Xiaomi, you just continue to use the same services.

The situation is more complicated if you have a newer Honor without Google services. In this case, on the old phone, data could only be synced with the Huawei cloud. When you switch to Xiaomi, you will need to re-sign in to your Google account. All applications that you downloaded through third-party stores (AppGallery, Petal Search) will have to be re-located and installed through the Google Play Store on Xiaomi.

The good news is that Xiaomi is a partner of Google, and on all their devices (except Chinese versions of firmware, which are not globally certified) services work out of the box.

Solution and troubleshooting

There may be technical difficulties in cloning, and one of the common problems is that the Wi-Fi Direct connection is broken during the transfer of a large file, and in this case, you should not panic: the Mi Mover app usually can resume downloading from the cliff, but it is better to restart the process if progress is frozen in place.

Another common situation is incorrect display of fonts or icons after portability, due to the fact that the themes of the Magic UI are not compatible with MIUI themes. After the migration, it is recommended to reset the theme to the standard or download a new one from the Xiaomi theme store.

• 🔌 Problem: Phone heats up. Solution: This is normal with active data transmission, but it's better to remove the case.
• 💾 Problem: Space shortage.Solution: Clear the basket at the Honor Gallery before moving.
• 🔒 Problem: Two-factor authorization. Solution: Make sure that SIM-Card inserted into phone to receive SMS.

If apps don’t open after porting, try clearing their cache in the settings or reinstalling them from Google Play.This ensures you get a fresh, Android-compatible version of the program.

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The cleanest and most correct way to transition is to transfer only personal files (photos, contacts) and install apps again, which will save the system from old garbage and version conflicts.