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In the last year, over a billion new Android phones were activated. Ready to join the fun, but not sure which phone is best for you? Consider one that’s loaded with the best of Google, that can fold to fit in your pocket or fit your budget, or has a camera that can capture any shot. Regardless of which phone you choose, making the switch from iPhone to Android has never been easier.

Starting today, support for the Switch to Android app on iOS is rolling out to all Android 12 phones, so you can move over some important information from your iPhone to your new Android seamlessly. Once you’ve got your new Android phone, follow our easy setup instructions to go through the data transfer process. You’ll be prompted to connect your old iPhone with your new Android phone either with your iPhone cable or wirelessly via the new Switch to Android app. The instructions will walk you through how to easily transfer your data like your contacts, calendars and photos over to your new phone.

Once you’re all set up, you can get started on your new Android device by checking out our favorite features.

1. Express yourself in new ways: With the Messages app and Gboard, it’s easy and enjoyable to send messages — especially between friends who use Android. Group chats, high-quality photo and video sharing, read receipts and emoji reactions are all available thanks to RCS, and thousands of emoji mashup stickers are there to help you express your feelings. (Rest assured, your iPhone friends will still receive your messages as well.)
2. Video chat with anyone, anywhere: If your friends and family have Google accounts, it’s easier than ever to video chat with Google Meet on Android. Or if you prefer FaceTime, you can still use that in the latest version of Chrome. Or with apps like WhatsApp in Google Play, you can chat with whomever you like for free around the globe. Android has so many options, it’s easy to stay connected with those that matter to you the most.
3. Tune into your favorite music: Catch up on the latest hits with your preferred streaming service available on Android. And if you had previously purchased and downloaded music on your iPhone, your music will transfer over to your Android phone, as long as it’s digital rights management (DRM)-free. Your purchases and downloaded content from Apple Music will still be accessible on your new Android device by downloading the Apple Music app.
4. Your favorite apps and more: With Google Play, you’ll find the apps you already use and love, and quickly start to discover so many more. Looking to plan an outdoorsy getaway? Hipcamp will help you book your next camping spot, Skyview Lite will be your stargazing guide to the sky, and AllTrails will help you find a hike that’s perfect for you and your friends. A summer of fun made possible with your new Android.
5. A privacy-first approach: On your new phone, your data is proactively protected by Android. Android helps defeat bad apps, malware, phishing and spam, and helps keep you one step ahead of threats. Messages, for example, helps protect people against 1.5 billion spam messages per month. Android also provides timely recommendations, like prompting you to select your location-sharing preferences when opening an app to help you make the best decisions for your privacy. Read more about how to keep your data private and secure.
6. More devices that work better together: Choose from a wide variety of Chromebooks, Wear OS smartwatches, Google TV devices and Fast Pair supported headphones, like Pixel Buds, that work better together with your phone. In fact, some of your Apple products will still work with your Android device, like AirPods.
7. Get more done with Google apps and services: Traveling on vacation and can’t read the local signs? Scan the text forinstant translation so you can get to your destination quickly. Editing a Google Doc on your laptop, but need to finish on the go? You can easily keep work going on your Android phone, too. Google prides itself on being helpful, and the best of Google is built into Android phones.
8. Share music, photos and more across devices: Nearby Share lets you easily share music, photos and other files between your nearby Android and Chrome OS devices. To share content like photos and videos with non-Android devices, you can easily use sharing built into Google Photos or several other apps that allow you to share with friends and family and keep them in an organized memory bank for the future.
9. Customize your Home screen with Android Widgets: Widgets are helpful additions to any Home screen, putting the information that’s most important to you right at your fingertips. There will soon be 35 Google widgets available on Android, so whether you want to have easy access to Google Maps’ real-time traffic predictions or have translations at the ready so you can communicate with family and friends, Android is there to make your life a little easier.
10. Technology that’s useful for everyone: Everyone has their own way of using their devices. That’s why we build accessible features and products that work for the various ways people want to experience the world. Whether you want to use your device without ever needing the screen using TalkBack, or you want to take what’s being said out loud and create a real-time transcript with Live Transcribe, Android has you covered when and how you need it.

And that’s not all. Between our major annual updates, we’re always adding new features to Android.

Women-led startups received just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. The venture capital industry remains male-dominated, both among decision-makers and the entrepreneurs who are successful in their pitches for investment. For Black founders, the gap is even wider, with only 1.2% of VC funding in the U.S. going to Black-led startups in 2021.

Mentorship and access to resources are critical to closing the startup funding gap. To connect underrepresented founders to the right people and practices to help them grow, today we’re opening up applications for the Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders in North America. Applications are open now through July 28, 2022.

Google for Startups Accelerators are ten-week programs of intensive workshops and expert mentorship for revenue-generating tech startups. Founders receive virtual mentoring and technical support from Google engineers and external experts tailored to their business, without giving up equity in return.

To learn more about the impact of Google for Startups Accelerator mentorship on participating founders, we sat down with alumnae Ingrid Polini, cofounder and CEO of document management startup SAFETYDOCS Global, and Tiffany Whitlow, cofounder and Chief Development Officer of Acclinate, a digital health startup helping pharmaceutical companies diversify clinical trials by accessing and engaging communities of color. Ingrid was part of the 2021 Accelerator: Women Founders class, and Tiffany and her cofounder Del Smith were selected for both Accelerator: Black Founders and the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in 2021.

What is one piece of advice you would share with founders who are considering applying for a Google for Startups Accelerator?

Ingrid: Be as open as you can about your business, so the team can really help you. Be present, participate and ask questions, because in the end, you’re applying your scarce time to it as a founder.

Tiffany: Go for it. The resources and ecosystem are invaluable.

Visit Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders to learn more about the programs, including details on how to apply.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a form of artificial intelligence that teaches computer programs how to take in, interpret, and produce language from large data sets. For example, grammar checkers use NLP to come up with grammar suggestions that help people write grammatically correct phrases. But as Google’s AI Principles note, it’s sometimes necessary to have human intervention to identify risks of unfair bias.

Sunipa Dev is a research scientist at Google who focuses on Responsible AI. Some of her work focuses specifically on ways to evaluate unfair bias in NLP outcomes, reducing harms for people with queer and non-binary identities. Sunipa’s work was recently featured at a workshop at the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAcct) conference in Seoul, Korea.

In our interview, she emphasizes that her work is achievable only through forging collaborative partnerships between researchers, engineers, and AI practitioners with everyday users and communities.

What inspired you to take on this career path?

While working on my PhD at the University of Utah, I explored research questions such as, “How do we evaluate NLP tech if they contain biases?” As language models evolved, our questions about potential harms did, too. During my postdoc work at UCLA, we ran a study to evaluate challenges in various language models by surveying respondents who identified as non-binary and had some experience with AI. With a focus on gender bias, our respondents helped us understand that experiences with language technologies cannot be understood in isolation. Rather, we must consider how these technologies intersect with systemic discrimination, erasure, and marginalization. For example, the harm of misgendering by a language technology can be compounded for trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals who are already fighting against society to defend their identities. And when it’s in your personal space, like on your devices while emailing or texting, these small jabs can build up to larger psychological damage.

What is your current role at Google?

I am currently a Research Scientist at the Responsible AI – Human Centered Technology team. In my current role, I am working to build a better understanding of how to avoid unfair bias in AI language models across different cultures and geographies, aligned with Google’s AI Principles.

This is a challenge because language changes, and so do cultures and regional laws as we move from one place to another. This can all impact how people express themselves, what identities they choose and how they experience discrimination on a daily basis. Gender bias can manifest in entirely different ways in different parts of the world. In some of my ongoing work that focuses on a non-Western point of view, we are working with social scientists and NGOs in India while engaging with local communities. We are using the voices of many people who are living in a specific region and asking, “What are the biases prevalent in their society?”

What is gender bias in NLP?

Written text and training data for language technologies can lack representation or misrepresent different gender identities; this can reflect social biases. As a result, some NLP technologies can reinforce gender stereotypes and slurs, erase people’s gender identities, or have reduced quality of service for marginalized communities. What drives me in my work is my goal to make language technologies more inclusive and usable.

Why does this matter for AI?

Gender can be such an integral part of someone’s identity, and having that wrongly assumed by an AI system can be triggering, unfair, and harmful. We need to work towards systems and societies that do not encode unfair biases and harmful stereotypes in order to break out of the cycle of perpetuating harms of stereotyping, misgendering, and erasure.

How can people who are not researchers, engineers or AI practitioners engage in this work?

A very direct way is for people to report potential harms as bugs within products they use. People can also participate in open discussions in workshops, panels and town halls. These are all helpful ways to build inclusive AI.

I want to emphasize, however, that the onus can’t only be on the user. It’s also on the side of the researcher, engineer and AI practitioner. The goal is to create a continuous feedback loop between humans and machines, with real people stepping in to ensure the creation of more responsible AI. As AI practitioners, we need to work with the people we’re trying to serve and have users collaborate with us to tell us what we need to do better.