When you’ve been hesitant about making the transfer to Apple Music since you don’t wish to depart your music library out of your present service behind, then Apple has some excellent news for you: it’s rolling out a brand new migration device that may assist make the method as painless as potential.
The migration characteristic has been in beta testing for a number of months now, and it seems to be getting into an expanded testing part, which is hopefully step one towards a broader rollout.
Apple printed a brand new help article earlier this week that gives the primary official have a look at its migration answer. Whereas it’s at present solely obtainable in Australia and New Zealand, Apple is prone to broaden it globally earlier than too lengthy.
Though the help article doesn’t state this outright, a number of sources imagine that Apple has partnered with SongShift, a third-party service that has offered an inter-streaming service migration device for years. SongShift references had been discovered alongside different hints to Apple’s work on a migration device in early 2024 within the Apple Music for Android app.
Whereas SongShift works fairly nicely, it’s not with out its flaws. If Apple is certainly utilizing that service, it’s presumably smoothed out the wrinkles by offering deeper integration into Apple Music. The device itself can also be now baked proper into the Music app, and maybe the perfect half is that it’s obtainable immediately within the Apple Music app in your iPhone, iPad, or Android system — there’s no have to contain a Mac or PC within the course of and even take care of an internet site (though that possibility can also be obtainable). From Apple’s web site:
You can begin your switch within the Apple Music app in your iPhone, iPad, Android system, or on the internet. You possibly can switch your songs, albums, and playlists from different music providers to Apple Music, however what you’ll be able to switch varies by service. You possibly can nonetheless entry all your saved content material within the different service. Transferring music to Apple Music is offered by a third-party.
The method is initiated by a Switch Music from Different Music Companies button that may be discovered within the iPhone/iPad Settings app beneath Apps > Music, or beneath Settings throughout the Apple Music for Android app. It can be accessed immediately on the internet at music.apple.com.
Apple doesn’t present a particular record of supported music providers; it merely says you’ll be capable of select one from an inventory. Nonetheless, assuming Apple is utilizing SongShift, then it ought to embody all the same old suspects, together with Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, and extra.
The migration course of will convey over your music library and private playlists, utilizing an algorithm to match up songs out of your library on the opposite music service with these within the Apple Music catalog. In a great situation, the switch ought to full seamlessly; nevertheless, these with extra eclectic collections might have to match some tracks or choose alternate variations manually. Apple notes that you just’ll have 30 days from the preliminary switch to kind that out.
You’ll additionally solely be capable of switch playlists that you just’ve created. These created by the music service or shared with you by different customers received’t switch over. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to work round this on some providers by creating a private playlist and copying the tracks from the shared playlist into it earlier than starting the migration.
The library in your authentic service stays unchanged by this course of. So, when the mud settles, you must find yourself with two copies of your library: the unique one in Spotify or no matter different service you’re coming from and a brand new, matching copy in Apple Music.
When you’re in Australia or New Zealand (or have an Apple Account set to considered one of these nations), then you must be capable of reap the benefits of the brand new switch device immediately. These of us who reside elsewhere might want to wait till Apple rolls it out additional.