OkieNerd
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new phones

You have a new phone and everything's on the old one.

The transfer usually works. What goes wrong is around it: the Apple or Google password nobody has typed in four years, the messages that didn't come across, the banking app that wants to verify you on a number that already moved.

$39 books an in-person visit and comes straight off the price. Remote help is $39 for 30 minutes. Card only, and you approve the price before we start.

Book a visit Call 580.400.7475

Don't trade the old phone in yet

Keep the old phone, charged and untouched, for at least two weeks after the new one is working. Don't wipe it, trade it in or hand it to a grandchild yet.

Almost every transfer that goes badly wrong goes wrong because the old phone was gone before somebody noticed what didn't make it across. With the old phone in a drawer, those problems can be fixed. Without it, some of them are permanent.

The store will still take it in two weeks. Your photos can't be replaced.

What usually goes missing

Text messages, especially between an iPhone and an Android. Photos and contacts nearly always survive. Message history often doesn't.

Anything that needs a code sent to you. Banking, insurance and government apps verify you by text or by an app on the old phone. If your number has already moved, that loop can be hard to close.

Authenticator apps. These don't move on their own, and folks get locked out of work accounts by this every week.

Photos that were only ever in one app, like the ones saved inside a messaging thread and never in the camera roll.

Wi-Fi passwords and the smart home, which is why the doorbell and the thermostat stop responding after a phone change.

Try these first

Some of these fix it outright, in ten minutes, and save you the visit.

  1. Find your Apple Account password or your Google password before you start, and write it down. More transfers stall here than anywhere else, and resetting it mid-transfer turns a 40-minute job into an afternoon.
  2. Charge both phones above 80 percent and put them next to each other on a table near the router.
  3. Do it over Wi-Fi, not cellular data, and don't start half an hour before you need to leave the house.
  4. Take a photo of your old phone's home screens before you begin. It's a better memory aid than you'd expect when you're hunting for an app later.
  5. Check that the old phone has backed up recently. On an iPhone: Settings, your name, iCloud, iCloud Backup. On Android: Settings, Google, Backup.

What we don't do

We don't do hardware repair, the kind that needs parts or a soldering iron. Better to know that before anybody drives out.

  • We don't recover data from a phone that's already broken, drowned or dead. That needs a specialist lab, and it's the main reason to keep the old phone alive until you're sure.
  • We don't replace screens, batteries or charging ports.
  • We can't get you into an account when nobody knows the password and the recovery email is also gone. We can often find a way through, but Apple and Google set those rules.

What it costs

$39 books an in-person visit, and it comes straight off the price of the visit. Our hourly rate steps up with distance from downtown of the city that serves your area: $110 an hour within 25 miles, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band, and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. That's how we cover the drive, so there's no separate travel fee.

Remote help is $39 for a 30-minute session and starts with a phone call at the time you picked. If you use us a few times a year, Nerd on Call is $14.99 a month and includes two remote sessions and an in-person visit each year.

Cards only. Local Nerds aren't permitted to accept cash or checks, so you'll never be asked for either at the door. Full detail is on the FAQ.

Rather talk it through first? Have a Local Nerd call you, free, no obligation.

Where we go

In-person visits reach up to 75 miles out from downtown of each city we serve, whichever state that address is in. Remote help works anywhere. Check your address on the ZIP checker, or see the whole state on the map.

Questions folks ask

How do I transfer everything to my new phone?

iPhone to iPhone and Android to Android both have a built-in transfer that runs with the two phones side by side, and it handles most things well. Going between the two systems is where it gets patchy, particularly text message history. Either way, find your account password before you start and keep the old phone until you're sure.

Will I lose my text messages?

iPhone to iPhone or Android to Android, usually not. Between the two, often yes, at least in part. There are ways to bring more of it across, and they all need the old phone, which is the main reason we ask you not to trade it in yet.

How long does setting up a new phone take?

The transfer itself is usually 30 to 60 minutes. The rest, apps signing back in, banking verification, the watch, the car, the smart home, is what fills the visit. We normally plan on an hour and a half.

Can you set up a new phone for my mom or dad?

That's a good part of what we do. We come to the house, move everything, sit with them until they can find what they use every day, and make the text big enough to read. We take our time and we don't talk down to anybody.

Do you set up Android phones as well as iPhones?

Yes, both, and transfers in either direction between them.

How much does new phone setup cost?

$39 books the visit and comes off the price. Our rate is $110 an hour within 25 miles of downtown of the city that serves your area, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. Most new phone visits run about an hour and a half.

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