Welcome to Android

Well, wouldya look at that? You've done it! All your important info is now off your iPhone and on your new Android device, and you're ready to start anew as a card-carrying Android phone owner.

Before we bid adieu and send you scampering off on your new adventure, let's take a moment to go over a few things of note as you learn your way around this wild new world.

First, the getting-around basics: No matter where you are in Android, you can always swipe down once from the top of the screen to see any pending notifications and swipe down a second time to see the full Quick Settings panel. And speaking of notifications, Android makes them exceptionally easy to control — so learn the ins and outs of notification management and don't let your phone's alerts control you.

If your device shipped with Android 10, you'll find what's sure to be a somewhat familiar-seeming gesture-driven system for getting around your phone: From anywhere in the operating system, you can flick your finger upward from the bottom of the screen to return to your home screen, swipe upward about an inch from the bottom of the screen and then stop to open the system Overview interface and browse through your recently used apps, and swipe toward the right on the bottom of the screen to flip back quickly through those same recently used apps.

You can also swipe up diagonally from either lower corner of the screen to summon Google Assistant, and anytime you want to move back one step in whatever you're doing, you can swipe inward from the left or right edge of your phone's display.

On phones with older Android versions— or those where gesture navigation isn't enabled — you'll find three buttons along the bottom of your screen that provide tap-friendly ways of accessing those same basic functions. In that arrangement, Assistant is typically accessible by pressing and holding the Home key.

One more thing: You've no doubt seen some scary-seeming stories about Android security. Be aware: Most of that stuff is overly sensationalized and woefully misleading. Malware really isn't a real-world issue on Android, and Google has its own multilayer security system in place to protect you from all sorts of threats — including the most realistic one of all: a lost phone.