How to transfer music from one phone to another Android

Changing a smartphone is always stressful due to the fear of losing important data, contacts and, of course, your favorite music tracks. Owners of devices based Android often face the need to quickly and losslessly transfer huge libraries of audio files to a new device. Fortunately, the Google ecosystem offers many tools that allow you to do this as efficiently as possible, regardless of whether you use old proven methods or modern cloud technologies.

In this guide, we will analyze in detail all the current methods for transferring music files. You'll learn how to use your physical connection for maximum speed, which apps do the best job over the air, and how to set up syncing so your media library is always at your fingertips. We will look at the nuances of formats, working with access rights and the features of modern versions of the operating system.

Using a USB cable and a computer

The most reliable and fastest way to transfer a large amount of data is to use a personal computer as an intermediate link. You will need a USB cable that fits both devices, or an adapter OTGif you decide to connect the phones directly, although work via a PC is traditionally more stable. First, connect your old phone to the computer and select the mode File transfer (MTP).

After the computer detects the device, open “My Computer” and find the folder with the phone’s internal storage. You need to find the directory where the music is stored; most often it is called Music or Audio. Copy all the necessary files or folders to your computer's hard drive, creating a separate folder for them to avoid confusion.

⚠️ Attention: When removing the cable, do not use the Windows "Safely Remove" function for Android devices, just wait until the copying is completed and carefully disconnect the cable so as not to damage the file system.

Now connect the new phone. If you plan to store music on a memory card microSD, insert it into the new device. Copy previously saved tracks from your computer to the corresponding folder on your new smartphone. After the process is completed, it is recommended to reboot the device so that the system media scanner MediaScanner correctly indexes the new files and displays them in the player.

Direct transmission via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct

If you don’t have a computer at hand, you can use the built-in wireless communication modules. Transfer by Bluetooth is the most universal method that works on any Android smartphone without installing additional software. However, it is worth considering that the speed of this protocol is low: transferring one album can take considerable time, so the method is more suitable for individual tracks.

To activate, open the Bluetooth settings on both devices and pair. Then, in the file manager, select the desired audio files, click the "Share" button and select Bluetooth. The receiving device must confirm the request to receive the file. The process may be interrupted if the connection is lost, so keep gadgets close to each other.

It is much more effective to use technology Wi-Fi Direct or specialized client applications such as Send Anywhere or SHAREit. These apps create a direct, secure connection between phones using the capabilities of the Wi-Fi module, which provides transfer speeds comparable to cable. You do not need a router or the Internet, devices connect to each other directly.

• 📲 Send Anywhere: generates a 6-digit code for a quick pair of devices without registration.
• 🚀 SHAREit: supports transferring files of any size and format at high speed.
• 🔗 Nearby Share: built-in Google function, an analogue of AirDrop, working via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Synchronization via cloud storage

Cloud technologies allow you not only to transfer music, but also to make it accessible from any device anywhere in the world. Services like Google Drive, Yandex Disk or Dropbox provide users with free space to store files. To get started, download the cloud storage application on your old phone and upload your music collections there.

After uploading the files to the server, take a new phone, install the same application and log in with your account. You don't have to download all the tracks at once, taking up device memory; Many players can work with files in the cloud directly or allow you to download them as needed. This is especially convenient if the new smartphone has a small amount of built-in memory.

An important advantage is automatic synchronization: adding a track on one device, it will appear on another. However, to download large libraries, you will need a stable and preferably unlimited connection to the network Wi-Fi, since mobile traffic can be used up very quickly.

Use of specialized applications for migration

Smartphone manufacturers often offer their own utilities for migrating from one device to another, which can transfer not only music, but also settings, contacts and applications. For example, Samsung Smart Switch, Xiaomi Mi Mover or Clone Phone from OPPO. These tools create a complete clone of the system or selectively copy media files.

The process usually goes like this: you install the application on both phones (the new one often comes pre-installed), select the device role (sender or recipient), and scan the QR code. The system itself will prompt you to select the types of data to transfer. Make sure that the "Audio" or "Music" category is selected so that the files are copied to the correct directories.

Using such apps ensures that file metadata and folder structure are preserved. In addition, many of these snails are capable of converting data during the transfer process if the file system of the new device is different from the old one, although this is rare for Android.

⚠️ Attention: Some manufacturers limit the operation of their migration snails only to devices of their own brand. Before you begin, check application compatibility, for example, Smart Switch works best in a Samsung-to-Samsung connection.

Using a microSD memory card

If both smartphones are equipped with a memory card slot microSD, this method can be called the simplest and “offline”. You don't need cables, a computer or the Internet. It is enough to remove the card from the old phone and insert it into the new one, after making sure that the music files are located on external media and not in the internal memory.

If the music is stored internally, use a file manager, for example Files by Google or Total Commander. Find the music folder, select all the files and select the “Copy” or “Move” command, specifying your memory card as the target. Once the operation is complete, safely remove the drive through the system settings.

After installing the card in a new phone, the system may prompt you to format it. Be careful: formatting will delete all data. If the system says that the card is damaged or requires formatting, but it worked on your old phone, try connecting it via a card reader to a PC to check the integrity of the files.

Setting up music players and scanning

After the files are physically moved, they may not appear immediately in your favorite player. This happens because the media content database takes time to update its index. You can speed up this process by rebooting the device or using media scanning applications such as Media Scanner.

Modern players like Poweramp, Musicolet or VLC have their own databases. Go to the application settings and find the “Scan devices” or “Update library” item. Make sure that the application is given the necessary permissions to access the storage in Android settings: Settings → Applications → Your player → Permissions.

If tracks are displayed, but without album art or with incorrect tags, use the built-in tag editor or a separate application, for example Star Music Tag Editor. Correct metadata ID3 tags is critical for correctly sorting music by artists and albums, and not just by file names.