How to transfer JW Library notes to a new phone
Moving JW Library notes to a new phone is a backup and a restore, and the app handles it in about two minutes. Here are the steps — plus the one case it cannot handle, when the new phone already has notes of its own.
This is easier than people expect, and you do not need any extra tool for it. JW Library has Backup and Restore built in, and it carries every note, highlight, bookmark and tag to a new phone — including between Android and iPhone. Do it while the old device still works and the whole thing takes a couple of minutes.
The one part to do deliberately is the transfer itself: phone-to-phone migration tools move your apps and photos, but they skip JW Library's personal study data, so create the backup file rather than assuming it rides along.
There is exactly one situation the app cannot handle, and it is worth knowing before you start: if you have already been studying on the new phone, restoring the old phone's backup will delete that work, because a restore replaces the device's library outright. If that is your situation, the section on merging further down is the part you want.
Step by step
Create a backup on the old phone
Open JW Library → Personal Study → three-dot menu → Backup and Restore → Create a backup. This saves a .jwlibrary file containing all your study data.
Move the file to the new phone
Email it to yourself, or use Google Drive, iCloud, AirDrop or a USB cable. The file is small — usually a few megabytes.
Restore on the new phone
Install JW Library, then Personal Study → Backup and Restore → Restore, and choose the .jwlibrary file. All notes, highlights, bookmarks and tags appear.
Already made notes on the new phone? Merge instead of overwriting
Restoring replaces whatever is on the device. If you've been using the new phone for a while and it has its own notes, don't restore over them — back up the new phone too, then merge the old and new backups into one file at jwsync.org (free, in your browser, nothing uploaded) and restore the merged file. You keep both sets of notes.
A common iPhone gotcha
If the backup file arrives on an iPhone renamed to .zip, rename it back to .jwlibrary before restoring — the content is fine; only the extension changed in transit.
Do this before the old phone is wiped or traded in
The backup has to be created while the old phone still works and still has JW Library installed. Once the device is reset, traded in or handed on, the notes are gone with it — JW Library keeps no cloud copy of personal study data, and a phone-level backup such as Google One or an iCloud device backup usually restores an older snapshot of the app's data, or none at all. Create the .jwlibrary file first, get it somewhere safe, and confirm you can see it before you wipe anything.
Getting the file off the old phone
On Android the file is written to your chosen folder — typically Downloads or Documents — and you can move it with any file manager, email it to yourself, or drop it into cloud storage. On iPhone the share sheet appears as soon as the backup is created: save it to Files, AirDrop it to the new phone, or send it to yourself. The transfer method does not matter and cannot corrupt the file; a .jwlibrary is a single archive that either arrives intact or does not arrive at all.
Why a phone-to-phone transfer app is not enough
Tools such as Smart Switch, Move to iOS or an iCloud restore copy apps and system data, but app-private databases are frequently skipped, restored partially, or restored from an older point in time. People regularly discover the gap weeks later, once the old phone is gone. Treat the .jwlibrary file as the authoritative copy and the phone transfer as a convenience — if the transfer happens to bring your notes across, restoring your own backup on top costs nothing.
Check the transfer actually worked
After restoring on the new phone, open two or three publications you have annotated recently and confirm the notes, highlight colours and bookmarks are all present. A quicker check is to open the backup file itself in your browser before you wipe the old device — you can see every note, highlight and bookmark it contains, so you know what should appear. Only wipe the old phone once the new one is verified.
Moving to a tablet or computer at the same time
The same file works everywhere. If you are setting up a new phone and a tablet together, restore the identical .jwlibrary file on both and they start out matching. From that point they will drift apart again as you study on each, so it is worth deciding now whether you will keep them merged periodically or treat one as the device that matters.
If the new phone already has notes on it
This happens when you use the new device for a week before getting round to the transfer. A straight restore would replace that work with the old phone's data. Back the new phone up first, merge that file with the old phone's backup, and restore the merged result — both sets of notes end up in one library instead of one overwriting the other.
What to do once the new phone is working
Verify before you dispose of anything. Open a few publications you annotated recently on the new phone and confirm the notes, colours and bookmarks are all there, then wipe or trade in the old device — in that order, never the reverse. Once you are settled, put a backup somewhere off the phone, because the situation that brought you to this page will come round again with the next upgrade.
Frequently asked questions
- Will this move my downloaded publications too?
- The backup carries your personal study data — notes, highlights, bookmarks, tags and playlists. Publications simply re-download on the new phone.
- Does it matter if the phones run different Android versions?
- No. The .jwlibrary format is the same everywhere, including across Android versions and between Android and iPhone.
- Can I move my notes if the old phone is already gone?
- Only if a .jwlibrary backup exists somewhere — in Files, Downloads, an email to yourself or cloud storage. Without one there is nothing to restore from, because personal study data is stored only on the device.
- Do both phones need the same JW Library version?
- They do not need to match exactly, but update the new phone to the current version before restoring. A backup made by a newer version can use a newer database schema than an older app understands.
- Will I have to download my publications again?
- Usually yes — publication media is not part of the backup. Your notes reattach to each publication as soon as it is downloaded, so nothing you wrote is lost in the meantime.
- How long does the whole thing take?
- A few minutes. Creating the backup takes seconds, moving the file depends on your method, and the restore is quick. Re-downloading publications afterwards takes longest and can happen in the background.
- Can I do this without Wi-Fi?
- The transfer itself yes, over AirDrop or a cable. Re-downloading publications on the new device needs a connection.