How to transfer everything from Honor to Xiaomi: contacts, photos, apps and settings

Moving from Honor to Xiaomi is not just about changing your brand, but also migrating all your personal data, from contacts and photos to your message history and app settings. Many users fear this process, considering it difficult or risky. In fact, modern tools allow you to perform the transfer in 10 to 30 minutes, while preserving the structure of folders, tags in photos and even passwords from Wi-Fi.

In this article, we will look at all the current migration methods, from the official Mi Mover app to manual copying via PC, and how to avoid typical errors. We will focus on the nuances associated with the differences in the firmware EMUI (Honor) and MIUI (Xiaomi), which can affect data compatibility. If you plan to sell the old Honor after transfer, at the end of the article you will find a checklist for the complete cleaning of the device.

Preparation for transfer: what to do before the start

Before you start migrating, take a few critical steps to keep you from losing data and speed up the process.

• 🔋 Charge both phones to at least 50% – transfer can take up to an hour, especially if we are talking about tens of gigabytes of photos and videos.
• 📡 Connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network (if you use wireless methods). For stability, prefer 5 GHz.
• 🧹 Clean Honor of unnecessary files: remove duplicate photos, clear the cache of applications (especially messengers) and remove unused ones APK.
• 🔐 Make sure that Xiaomi has enough free space, for example, to transfer 64 GB of data will require at least 70-80 GB of free space (including temporary files).

If you’re using Honor with EMUI 12 or later, check for Huawei Backup in the settings (System → Backup) which allows you to create an archive that can then be uploaded to Xiaomi via the cloud, but this method is only suitable for contacts, messages and notes — you have to transfer the media separately.

⚠️ Note: If your Honor is running Google Mobile Services (GMS), Xiaomi – on Chinese firmware without GMS, Transferring data through a Google account will not be possible. In this case, use methods with a cable. OTG or local backup.

2. Method 1: Mi Mover – official solution from Xiaomi

Mi Mover is a proprietary tool from Xiaomi, designed to migrate data from Android devices (including Honor).

• 📞 Contacts (including groups and labels)
• 📷 Photo and video (with preservation) EXIF-data)
• 💬 Communications (SMS and MMS, But not the messaging chat history)
• 📁 Music and documents
• 📱 System settings (wallpaper, sound schemes, screen brightness)
• 🔑 Wi-Fi passwords

However, there are limitations: Mi Mover does not port installed apps (only their data if the app is already installed on Xiaomi) and does not work with some Honor models based on EMUI 13+ due to changes in the Android API.

Step-by-step:

1. Download Mi Mover on both phones: Xiaomi: the application is preinstalled (find through search in the settings). Honor: download APK from the official Xiaomi website (link: https://app.mi.com/global/details?id=com.xiaomi.mimover).

Mi Mover

Xiaomi

"I'm a new user."

Honor

"I'm an old user."

Xiaomi

Confirm Wi-Fi Direct connection (make sure both phones have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled).

Select the data to transfer and wait until the process is complete.

The speed of the transfer depends on the amount of data:

• 📎 1–5 GB: 5–10 minutes
• 📎 10–30 GB: 20-40 minutes
• 📎 50+ GB: 1-2 hours (Cable is recommended) OTG)

⚠️ Note: If Mi Mover is stuck in the Preparation phase, check if the antivirus (e.g. Huawei Mobile Services on Honor) is blocking file transfer. Try temporarily disabling protection or using another port method.

Method 2: Transfer over OTG cable (for large data volumes)

If you have tens of gigabytes of photos, videos or music, wireless methods may be too slow, and then an OTG cable (or USB-C to USB-C adapter) is the best solution, and it works even if the Honor has broken Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

What you need:

• 🔌 Cable OTG supportive USB 3.0 (for transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps).
• 📱 Xiaomi plug-in USB-C (Older models with Micro-USB need an adapter).
• 🔋 Charger (transferring large files drains the battery).

Instructions:

1. Connect Honor to Xiaomi via an OTG cable. On the Honor screen, select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
2. On Xiaomi, open Files → Devices and select the Honor connected.
3. Copy the right folders: DCIM — Photos and videos Downloads - Pictures downloads - images from messengers Android/data — Application data (if necessary)

.vcf

.xml

Advantages of the method:

• ⚡ Transfer speeds 5-10 times faster than Wi-Fi.
• 🔒 No risk of data loss due to connection breakdown.
• 📂 Only the necessary files can be selectively copied.

4. Method 3: Cloud services (Google Drive, Mi Cloud, Huawei Cloud)

If you have a stable Internet connection, cloud services will be an easy solution for data transfer, the main advantage is that you do not need to connect your phones to each other, but there are also disadvantages: a capacity limit (for example, 15 GB in free Google Drive) and dependence on Internet speed.

Comparison of cloud services:

How to transfer data via Google Drive:

1. On Honor, open Google Drive → Backup and select the data to archive.
2. Wait until the loading is complete (may take hours with a large volume).
3. On Xiaomi, log in to the same Google account and recover data via Settings → Google → Restore.

For Mi Cloud, the algorithm is similar, but with a limitation: video in resolution above 1080p They don't sync. If you need to move them. 4K-Video, use the cable OTG PC.

💡

If you have slow internet, upload data to the cloud at night or use mobile traffic with unlimited rates, for example, Tele2 has the option of Night Unlimit to download large files.

5. Method 4: Manual transfer via PC (for full control)

This method is suitable for those who want to fully control the process or transfer data to Xiaomi with custom firmware. USB-cable.

What can be transferred:

• 📂 All files (photos, videos, music, documents)
• 📞 Contacts (export to.vcf)
• 💬 Messages (export to.xml via SMS Backup & Restore)
• 🎮 Save games (folder) Android/obb)

Step-by-step:

1. Connect Honor to your PC and copy all the files you need to your hard disk folder.
2. For contacts: Open Contacts → Settings → Import / export → Export to the device. Copy the contacts.vcf file on your PC.

Honor

SMS Backup & Restore

.xml

Xiaomi

DCIM

Downloads

Contacts → Imports

SMS Backup & Restore

Advantages of the method:

• 🔍 You can check files for viruses before perenosom.
• 📊 Easy to sort data (e.g., delete duplicate photos).
• 🛠️ Suitable for devices with damaged screen (if the PC recognizes the phone).

⚠️ Note: If you are transferring data from Honor to Xiaomi with an unlocked bootloader, do not copy the folder Android/data/com.xiaomi.* — This can cause conflicts in system applications. MIUI.

💡

Manual transfer over a PC is the most reliable way, but it takes time, and use it if other methods have failed or you need to transfer more than 100 GB of data.

6. Transfer of applications and their data

Unfortunately, it is not possible to transfer installed apps (APKs) directly, as they need to be downloaded from Google Play or Mi App Store, but you can save their data (such as game progress or settings) if the app supports backup.

How to transfer application data:

• 🎮 Games: Use a Google Play Games account or social media (Facebook, VK) synchronize progress.
• 📱 Social networks: Sign in to Xiaomi in the same accounts – chats and media files will be downloaded automatically.
• 💰 Banking applications: No transfer for security reasons. You'll have to reinstall and re-link the cards.
• 📅 Calendars and Notes: Sync through Google Account or Mi Cloud.

For manual transfer of application data:

1. On Honor, find the app folder in Android/data/[name packet].
2. Copy it on your PC, then transfer it to Xiaomi in the same directory.
3. Install the app on Xiaomi and check if the data has pulled up.

Not all apps support this kind of transfer, for example, WhatsApp requires a separate procedure:

1. On Honor, back up the chats in Settings → Chat → Backup.
2. Copy the msgstore.db.crypt14 file from the WhatsApp/Databases folder on your PC.
3. Install WhatsApp on Xiaomi, log in and restore chats from local copy.

7. Transfer system settings and personalization

MIUI and EMUI are very different in structure, so the system settings are partially transferred.

• 🎨 Wallpaper and topics: Copy wallpaper files from Pictures/Wallpapers And install them manually on Xiaomi.
• 🔔 Sounds and Notifications: Move files from Ringtones and Notifications.
• 🔑 Wi-Fi passwords: Use the method from the spoiler above or the WiFi Key Recovery app (requires root).
• ⚙️ Screen settings: Brightness, lock timeouts and gestures will have to be reconfigured.

To transfer launcher settings (location of icons, folders):

1. On Honor, take screenshots of the main screen.
2. On Xiaomi, use the Nova Launcher or POCO Launcher launcher, which allows you to import settings from the backup.

If you’ve used Huawei Themes on Honor, note that the themes are incompatible with the same. MIUI. You can find similar themes in the Mi Theme Store or download themes. MTZ-third-party.

8.What to do after the transfer: Clean Honor and setup Xiaomi

When all the data is successfully transferred, it remains to prepare Honor for sale or delivery in a trade-in and optimize the work of Xiaomi.

Checklist for Honor cleanup:

• 🔄 Make reset to factory settings: Settings → System system → Reset → Resetting all settings.
• 📱 Delete Google, Huawei and Social Media Accounts.
• 💾 Prepare the memory card (if you have one).
• 🔐 Untie the device from Find My Device (Huawei) or Mi Account (if previously tied).

Optimization of Xiaomi after the transfer:

• 🛠️ Check the battery settings: disable auto-run of unnecessary apps in Settings → Battery → Auto-start.
• 📁 Move frequently used applications to internal memory (if they were on the computer) SD-map).
• 🔒 Set up unlock by fingerprint or face in Settings → Lock screen.
• 🌐 Update the firmware MIUI Up to the latest version: Settings → The phone. → Updating the system.

💡

After resetting Honor, check that the device is uncoupled from your Huawei/Google account, otherwise the new owner will not be able to activate the phone (FRP protection).

FAQ: Frequent questions about moving from Honor to Xiaomi