Apple’s New Android App Will Make It Easier Than Ever To Switch To IOS

Apple wants to make it easy for you to ditch your Android phone for an iPhone. So much so that the company is releasing an Android app to aid switchers.

Included on the iOS 9 pages of Apple’s site (but not mentioned at the WWDC keynote this morning) is a new Android app called ‘Move to iOS’. As the name suggests, it helps Android users make the switch to Apple’s mobile OS, helping the user bring over all of their important data. Here’s Apple’s explainer:

Just download the Move to iOS app to wirelessly switch from your Android device to your new iOS device. It securely transfers your contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpaper, and DRM-free songs and books. And it will help you rebuild your app library, too. Any free apps you used — like Facebook and Twitter — are suggested for download from the App Store. And your paid apps are added to your iTunes Wish List.

The app isn’t yet available. It will likely ship alongside iOS 9 in the fall as the receiving end of all that data will need to be built into iOS. Regardless, it’s an aggressive strategy from Apple.

It’s unclear how exactly the data transfer will work — and we won;t know until we can take a look at the app — but Apple going out of its way to build an app to steal users away from a competing platform is a bold move from the company.

Although Apple will be making Apple Music available for Android, it remains clear that Apple’s ultimate aim is still to bring users to its iOS platform.