Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to ‌Apple Music‌.

apple music
The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced back in February 2024, when an Android user saw a reference to the option in the ‌Apple Music‌ beta for Android. There is no word on when library and playlist transfer options might expand to other countries, but it is likely Apple is planning to expand the rollout in the near future.

Apple is partnering with SongShift for the new ‌Apple Music‌ feature. SongShift is an app that transfers music playlists across streaming platforms, but by working with Apple, the functionality has been integrated directly in the ‌Apple Music‌ app. Adding a simple option for transferring content from another service to ‌Apple Music‌ could spur people with large, curated libraries and playlists to make the jump to Apple's music service.

‌Apple Music‌ subscribers in Australia and New Zealand can initiate song transfers on the web or using the ‌Apple Music‌ app for iPhone, iPad, or Android. Songs, albums, and playlists from music services like Spotify can be transferred to ‌Apple Music‌, though what can be transferred does depend on the service.

On an ‌iPhone‌ or an ‌iPad‌, transfers can be initiated by opening up the Settings app, navigating to Apps, and selecting ‌Apple Music‌. In the ‌Apple Music‌ settings, there is a "Transfer Music from Other Music Services" option that lists supported music services. Users can select what they want to transfer, and then ‌Apple Music‌ will locate matches for songs in the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog, adding them to the ‌Apple Music‌ library.

In instances where an exact match for a song isn't able to be located, Apple will flag the music as Needs Review, displaying alternate versions that can be selected. Apple warns that some content might not be available or have an exact match in ‌Apple Music‌, and the company also notes that only user created playlists are able to be transferred, not playlists created by another music service.

Source playlists and libraries in the other music service will not be impacted and will still be available.

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Top Rated Comments

Dave-Z Avatar
19 weeks ago
Sure, but where's the option to switch from Apple Music to Spotify?
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ateam043 Avatar
19 weeks ago
About 4 months ago I decided to give Apple Music a try from Spotify, having first been on AM when they introduced their radio stations. I quite literally, as of 10 minutes ago, switched back to Spotify.

I couldn’t take the AM recommendations.

How I can be listening to say my Techno playlist and once done goes to Country is effing beyond me.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mozumder Avatar
19 weeks ago
I have a playlist from Spotify with about 2000+ songs, which I built over the years (it actually originated in iTunes circa ~2002). When I used songshift to transfer it to Apple Music, about 10% of the tracks were completely incorrect. Additionally, some songs are just not available on each of the services, so it can't always sync properly.

Also, it seems Apple Music date stamp on when tracks are added keep getting overwritten or reset. Seems the cloud sync ruins datestamps.

One really annoying thing about Apple Music is that it doesn't save state on what playlist you were playing or where in the playlist you were playing, so when you exit, you have to manually find what playlist and where in the playlist you were last in. This becomes really annoying on large playlists like mine. Also the indicator showing the currently playing track is virtually impossible to see. It should at least highlight the currently playing track in a playlist.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Caviar_X Avatar
19 weeks ago
Never forgive Apple for ruining my iTunes playlist when Apple Music launched in 2015. I lost a lot of work building my playlists over the years when I signed up then and they’re forever lost. Shame on them. So glad I’m with Spotify now because they’re way better at music discovery and the interface is miles ahead of Apple.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
19 weeks ago

Sure, but where's the option to switch from Apple Music to Spotify?
Seriously.

I'm currently doing the free 3 month Apple Music trial for buying a new iPhone. The organization, layout, recommendations,.... so much is not as good as Spotify.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpe33 Avatar
19 weeks ago
Apple Music is 100x better than Spotify IMO. Switched over and I've never been happier.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)