This article explains how to clone a phone using third-party apps. These programs are generally designed to transfer all the data from one phone to another, not just the identifiers. Instructions apply to iOS and Android devices.

Before You Clone Your Phone

Begin by backing up your Android or iOS device. While your phone includes a built-in backup system, it’s wise to use a secondary service for important data, such as family photos, to ensure everything is securely saved.

You may need to request a new SIM card from your carrier. Contact their customer service to understand their policy.

There are three things you need to clone your phone:

• Your current device
• The device you want to clone your phone onto
• A PC or Mac

Clone an iPhone With Dr.Fone

Dr.Fone – Phone Transfer offers tools that let you make a complete copy of your phone on another device over a USB connection on a Windows or Mac computer. This phone cloning tool is compatible with iOS 5 and later and supports lots of file types, like media files, texts, calendars, contacts, bookmarks, voicemail, and more.

Use CLONEit on Android Phones

CLONEit simplifies the phone-cloning process even further. To clone one phone to another, install the app on both devices and ensure they are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Set one phone to send and the other to receive data, and the process will complete.

After the process, check the new device to ensure everything transferred correctly. If you notice any data corruption, restore from the backup you made earlier and enjoy your new phone.

Some phone makers have their own phone cloning software. Huawei’s Phone Clone app is one example. There’s also the Clone Phone app for OnePlus devices.

What Is Phone Cloning Anyway?

Phone cloning involves copying the data and identity of one cell phone to another. It can either be a complete backup of the entire phone or just its key identifiers.

In the early days of mobile phones, when they were little more than radios, intercepting the signal often made cloning a simple prospect. All a hacker needed to do was tune your phone on a ham radio and listen for the identifier.

Cloning modern phones is more challenging because they use SIM cards, which contain a secret code. This makes it much harder to clone a phone’s identifiers, although it’s still possible.

Why People Clone Their Phones

Copying a phone’s identifying data is usually illegal worldwide. However, some people clone phones for legal reasons, such as preserving a phone’s features or sharing a phone with someone in their household without purchasing a second line.

Some believe this makes their phone untraceable, but that’s a myth. Each device has a unique radio fingerprint, which makes it easily trackable by its function.

These laws don’t apply, it should be noted, to your phone’s software or any data you put on your phone, such as photos you take, as duplicating that data won’t allow another phone to listen in on your calls or share your number. Copying and transferring that data may be frowned on by your carrier or the phone manufacturer, and may violate terms of service or end-user license agreements (EULAs), but it’s generally allowed, if for no other reason than it’s usually difficult for these entities to track.