Google takes six years to copy Apple in releasing 'Switch to Android' app for iOS

Posted:
in iOS
Google has released a new app for iOS called "Switch to Android," a counterpart to Apple's "Move to iOS" app for moving important user data from an iPhone to an Android smartphone.




Apple has provided its "Move to iOS" Android app since 2015, with the app built to help transfer data from an Android device to an iPhone, with as little fuss as possible. On April 14, Google finally offered its own alternative, with "Switch to Android" enabling users to migrate data away from an iPhone and onto an Android smartphone.

According to the App Store listing, the Switch to Android app transfers data including photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events, to a target Android device. This is all performed wirelessly, rather that requiring any physical cables.

The app also assists by taking users through important steps that they should perform on their iPhone before switching away. This apparently includes tasks such as turning off iMessage, as that can cause problems with receiving messages on Android if not properly disabled.

As part of the process, the app can make a request to copy photos and video from iCloud, for transfer over to the Android smartphone. The product listing also says the app will "ask you for a series of permissions so that your iPhone's data can be moved to your Android device."

It is unclear why the app is suddenly available to download and use in the App Store, given the bitter rivalry between the two platforms, as well as it surfacing over six years after Apple's tool was released. It seems feasible that Apple could've prevented the app from being listed in the App Store, but it is unknown if such a position was taken by the iPhone maker.

The "Switch to Android" app is free, 39 megabytes in size, and requires an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 12.0 or later.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    Yes, move to Android.  

    Where you can enjoy rogue apps, having your personal data tracked and sold, two or less years of software updates, the Fitbit and WearOS shit show, the non-existent Android tablet market, slower CPU/GPUs, fragmented messaging, Pixel perpetual quality issues, app and services bloatware, lower quality 3rd party apps, and worse customer service.  

    What else? 
    macseekerradarthekatanoyllawinstoner71chiaravnorodomjas99lolliverjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    KTRKTR Posts: 279member
    red oak said:
    Yes, move to Android.  

    Where you can enjoy rogue apps, having your personal data tracked and sold, two or less years of software updates, the Fitbit and WearOS shit show, the non-existent Android tablet market, slower CPU/GPUs, fragmented messaging, Pixel perpetual quality issues, app and services bloatware, lower quality 3rd party apps, and worse customer service.  

    What else? 
    Nailed it lol
    macseekerradarthekatjas99watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 12
    red oak said:
    Yes, move to Android.  

    Where you can enjoy rogue apps, having your personal data tracked and sold, two or less years of software updates, the Fitbit and WearOS shit show, the non-existent Android tablet market, slower CPU/GPUs, fragmented messaging, Pixel perpetual quality issues, app and services bloatware, lower quality 3rd party apps, and worse customer service.  

    What else? 
    And above all, do not have the enchanting experience of iMessage!
    jas99watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 12
    Waiting for the inevitable antitrust lawsuit.

    Move To iOS can transfer your message history since Android can grant permission to read SMS. However, Switch to Android can’t copy iMessages to Android because Apple has no such permission to grant access.

    Therefore, Apple preventing access to iMessage via permissions is just another attempt by Apple to make it difficult to switch.

    /s
    FileMakerFellerjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    Waiting for the inevitable antitrust lawsuit.

    Move To iOS can transfer your message history since Android can grant permission to read SMS. However, Switch to Android can’t copy iMessages to Android because Apple has no such permission to grant access.

    Therefore, Apple preventing access to iMessage via permissions is just another attempt by Apple to make it difficult to switch.

    /s
    Who would want to switch to Android willingly? Honestly?
    red oaklkruppravnorodomjas99lolliverjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Madbum said:
    Waiting for the inevitable antitrust lawsuit.

    Move To iOS can transfer your message history since Android can grant permission to read SMS. However, Switch to Android can’t copy iMessages to Android because Apple has no such permission to grant access.

    Therefore, Apple preventing access to iMessage via permissions is just another attempt by Apple to make it difficult to switch.

    /s
    Who would want to switch to Android willingly? Honestly?
    Android isn’t so bad. it is very customizable in terms of being able to run custom app launchers and so forth. Definitely some cool apps like wifi explorer and so forth that aren’t in the iOS App Store (but curiously are in the macOS App Store).  Also Google’s apps like YouTube and YouTube tv have had Picture in Picture functionality in android for years, while such features are only now being rolled out to iOS. Would I switch to android over iOS, no I wouldn’t. But I can definitely see why certain users prefer it. It does give you more choice over what apps you can use on your phone, and that is a valid perspective. 
    lkrupp
  • Reply 7 of 12
    tobiantobian Posts: 148member
    Android is so bad. I have to use it everyday as a work gear. Company is providing us Galaxies with their own apps and kiosk. Even through it’s almost fresh install, just two dedicated 3rd party apps, it fails to keep up with our needs to swift clicking, app switching and so on. 
    For example, when I need to switch an app, Android takes the screen shot of the app, making it a thumbnail “card” in app switcher. When you do it too quickly, it takes the screenshot a bit later - of another app. Result is card with proper app icon on top, but thumbnail shows another app. It’s pretty confusing. And it’s only one of many Android system services outages. This sh*t never happens on iOS.
    Android is so shitty under the hood.
    h4y3sravnorodomjas99lolliverjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 12
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Why did it take six years for Google to come up with this app? They don't need it because no one is switching from iOS to Android in any great numbers, even today. This is another Google solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Of course our resident Google fellator will tell us the end is near for iOS with the advent of this glorious app.
    edited April 2022 jas99jony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Wow. 6 years. Demand must really really low. Android user probably is not going to bother because they just want cheap phone that makes phone call and takes pictures.... plus maybe watching YouTube PIP and falls asleep. That's it.
    edited April 2022 jas99lolliverjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 12
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,625member
    lkrupp said:
    Why did it take six years for Google to come up with this app? They don't need it because no one is switching from iOS to Android in any great numbers, even today. This is another Google solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Of course our resident Google fellator will tell us the end is near for iOS with the advent of this glorious app.
    The answer may be simpler than you think.

    Other companies have already plugged the gap this Google app is trying to fill and in a cloud environment a lot of our data is already 'off device' already (especially GMS related Data).

    For example, as a long time Huawei user, every time I've configured a phone it has asked me whether I want to migrate from another Huawei phone, another Android phone or an iPhone.

    Huawei's own Phone Clone is used for the task. It's been that way for years. Maybe Samsung had its own app too. This Google offering looks like it is simply a new addition to this space. 
    FileMakerFellergatorguy
  • Reply 11 of 12
     I am one of the "lucky" ones, that for only one and single application for my work, I am obliged to have an additional android phone in my pocket. (with no SIM card, just connected to my iPhone hotspot).

    And this is because the brains of those who sell this service, are inherent in the android Middle Ages!
    I have assured them that as soon as I find the same service in iOS app, they will lose me as a customer forever.

    After this forum discussion, I was thinking that it would be quite nice to have this brick updated with the my iPhone data I need from time to time.

    So I just tried to find the "Switch To Android.app" and found that the App Store does not bring it in a simple search, nor in an internal search through Google LLC.

    Finally, to find the "Switch To Android.app", I had to send via iMessage the link: <apps.apple.com/app/id1581816143>, which led me back to the App Store and to the correct application to download!

    But suddenly, I got all this confusion as a warning of my fate and I just deleted the application!

    Because who the hell would want all his data to be in the hands of google? :#

    :D :D
    edited April 2022
  • Reply 12 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Wow. 6 years. Demand must really really low. Android user probably is not going to bother because they just want cheap phone that makes phone call and takes pictures.... plus maybe watching YouTube PIP and falls asleep. That's it.
    That's probably all most smartphone users do, even those with an iPhone. I've frankly been shocked at how often I've been asked to help an iPhone owner when he/she needs to do anything other than phone/game/text/camera.  Even sending an email and/or linking a file is confusing to them far more commonly than I would have expected. Smartphone users in general are not very demanding of their devices, seldom straying from the basics.

    By the way, why so many broken iPhone screens? Seems like every other one I see is cracked and it's frankly odd considering an owner is presumed to be wealthier and therefore would fix it. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
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