The short answer here is no, you can’t. Officially, Apple doesn’t offer any way for you to connect your iPad to an Android phone. Because Android phones aren’t part of the Apple ecosystem, they can’t take advantage of iCloud and other Apple-specific features. However, just because you can’t officially link the two does not mean you can’t share data between the two types of devices. Instead, you’ll need to set up some third-party apps and upload your data to them.

How to Sync Your iPad and Android Phone With Google

One of the simplest and cheapest ways to sync your Android phone and iPad is to use Google Workspace. This suite includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Google Photos. The company offers several different tiers for those who need more than the free-allotted storage space. You can also sync up all your photos to Google Photos, allowing you to access them easily on both your Android phone and iPad. First, you’ll need to install Google’s apps on your phone and iPad. You can find these apps in the Play Store and App Store. Your Android phone may already have Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Photos. If not, find each app in your device’s respective app store and download it. Once you’ve installed the apps, sign in to your Google account. The app will then begin syncing content from your Android phone and iPad to the cloud. You can access the data from any device signed into your Google account. You need to save any documents you want to sync between the two in Google Drive. To save files into Google Drive, follow the steps below.

Use Google Photos With Android and iPad

You’ll also need to set up syncing with Google Photos if you want to use that for photo backups. It can quickly get done using the steps below. Google’s apps are one of the easiest methods to sync up the data you’re sharing between your iPad and Android phone. However, it doesn’t offer the option to sync up text messages or your contact log. Thankfully, if you create any documents or files using Google Docs, Sheets, or any other connected Google app, it will automatically sync between your devices.

How to Sync Your Android Phone and iPad With Dropbox

Another handy cloud storage app is Dropbox. Like Google’s apps, you’ll be able to access an allotted amount of storage in Dropbox for free. However, those who need more storage can sign up for one of the company’s monthly subscriptions. You can get started by signing up on the Dropbox website. Once signed up, download Dropbox on your Android phone and your iPad. To sync files between the two, you’ll need to follow the steps below.

Set Up Camera Backups to Dropbox for Android and iPad

While you have to sync most files manually, you can set up automatic camera backups with Dropbox. Dropbox also offers iOS and Android apps, which means you can navigate all of your files on both the Android phone and the iPad. That should make it easy to move things around as you need to. The only downside here is you’ll have to create folders and organize everything yourself, whereas the built-in syncing features Apple offers with iCloud will handle everything automatically.