Apple Is Stealthily Giving Your iPhone a Helpful New Feature

Apple Music and Spotify continue to be the two most popular music streaming services.

While both are great and similarly priced (for premium subscriptions), Apple’s streaming service has some definite advantages in terms of audio quality, notably, Spotify still doesn’t support lossless audio, and how it integrates with your various Apple devices.

For those looking to make the switch from one streaming service to the other, there are various services — some paid, some free — that can help you carry over playlists and saved songs/albums so you don’t lose them.

Specifically for those looking to make the switch to Apple Music, Apple looks set to roll out a new feature that does just that.

A music transfer tool

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

As first reported by MacRumors, Apple is introducing a new tool to Apple Music that’s specifically designed to help you import music libraries and playlists from other third-party services like Spotify or Amazon Music.

The feature is called “Transfer Music from Other Music Services” and you’ll be able to access it by opening the Settings app on your iPhone (or iPad or Android device) > scrolling down to the bottom and selecting Apps > and opening Apple Music.

From here, you’ll be able to select your previous music streaming service — you’ll need to have your login credentials for that service — and select the various songs and playlists you wish to transfer. Then you just have to follow the subsequent on-screen instructions.

As noted by The Verge, Apple collaborated with SongShift to integrate this feature into Apple Music. (Note: SongShift’s standalone app also lets you carry over playlists from Apple Music to other streaming services, like Spotify, for those who want to shift away from Apple’s streaming service. )

When’s it coming?

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Apple recently launched a Support page for this music transfer tool, but at the time of writing, it’s only available in Australia and New Zealand. This means it’s likely to come to the US shortly, although no exact details have been released yet.

For those thinking about making the switch to Apple Music, there is a one-month free trial for first-time subscribers. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music does not offer a free tier for streaming.

To learn more about Apple Music’s upcoming transfer tool, check out Apple Music’s Support page.

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