Changing a mobile device always causes mixed feelings: on the one hand, it pleases new functionality and fresh design, on the other hand, the prospect of transferring all the accumulated digital life is frightening. Owners of the Xiaomi ecosystem, who decided to switch to flagships or budget phones from Samsung, often face the question of compatibility of the shells MIUI and One UI. Fortunately, modern technologies allow you to make this process as painless and fast as possible, saving contacts, photos, applications and even placing icons on the desktop.
The migration process depends on how deep you need to migrate, you can limit your contacts and calendar to synchronizing through your Google account, or you can use specialized utilities that clone the system one-to-one. It is important to understand that the transition between different manufacturers (cross-platform transition) has its own nuances, different from changing phones within the same brand.
In this article, we’ll look at all the available methods, from regular Android tools to branded applications from manufacturers. You’ll learn how to avoid losing important files, why some apps may not install automatically, and how to properly prepare both smartphones for the procedure. Proper preparation will save you hours of time and nerves in the process of setting up a new gadget.
Preparation of devices before the migration
Before running any transfer programs, a number of preparatory steps must be taken: the batteries of both devices must be at least 60-70% charged, since the process of transferring a large amount of data can be energy intensive. If one of the phones dies at a critical moment, (transfer) can be interrupted, which will damage the files or have to start over.
It is also recommended to check for free space on your target device, Samsung. The amount of memory available should exceed the amount of data you plan to transfer from Xiaomi. Particular attention should be paid to connecting to a stable Wi-Fi network if you plan to use cloud services, although direct connection via cable or Wi-Fi Direct is often faster and more reliable.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to interrupt the data transfer process by turning off the screen or running other heavy applications.This may result in some files remaining in the clipboard and not being saved to the new device.
Make sure both smartphones have data transfer and location access enabled (necessary for some nearby device detection protocols to work). On a Xiaomi device, it is worth temporarily disabling aggressive battery optimization for carrier applications so that the system does not “sleep” in the background.
☑️ Checklist of preparations
Method 1: Use of Samsung Smart Switch
The official and most reliable way to move to the Korean company’s devices is the Smart Switch app, which is designed specifically to migrate data to Samsung from any Android smartphone, including Xiaomi. The app can transfer contacts, messages, photos, videos, music, notes, alarm clocks and even Wi-Fi settings.
To get started, you need to install the Smart Switch Mobile app on both devices. On the new Samsung, it's often built-in and is in the settings menu or in the Samsung folder. On Xiaomi, you need to download it from the Google Play Market. Once installed on both phones, launch the program and accept user agreements.
Follow the algorithm further:
- 📱 On Samsung, select “Accept Data” and on Xiaomi, “Send Data».
- 🔗 Select the connection method: wireless connection or cable USB-C (You will need an adapter if the connectors do not match).
- ✅ On Xiaomi, confirm permission to access data and select file types to transfer.
The process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours depending on the amount of information. Smart Switch will automatically try to find analogues of applications installed on Xiaomi in Google Play and will prompt them to download. However, it is worth considering that MIUI system applications (for example, a voice recorder or a gallery in a specific format) may not have direct counterparts in the One UI shell.
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Use a USB-C to USB-C cable to speed up the process, the speed of transmission over the wire is 3-5 times faster than over the wireless connection, and the connection is more stable.
Method 2: The Mi Mover utility
The second efficient way is to use Xiaomi’s native tool, Mi Mover, which is built into the MIUI shell (usually in the Tools folder or through the About Phone → Data Portability menu), but is also available for download to Samsung through the app store, a method that is good because it “knows” about Xiaomi’s file structure better than any third-party software.
When you launch on Xiaomi, select the role of “Sender” and on Samsung, “Receiver.” The application will create a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect to. Mi Mover’s main advantage over competitors is the ability to port system settings and folder structure in a more (original) form, although once installed on Samsung, they can appear as normal files.
The interface allows you to flexibly configure filtering:
- 📷 You can choose to transfer only photos and videos, eliminating system debris.
- 📞 Contacts, call history and SMS-message.
- 📲 Annexes are transmitted as APK-Files that allow you to install them even if they are not in the Play Store.
⚠️ Note: When migrating via Mi Mover to Samsung devices, messages and contacts can be saved in a format that requires manual sorting in Samsung’s new phone book.
It is important to note that Mi Mover does not tolerate passwords from Wi-Fi networks and some security settings due to differences in Android access levels from different manufacturers. Once the process is complete, be sure to check the integrity of the transferred files by opening several photos and documents randomly.
What to do if the Mi Mover is frozen?
Synchronization through Google account
The most basic, but fundamental, method is sync through Google's cloud, and if you've been using the search giant Xiaomi extensively, half the work is done, and it's perfect for retrieving contacts, calendars, Google Keep notes, and installed app lists.
When you first turn on Samsung, it will prompt you to log in to your Google account, and when you log in, you will start to download background data, contacts and calendar events will appear instantly, and photos will start to load as you view them, if you turn on Google Photos, so you don’t have to wait until the entire archive is uploaded to start using the phone.
For apps, Google will offer a list of what was installed on Xiaomi, you can tick the programs that you need on the new device, but this method has a limitation: it will not transfer data inside applications (game cache, correspondence in messengers without a cloud backup), logins and passwords if they are not stored in the password manager of Google.
A comparison of data transfer methods is presented in the table below:
| Characteristics | Samsung Smart Switch | Mi Mover | Google Sync |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deferral of contacts | Complete. | Complete. | Complete. |
| Photo/video transfer | Yeah (with folder structure) | Yes. | Only through Google Photos |
| Portability of applications | Links to Play Market | APK files | Links to Play Market |
| Speed of operation | High (by cable) | Medium | Depends on the Internet. |
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The combined approach gives the best result: use Smart Switch for the bulk of the data, and Google Sync for guaranteed retention of contacts and calendar.
Nuances of transfer of messengers and applications
Messengers deserve special attention, as they store correspondence in secure databases. WhatsApp, for example, requires a separate action when switching between Android devices of different brands. While Smart Switch now knows how to port WhatsApp history, sometimes a manual backup is required to Google Drive.
For Telegram and Viber, it's easier: Telegram stores everything in the cloud, just type in a phone number. Viber requires you to back up Google Drive on an old device and restore it on a new one. Without this step, your correspondence and calls history will be lost, only your contacts will remain.
Banking apps and Google Pay (now Google Wallet) will require reauthorization and card binding for security purposes. It is normal practice: no transfer method will copy bank account access tokens to a new device.
Some specific Xiaomi apps (themes, wallpaper, Mi Cloud services) won’t work on Samsung, but should be removed immediately after the transfer so they don’t take up space and use up battery power in the background trying to sync with non-existent services.
Frequent problems and their solution
Users may experience errors during migration, and one of the common problems is the lack of memory on the receiving device. If the Smart Switch reports an error, check if the internal drive is full of system files or cache of other applications.
Another problem is the incompatibility of Android versions: If Xiaomi has a very old version of Android (like 8 or 9) and Samsung has a fresh version (13 or 14), some old database formats may not count correctly, in which case updating the firmware on the old phone before starting the transfer helps.
It can also crash when you transfer large files (4K video) and the protocol can be interrupted, and the solution is simple: break the transmission down into stages, first, move contacts and messages, then photos, and only at the end, heavy video files, which will reduce the load on the Wi-Fi module and the processor.
If you post-transfer contacts are displayed in duplicates, use the Contact Management feature in the Contacts app on Samsung, which will prompt you to combine duplicates automatically by analyzing numbers and names, a standard procedure after migrating from other platforms.